Stars & Stripes kayak tournament

Having never fished Sabine before, I think we did ok. Both Steve and I studied bay maps, aerial photo's, and previous fishing reports to make a decision on our top spot.
Wind predictions were not favorable for just about any area. We decided on a marsh lake that was going to be somewhat protected and went to work.
Sabine's tides are a lot different than our home waters in galveston. The current was ripping through all the small marsh channels. it made it difficult to work any thing but tops.
I opted to make the paddle to the protected end of the lake and bounce a top water for a bit while steve stayed in the main channel. Bait was everywhere and I spied some nervous activity along the grass. As I was walking the dog along the edge I felt something bump my kayak, now this being so close to L.A. I thought alligator!!!
When I turned to see what it was there was only a mud swirl beside my yak. Thats when the first red nailed my lure. All i can think is that he was on a bee line towards the noisy plug and bumped my yak on his way by.
Whammo he 's on. this was a large red and the drag was screammin. i tightened up a tad and worked him back
to the kayak. When he saw me he made his second run and 2 hooks on the lure bent strait. wow what a dissapointment. i bent them back on the side of the yak and sent it back to the same area. another red was there waiting for the thing and the fight was on again. after the hook failure I loosened up un the drag a bit and let him run. i got this one, a nice fat 23.5 inch red.
we worked the shore for a bit more and there were a few small reds but no upgrades.
on the way to the weighin i could not help but think we were going to be way short on weight, considering that there were a lot of local and L.A. boys fishing this one.
it seem a lot of folks had the same slow day and TEAM GULF COAST RODS TAKES 2ND PLACE BIG RED.
I know one thing for sure, if your using powerpro MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD HOOKS.

RANDALL