September 29, 2016 – The Plastic Hull

2016, 2016 Tournaments, Kayak Fishing, TKAA, Tournament

Wrap Up: TKAA 2016 with the Kraken 15.5

September 29, 2016 by Matt Trucks No Comments

By relocating more south there are now tournaments in reach of home that don’t require a ton of time off from work. A particular tournament and gathering I have personally always wanted to attend is the Tide Water Kayak Associations fishing for charity tournament. The event benefits Heroes on The Water and Project Healing Waters. Located within the vicinity of Virginia Beach the tournament covers both saltwater and fresh waters. For a saltwater anger such as myself this is a big fish paradise.

October is an excellent time of year to fish the waters of the lower Chesapeake at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) for bull reds. Bull reds can reach upwards of 80 lbs making them a trophy to catch and release as they are protected by a slot limit. These fish are the big breeders that give the area its abundant stock of puppy drum. If you are to land such a fish take care of her. Handle her with care and release her as fast as possible. She is the future of the Redfish population for the area.

The area also holds many abundant species such as Founder, Tautog, Spades, Stripers, and Trout. In the backwaters of Lynhaven you may find abundant puppy drum and speckled trout scattered among the oyster bars.

Also being a special occasion this would be my first time fishing off of the Kraken 15.5. In the past having paddled the kayak on long trips both kayak camping and touring the Kraken has out performed my expectations. Now was time to put it to the real test. The bay at the CBBT can be unforgiving with fast tidal currents, heavy winds, and ocean like swells. The best time to fish the bridge is around slack tides. This way your not drifting 1.5 – 3 mph and not dragging 8oz+ jigs to stay on the bottom.
Arriving on Thursday night after the 3.5 hour drive to Virginia Beach I met up with fellow anglers Dee and Kelly. Kelly was nice enough to invite me to stay at her cousins house for the weekend! We got up early Friday morning to hit the CBBT for the Bull Reds. Chris Parson and Gene joined us. The mile paddle out was a breeze with the Kraken 15.5. Its very stable fully loaded and does not loose speed.

It was a nice morning there weren’t any kayakers out there when we arrived but steadily as the day went on there appeared to be about a dozen total. A boat pulled up anchoring between the bridges. It appeared they were dropping cut mullet over on fish finder rigs. They hooked up to a Bull Red within the first hour. I had 2 on but unfortunately lost them. Kelly also had 2 on but using very light tackle lost those fish too. The wind picked up around 2 PM and it was time to head in. It became very rough quickly and we actually had to initiate a full on surf landing back at the drop in. Afterwards checked into the captains meeting. It was well setup with an entire 40 foot length of tables filled with prizes. Got to meet up with some people i haven’t seen in years. Notable Mark and Kris Lozier whom I have not seen since the boondoggle in 2012. Jokes and rules were heard it was time to fish in the AM!

Afterwards I joined Kelly Dee and Kelly’s family for her nieces birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Although almost a complete stranger these people welcomed me like family. We enjoyed dinner laughs and some cake together. We said farewell and it was time to get some rest because we had a lot of tide to compete with for these bull reds.

Arriving in the dark it was a warm morning however it was tournament day and there was a lot more activity at the drop in areas that access the bridge tunnel shoreline. Tournament participants were readying their gear and launching for a shot at the big redfish. Soon after launching the sun emerged a huge red globe emanating a warm hue of light. Beginning with another calm morning but just missing the slack tide by 30 min or so. We were in for a famous 4 knot tide day. Holding place at the bridge was near impossible. Every snag to retie cost about a mile paddle back to the bridge. Not sure if it was just the amount of kayaks anglers pressuring the fish or the fish were just not there catching was slim. The same boat was there as the prior day and only saw them hook and land 1 fish. Fishing was dead and the winds were starting to blow. I decided to call it a day and move to another launch in behind Lynn Haven inlet. The paddle back was shaky as there were easily 3 – 4 foot waves and a following sea. We went to the drop in and it was un-land able up to the wall there. So we had to paddle back west to the beach that was rapidly disappearing. A text book surf landing was in store as the waves were rolling and crashing.

Kelly and I arrived at the launch soon after to fish the backwaters of Lynn Haven. It was nice to be back here as it had been four years. Everyone i talked to said fishing wasn’t great. I threw a spoon at first then swtiche to a DOA jig with a paddle tale. It took about an hour and by now the wind was way worse. I lost Kelly due to the shallow water. Her pedal drive just wasn’t working in the area. She eventually caught up and jsut as she did i had a fish in. The only red of the trip.

a 17″ Red Drum or Redfish

Fishing unfamiliar places is always a challenge. Managed a total of 4 more reds in the 14-16 inch range then called it a day too late to even make it back for the weigh in. We loaded up and were headed back to the hotel where the event HQ was. The food was great and hanging out with the jersey guys was awesome also. The tournament raised over 15,000 for charities in 2016 which made it possible to donate 14,000 to the Tidewater Chapter of Heroes on The water and 1,000 to the Portsmouth chapter of Project Healing Waters. Over the past 9 years of the tournaments existence has raised over 100,000 for charity which is amazing.