Wrap Up of the 5th Annual CBKA Tournament

On the road again on Friday September 11th 2015. The tires are burning the road up three and a half hours to the venue of Kent Island Maryland to participate in another weekend of fishing the Chesapeake Bay for Stripers! Along the way on Rt 50 there were ladder engines hoisting 16 foot American Flags to symbolize this day remembering what happened and their brothers and sisters on this very day.  Being one of the larger salt water kayak fishing tournaments in the Mid Atlantic region the  5th Annual CBKA Tournament had a great turn out once again! With over 100 anglers registered it was sure to be competitive and fun at the same time.  This was personally my second year present. The drive through the countryside of Delaware and Maryland to the foot of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which connects the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the Western Shore is impressive. The sheer beauty of the farm lined country roads how they meet the sky in such a way that its America!

Tenting it at Camp Wright a children’s summer camp/events location is right on the water of the Chesapeake Bay. The ability to launch is on the property or you are allowed to take advantage of other drop in locations also. My arrival was right on time at 4PM for the opening of check in. Receiving a captains bag full of goodies! Deciding to set up camp utilizing the daylight making the trek around 300 yards to the camping area located in a field. There was a large canopy setup and with rain in the forecast i made camp under it.  Mingling with people awaiting the potluck my buddy Leonard arrived. He came to camp and hang out for the weekend. We set up his tent then walked back to the tournament HQ.

Deciding to get a few snapshots of the area. The Camp has a great view over the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge. Prior to eating dinner from the potluck I was able to shoot some killer photos of the sunset over the Chesapeake Bay! They say “Red sky and night sailors delight.” Meaning the weather should be good in the morning. The forecast for Saturday during the tournament was winds 5-10 increasing later int he day and thunderstorms in the mid to late afternoon. Enjoying the massive food anglers brought for the pot luck and meeting fellow yakkers. It was getting late and time to sleep a few hours.

The morning came fast. Taking my time on this overcast morning. Dropping in around 7 am. The Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp reading a ton of bait and larger fish i decide to cast a DOA jig with a DOA 3″ swim bait. First cast a fish hit. Upon retrieval the paddle tail was bit off. Unfortunate that was the only one in my arsenal of tackle deciding to make a second cast with no tail. Reeling in hit and fish on! It was a small striper around 12 inches. Next cast fish on again catching around 10 ranging from 10 to 13 inches. Making the decision to venture out further to find larger fish.

Set on a course to rendezvous at the bridge trolling a Seabile hard Swim Bait the reel starts screaming. I grab the rod and set the hook. It’s a sleigh ride! Landing a 18.75 Striper  knowing I was in the game. I trolled to the bridge and wasn’t marking any fish there. A few casts and the birds were working back where i was previously. Back casting into the birds a few small bass. It was now getting dark. The judges were on a boat taking photos of everyone and warned us that there was an incoming storm. It looked pretty bad coming in and on the radar. Not before long it was pouring. Rain on and off growing darker set a course back to land. Rained for a good hour. Submitted my fish and it looked good. Most people were done for the day. Wind was around 5-10 SE so the island blocked a good amount of wind until off about 400 yards. Time to get back out there fishing. Dropping back in and looking for fish trolling on the 20 foot edge where i picked up my last fish prior to the storm. It seemed the fishing had turned off after the storm but the wind was a completely different story. It was fortunately still blowing from the south east but it was now 15-20. Located in the middle of the bay it was rolling 2-3 feet and these are the days when the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 is needed. It was noticeable as I was the only one fishing that far off the shore but its where the bottom dropped off an edge the fish were hanging on earlier. Continuing to troll around not marking any fish for 2 hours finally making it back closer to shore. A few casts and small stripes were abundant in this area. I was now looking for white perch and bluefish in an attempt to enter the SLAM division. Unfortunately all I could manage was small bass.

As 2:00 PM approached and it was time to call it a day.  Photo submission ended at 3:00 and wanted to get a shower in. After a refreshing shower and a change of clothes walking in for photo submission at 2:57 but they did not need to see my photos. Close but unfortunately not a winning day.

They handed out the awards and did the seemingly never ending raffle. Taking home a nice UV shirt some rigs and jigs from the raffle. See the results of the tournament on the CBKA website. The tournament benefits the Mid Atlantic Make a Wish Foundation which does great things for children. We ate dinner and another storm came through.  Leonard and I decided to stay another night and build a fire. There were a few others staying. We had a great group hanging out at the fire. A warm wind of about 10 mph was blowing all night from the NW. Some of us planned to go fishing the following morning but had a feeling it was to be way too windy.

And we were completely right about that. We had to be all loaded up by 8AM anyway which we were not. I snapped the photo to the left before heading out.

If you have never fished the CBKA tournament you are missing out!! Hope to see you all there next year for the 6th Annual!!