22nd Annual Trout Tournament in Florida

The Nassau Sport Fishing Association will host their 22nd Annual Trout Tournament on November 8th, 2008. The entry fee is $120 for per boat.

There will be a captain's meeting on November 7th, 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Point Marina. The trout tournament will begin at 6 a.m. at Fernandina Beach Marina. Following the tournament, there will be an awards dinner at 7 p.m.

For more information about the 22nd Annual Trout Tournament, click here.

Fishing with Spoons

Some anglers aren't comfortable fishing with spoons. They don't know what they're missing!

Last week I took my nephew fishing at our local lake and the trout weren't biting that well. We couldn't get a nibble on worms or powerbait that day to save our life. Sticking to my motto of trying different tactics until I figure out what trout will take .... I reached into my tackle box and pulled out a silver Kastmaster's spoon. I only had one with me, so I tied a different spoon on my nephew's line.

Within minutes trout started hitting those spoons ... and before long, we were taking a nice stringer of trout home!

That day was the first time my nephew (age 12) fished with a spoon - let alone catch a fish with one. He was using a pock-marked, blue-nickle tear drop spoon made by Blue Fox. He was able to entice several trout into striking that spoon that day.

Why do trout strike spoons? There are a couple of reasons. First, when fished properly spoons can mimic a wounded minnow. Trout love an easy meal. Secondly, the light and vibrations emitted by spoons often cause excitement. Trout will sometimes make a defensive strike on a spoon. Either way, spoons are effective in catching trout!

But to be effective, the spoon (like other lures) must be fished properly. Spoons wobble in the water during retrieval. It's important to get the retrieval speed right in order to achieve maximum wobble. If the spoon isn't wobbling, it's useless.

Once a fish strikes the spoon, it's important to keep your line tight when reeling in. Fishing with spoons is a lot different than fishing with bait. Trout normally swallow bait, ensuring that you'll keep the fish on the hook while reeling in.

However, with spoons (and other lures), trout are usually hooked in the lip - which means they can often work themselves ... and slack line will help them do it! Keeping the line tight will help increase your chances of being able to land the fish.

The really fun part of fishing with spoons is that the fish who strike them tend to be a bit more aggressive than those feeding on power bait and worms. This makes the fishing experience more exciting!

Don't be afraid to try a spoon the next time you're trout fishing. The worst that can happen is you lose spoon and don't catch any trout. But the rewards are worth it!

By the way, the world record trout was caught using a spoon!