17 Boat Beating Champs and a Trophy Shark

This weekend was

LEGEN

DARY.

Plans were to remain on task and search for saltwater trophy specie number 5 of 6, but two days before the Catching for Kids Club Challenge Tournament, I got a message saying a few anglers were not going to make it.  Several weeks earlier, I told Mark Lozier (team leader and organizer) that if he got in a bind, I'd join.  So with blessings from my wife, I signed up and even recruited another skilled angler, Jay Brooks for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) subgroup of Team TKAA to compete against 7 other fishing clubs... who all used big boats and motors.

There were 17 TKAA members spread through 4 subgroups to target different species at different locations.  The CBBT, HRBT (Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel), Eastern Shore, and Back River were the areas we focused.  The CBBT group, consisting of William Ragulsky, Alex Britland, Joe Underwood, Jay Brooks and myself launched at an ungodly hour to make it to the prime spots by the designated lines-in time of 5am.  And it was worth it. 

Ragulsky 25" - Choi 26" - Brooks 25"  Triple Sheepshead Photo courtesy of Joe Underwood.  And Lee Williams is a badass

It turned out to be an amazing day filled with decent sized triggerfish, spadefish, flounder, spot and four citation sheepshead.  Joe Underwood, who's had some tough luck with his quest for trophy sheepshead finally got his right before we had to head back to the weigh-in.  To top it off, it was the biggest of the 4!  Check out his story and pics(link).

The other groups had great days as well.  Three man group Richie Bekolay, Chip Camp, and Drew Camp fished Back River and were successful in sweeping 1st, 2nd and 3rd in both the puppy drum and speckled trout divisions.  With 2 anglers being MIA, that's pretty darn amazing if you ask me.  Richie tells the story from Back River and explains the point system well on his post (link).  It was truly a team effort as every group had significant catches and added points to our total.... a total that broke the tournament record.  The unprecedented 32 points trumped second place by 13 points.  We swept the puppy drum, trout, and sheepie divisions, got 3 other first places (spadefish, spot, and triggerfish) and the accolades can go on... we pretty much dominated.  

Top row left to right - Joe Underwood, Rob Choi, William Ragulsky, Andy Backowski, Alex Britland, Jay Brooks, Richie Bekolay, James Short, Wayne Bradby, Chuck Wrenn, Jeff Lockhart, Kris Lozier and Tom Powers.
Bottom row left to right - Chip Camp, Drew Camp, Mark Lozier and Joe Maccini.

Much love and respect for our boating friends, 

but after coming close a few years in a row, we got you this time...  

in our dinky little kayaks!   

Before our heads get too big, we can't forget what this was really all about.  The proceeds from the tournament help to collect toys, school supplies and donations for needy children in our community.  In conjunction with Toys For Tots, the organization helps thousands of kids smile on Christmas morning.  

A big thank you to all the volunteers for making this tournament possible and help such a worthy cause.

After a little celebrating, focus was returned to my personal endeavors.  With all the hoopla around shark week and suggestions from good friends, I decided on my next target.

The next morning, Jay Brooks generously put his personal agenda aside to serve as a witness on my citation quest.  We drove over the prior day's fishing spots and launched on the Eastern Shore.  My plan was to anchor up next to a deep channel and put cut baits out.  I've caught 4 to 5 foot sharks before doing just that.  But as we were paddling across a flat on the way there, I saw a big tail thrashing on the surface in 4 feet of water.  With an unweighted whole dead spot trolling behind me, I immediately paddled over.  To try to get a better view, I got up on my knees and slowed down when I got to the area.  Not a minute passed when a little splash behind me caught my attention.  I looked back to see a massive swirl where my bait used to be...  then the clicker screamed at a pitch I never heard before and it was on.  Before I knew it, I was on the fastest sleigh ride I've ever been on.
 

There was no up and down play like my previous sharks.  It was all flats and insane horizontal runs with unreal directional changes.  Their agility and speed can really test a kayak anglers ability to make appropriate adjustments during a fight and avoid potentially dangerous situations.
 

I almost lost my rod once, took a backwards sleigh ride a few times, and almost broke my rod on the gunnel twice.  The shark liked to scream off in one direction, then abruptly turn around and charge back the other way, leaving me guessing as to where it was actually going to end up.  After almost half an hour, I finally got a good look at it.  It was close to the 6 feet I needed.  The Virginia Saltwater Tournament rules states that it needs to be 72" but estimated lengths may be used for sharks.  And technically, I can touch the leader and if a witness thinks it was 6' or bigger, I can cut it and it counts as a citation.  But "close enough" just isn't my style.  So I decided I had to measure the beast.

It took me a while but I finally got my fish tailer looped on.
 

Much to my surprise it stayed calm when I first did it.  But then all of a sudden it freaked out and I came ever so close to tipping over.

 

Got some stank on my face :)

There was a marsh island close by so I decided I had to drag it there.  But the thing is, dragging something that big is miserable even for a relatively short distance… not to mention I ran the threat of killing it.  In my stubbornness, I tried for a short bit then Jay thought that maybe it was worn out enough to lift it on to my lap and take a quick measurement.  I attempted to it try it but about 1/3 of the way up it freaked out again...

Hindsight is 20/20

It was definitely still lively enough so I dragged it to the marsh.

From tip of the nose to tip of the tail - 75" Black Tip

Big thank you to Jay Brooks for helping with pics

After 5 to 10 minutes of reviving it swam off nice and strong.

Citation #5: Check

Afterwards, we went right back to the same spot and caught several 4' to 5' blacktips.

I know sharks are an alluring species to target, but if you are not used to battling large fish, I highly recommend starting with big stripers or red drum before tangoing with grey suits.  It's a different kind of fight.  They are extremely erratic and unpredictable with maneuvers that are difficult to manage in a kayak.  The potential for dangerous situations and bodily harm is very real.  I know I made some mistakes that I luckily recovered from.  I'm not saying don't ever do it because they are a blast, but please do not take them lightly.

Double Tourney Saturday

A while back, I was asked to join the TKAA team for the Catching for Kids 20th Annual Anglers Club Challenge Tournament.  Of course, I was happy to oblige not only because I love to fish, but the money raised goes to a great cause.  Click the link for more info about Catching for Kids.

The TKAA team divided up into several groups to target different species.  The CBBT group, consisting of Justin Mayer, Billy Ragulsky, Seth Goodrich and myself, met up around 5am, got things ready, set a good game plan, and launched to a gorgeous sunrise.

We stopped at several spots that usually produce quality fish, but either no one was home or no one wanted to come out and play.  Well, at least no one we were actually looking for.  The baby bluefish were everywhere, destroying any soft plastic we dangled off the kayak.  Justin and I decided to move close toward the 1st island while Billy and Seth tried a little longer.

As the current slowed down we were sure the bite was going to turn on.  Justin focused on the spades as I worked the fiddlers on the bottom.  Sheepshead, triggerfish, and tautogs were all on the list of species for the tournament and all of them love fiddler crabs.  Justin started off getting a few small spades, then the action shut off.  I caught a bunch of trash fish, which I actually didn't mind for this trip.  I'll explain later.

Justin and I were baffled.  All through slack tide, we didn't catch anything we wanted to enter into the tourney.  A little before, through slack, and a little after are the best times and we were at the spot that normally holds fish.  Staying persistent, I eventually caught a couple of small togs, one of which was tagged.

I love learning where, when and how big the fish was when they tagged the fish.

I had my doubts about whether those two little togs would rank in the tourney, so I kept at it.  I was also hoping for a good size trigger, since I hadn't caught one all year.  But I failed to find any.  After a while, I switched over to clams and enticed 2 spadefish around 12" to play along.  

Frequent CBBT kayak angler Kyle (forgot the last name) hooked up to a nice spade

We also met Seadoo Dave out there for the first time.  He seems like a good guy... check out his site.

Hoping for that big sheepshead, I went back to using fiddlers.  I tried a new area along the bridge and my hook started getting cleaned with a quickness.  On the third drop over the same piling, I finally hooked up to a nice fish.  After several line peeling bull dog runs, I brought it up to the surface...

... and twice it buried my rod tip deep into the water ...

... but in that tug of war, I was victorious.

It was the second 22.25" tautog for me this year.  .75" shy of release citation.  

Again.

Long story short, that fish ended up being the second place tog for the tournament and I was proud.  Justin had one of his spadefish end up being 3rd place for that specie as well.  There were many reputable angler clubs to enter teams in the tournament. And for us to be the only kayak team against a bay full of motor boats and placing 4th over all is a great achievement.  If my understanding is correct, we were only one point behind 3rd place. The weigh-in was a great time with excellent food and camaraderie.  I admit however, I left shortly after the food...

Remember how I said that I didn't mind catching trash fish earlier.  Normally, I'd be pretty annoyed, but I was actually double dipping tournaments that day.  Pirates of Lynnhaven held a week long trash fish tournament and it was the last day.  The weigh-in was at 7pm.  And even though I didn't think my fish were going to hold up, I left the first tournament awards early.  My croaker, spot and oystertoad (3 of the 6 species included in the tournament) measured a mere 1/8" more (combined) than the next guy and I ended up winning.  (Sorry Joe, I got lucky)

I won this cool trophy designed by Fish DV8 and also a 16 hour deep drop trip with Rudee Deep Sea Fishing.  On top of that, half of the money raised in entry fees gets donated to the charity of the winners choice.  So CCA of Virginia should be getting a decent little check from The Pirates of Lynnhaven.

My wife was happy I helped out two great organizations and also excited I won a tournament.  

But, she wasn't too keen with the idea of me going on a boat for 16 hours.  

I told her it's really not much different from my usual fishing trips.
Just not on a kayak.