Cool, choppy conditions on Tampa Bay challenge Grand Slam field

The 19th annual Yerrid Foundation Grand Slam Fishing Tournament kicked off Saturday out of the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg.

Every year this tournament donates proceeds to support the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. It’s one of the best for-a-cause fishing tournaments in the area and also brings together many of the area’s best guides for two full days of fishing in search of the best size combination of snook, redfish and trout.

This year I was again able to join team B.S.R.O. #1 with anglers David Salapski, Jeff Minch and Aaron Minch along with captain Chris Wiggins. Last year the team presented a check for $87,296.11 to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation on behalf of sponsor Tires Plus. This year they said the donation number should be even higher.

We cleared the Vinoy Basin at 9 a.m., greeted unpleasantly by gusts up to 20 knots and a misty rain that made it feel more like a December morning. This limited the distance teams were able to run early as Tampa Bay looked like a washing machine with white caps and rough seas.

Wiggins pointed us in the area of docks and canal mouths relatively near the start of the tournament where we were able to wrangle a few small snook. For the first three hours, the fishing was far from spectacular as we bounced around south St. Petersburg.

Eventually we ended up at Fort De Soto, where earlier in the week Wiggins said red tide blanketed the flats. The stench of dead fish and red tide lingered, but the water showed no signs and came alive when the sun peaked around the clouds. A hungry school of small snook up to 24-inches broke the boredom along with a small redfish.

It wasn’t quite the size Wiggins was looking for, so we worked back toward the Vinoy basin. The bite turned on with a 26- and 27-inch redfish and many more small snook around an oyster bar.

With the fish finally eating, one more move back to the spot we started proved helpful. The team’s biggest redfish was upgraded to 30 inches after landing another dozen fish.

“The fish didn’t want to eat,” Wiggins said. “The drop of water temperature really shut down the big snook bite.” Wiggins said he will spend Sunday looking for a 20-inch or bigger trout and bigger snook to upgrade the team’s three-fish combination.

The leaderboard after Day 1 proved conditions were tough: 38.5 inches was the largest snook; the second largest was 32 inches. The largest trout was 22.25 inches, and the largest redfish was 36 inches. The leaderboard had many teams grouped around 70 inches with the Day 1 leaders at 73.5 inches.

Bradenton captain and previous winner TJ Stewart ended Day 1 at 71.75 inches with a 32.25-inch redfish, 23.25-inch snook and 16.25-inch trout.

This story was originally published October 15, 2016 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Cool, choppy conditions on Tampa Bay challenge Grand Slam field."