Specktacular Redfish Series Galveston, Texas

Tournament Location      :   
Galveston, Texas
Angler Participation        :
Vincent Rinando, Clint Barghi
Date                                        :   
August 29, 2009
Conditions                           :   
Temp 90'  Cloudy and Calm
Tournament Results      
Some days you win....some days you get beat....and somedays the fish win.....we get loaded up....as we looked towards the Gulf...it looked very scary...there was lightning everywhere and big thunder clouds brewing....we look at the radar image..and although it was getting bigger...it wasn't moving onshore...so we get the rain gear and launch into the dark...we got to the point of no return..and although it was pretty scary...it never came over us...I knew it was going to be a good day fishing..on the way out Clint told me..."when we get to this point there is always a fish hanging out there so I want to stop and make a cast..." It's pitch dark so I'm thinking...if she is there hanging out and has any brains she'll be sleeping....well we get to that spot..first cast of the morning and Clint gets bit....wasn't the one we were looking for..but it was a good sign..the tide was up pretty big..and slack...so our strategy was to hit the grass lines early...then fish through any fish we spook out of the grass...off the shoreline...we threw topwaters all day long...I started out with a spook jr because it was dead slick calm....my first blowup of the morning came as clint and I were drifting next to some flooded grass...I threw it way back in the weeds and it looked and sounded like an aligator ate my lure....Clint and I jumped at the same time..scared the crap out of both of us...funny stuff...I heard Clint tell someone it was the only time a blowup has ever scared him...it had to be a bull red...just from the sheer size of the explosion...well it tore off thru the weeds and hung me up on a branch and came off..I would have loved to see the size of that fish..but it wasn't meant to be...we drift up into a pocket and start blind casting when Clint hooks up a good fish...as he's bringing it to the net the hook pulls..it was a nice 27" 8lb red...oh well fish 2 fishermen 0...not 5 mins later Clint sees a wake coming his way and gets a hookup on a gulp...pulling the fish into the net it unhooks...another lost 7-8lb red...dang fish 3 hook pullers 0...we made another drift and I was able to string two 4-5lb fish...so the pressure was off on keepers...I was having problems with the spook jr..broke a couple hooks..and had too many fish take the spook with a loud pop...go under and run only to have the spook reappear on the surface before you could get the slack out of the line to set the hook...eventually I put on the she dog and it was on...we consistenly had 3-5 blowup on each drift all the way until 1:15pm when we had to leave...I think personally I've never had that many quality fish blowups on topwaters during a tournament...and I've never had that many missed hooks...or pulled hooks on a tournament day...between Clint and I.. we had over 50 blowups easily...some were monster...and were probably over slot...but we had our chances....we brought in 10.6lbs...winning weight was 15.6, 15.2, 15.17, 14.9....so it would take 15lbs to break the top 4....so this tournament could have been won...we took our shot..this time the fish won...but overcast skies all day...slight breeze..small rain shower around 11am...and a killer day fishing..