CBKA 2016, by Alexi

   

 I participated in the Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers tournament on Kent Island in Md. this past weekend.    The last time I did it was in 2013.  I had one plan; I was going to fish the Bay Bridge with live spot.  Bear in mind, this is a new type of fishing for me.

      I pre-fished Friday.

      I went to buy spot and a battery bait bucket at Anglers Sports Center across the bridge.  They didn't have Spot so I bought bloodworms to catch spot.


      I launched at Terrapin Beach Park just north of the bridge.  I would never do this again, or suggest to anyone that this is a good kayak launch.  It is really about a half mile or more walk with your kayak from the parking lot to the beach.  If I were to try to do this again I would go to Hemingway's restaurant early in the morning and launch right there, wether they like it or not.  (It's right at the bridge, and NOT a long walk!)

terrapin beach launch

I made it to the bridge in good time...

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

...and started fishing for spot.

Spot spot

Which were readily available mixed in with the Perch.

Striper Food

So I went to deeper water, towards the middle of the bridge to drift the Spot I had caught.

I didn't catch any Bass.



It was getting late, and I needed to go buy more bloodworms before the captains meeting, so drove across the bridge back to the Anglers Sports Center.  (They also had beer and chips.)

I had half of a plan and wasn't feeling too confident about it, but still, I had to stick to it.

camp

the next morning....

Sunglasses AND headlamp!  

I caught a bass on the troll on the way to the bridge.

troll bass

I caught a Perch while fishing for Spot.

Perch

And so, for the calcutta all I needed was to catch a Bluefish.  How hard can that be...

...well, they weren't around.  I think only 4 were caught the entire tournament.  I had decided I was going to wait to target blues until all of my 5 Spot were dead.  The last one didn't want to die, so it took a while.  The wind picked up, and I decided to start to troll a small bass assassin back to the camp hoping to snag a blue in the jaw.


I didn't catch a bluefish.  I didn't win anything in the raffle.  I did get a shirt, and I have a pretty solid new technique for targeting big bass in the bay.

Here's a link to the results:  Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers

Tournament headquarters.