Prefishing doesn’t always tell the tale. Just ask Hobie Fishing Team member Brendan Bayard, winner of the August 7, 2016 IFA Kayak Tour event in Houma, Louisiana. The day before, he couldn’t buy a bite.
“Everyone else was catching redfish but me. I said ‘That’s all right, you guys used up your luck today. I’ll get the reds when it counts.’”
IFA Kayak Tour tournaments fire up Bayard’s competitive juices like no other. Not for their size – for the quality of the competition. “They are made up of the guys who really love tournament fishing; really great fishermen,” Bayard says.
Bayard puts a lot of thought and strategy into the IFA’s CPR (Catch, Photo, Release) competitions. He looks at previous year finishes, seasonal patterns and differences from the norm, and what kind of fish it takes to win. “I could go on and on. In the end its a giant probability equation with many variables,” he says.
This year, with a neap tide scattering the fish, Bayard knew a bull red would be hard to come by. He hunted a series of hotspots in the Grand Isle area at daybreak. “Luck was with me when I hooked up after just a few casts of pulling my white jig up the ledge,” he says. The bull measured 41 inches – a solid fish. Now he only needed a kicker trout.
He fished four separate spots on the way back to tournament HQ, each time unloading and reloading his kayak. Finally, with bad weather threatening, he nailed a “respectable” 18.25-inch trout on his MirrOlure Topdog Jr – big enough for largest trout honors. The 59.25-inch total would wind up leading all comers, earning him a $1,985 payday plus a $250 Power-Pole gift card.
Meanwhile Steve Lessard, a past Hobie Fishing World Championship winner, was busy working the opposite strategy: trout first, red second. No early trout meant he missed the morning redfish bite. There was nothing to do other than grind it out.
“After an hour of prime fishing time had gone by I focused on redfish and mid-morning got one. It was a beast of a fish to try and take a quick photo in the rough water and at 41.5 inches was so long I had to stand up to get the whole fish in the photo,” he says.
He turned his attention back to trout, quickly catching and releasing four, and that’s when the storm caught him. He took shelter from the lightning under a bridge, and headed in expecting to finish out of the money. Instead his 58-inch total earned him second place and $1,375.
“I was thankful and surprised. I could not have fish that much water without my Hobie,” he says.
Fellow Hobie Fishing Team member Brandon Barton finished third on the strength of the 40-inch bull red he spent four hours chasing with big jigs and rattle baits. An hour later he added an 18-inch trout, good for third place and $275.
Bayard savored the win. “The probability equation doesn’t always work out for you no matter how many variables you take into consideration. I’ll definitely enjoy this feeling, ‘cause I know a tough trip is always around the corner. Those tough trips make these successful trips all the more enjoyable,” he says.
