11/1/08 Tournament S.R. 44 Deland, FL

We had a tournament yesterday out of S.R. 44 (Whitehair Bridge) in Deland, FL. This was the first time I have fished the St. Johns River since the Tropical Storm Fay flooded much of the area. The river was still a foot or two above normal water level. This water level has the water still back into the trees. The water is also running very fast to the North, which is normal.

We had 8 boats participating, which is about half of our normal field. The morning started out dissapionting. Something was wrong with our gas line, it wasn't sealing correctly with the inlet valve of the motor, so we had to troll around all day (of course after we pulled out I got it to seal correctly). Out of 8 boats there were 4 total keeper fish caught, although one boat didn't get  to weigh in their fish because they were late. So the total winning weight was 6.92 pounds, with big fish being 5.5lbs. It was a totally dissapionting day, but it was nice to be out on the water.