Phil. W Kayak Fishing.: 2014 TKAA Annual Kayak Fishing Tournament.

Summer coming to a close too fast and the 10th Annual TKAA Charity Tournament benefiting Heroes on the Water and Project Healing Waters was quickly approaching. I had a little more confidence in my prospects of atleast having a fish to weigh-in as I had been doing pretty good around the HRBT. Last year I only caught small croaker and toadfish and BB managed a 14 inch striper so we were looking to get on the board.
The weather was phenomenal in August and I had a pretty light schedule so I got to head out onto the water several times. I was paying attention to tide tables, time of day, and presentation to try and better the chance of me catching a fish on tournament day. I managed several flounder in the 12-17 inch range and consistently caught red drum in the 20-25 inch range during high to outgoing tide. I kept logging hours and paddling miles to make sure I was prepared for any sudden changes. Rudee inlet which had been on fire in the spring and early summer had seemed to fizzle out and I only managed small speckled trout and croaker. Lynnhaven with increased activity on the bridge project and fewer parking places was an option but I was having a hard time locating fish in the vast stretches of grass and shallow sand. Power Team Lures 4 inch grubs in white, JP Hammer Shads in white on a 3/8oz jig head with chartreuse spiked tails, and Egret VuDu Shrimps in natural and white/chartreuse continued to be great performers for me.
As September came and the buzz of the coming tournament got hotter and hotter unfortunately the bite did the opposite. The few times I managed to get out onto the water were slow days with several missed fish, a few small fish, and left me feeling uneasy about my initial confidence in being able to reverse my small fish from the previous year.

BB and I were keeping our eyes on the weather forecast and couldnt believe it when the day of the tournament we had a beautiful cloud free and sunny day. The previous two years had cold, rain, and windy days of the tournament so this was a welcome change. We got a late start due to over indulging in adult beverages at the captain's meeting and got out to the boat ramp well after sunset. I was still pretty optimistic and we began looking for flounder around the pilings. The sky was clear and the sun was shining but the water was very dirty and murky and we were getting no love from flounder or even croaker on fish bites. I paddled around hoping to find some fish and that the coming tide change would trigger a bite. I ran into several fisherman out on the water who were also fishing the tournament and no one seemed to be getting any bites.
Unfortunately I repeated last years results and we headed back to the conference center with no fish to weigh in, which was alright since I also broke down in the jeep on the way to the weigh in and had to wait for BB to drive all the way back through the tunnel to come rescue me and we arrived after the weigh in time.

The weigh in and dinner were awesome and we spent the evening with some great friends talking about fishing and anxiously waiting on our raffle numbers to be read. Apparently our table had all of the luck, with several of the large raffle prizes going to people sitting at our table which was a pretty good feeling honestly considering the money from the raffles and tournament go towards two amazing charities.
$16,500 was raised for Heroes on the Water and Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. What these two organizations do for our men and women who served in our military is amazing and I am very proud to be a volunteer and support what they do.

Congratulations to the winners!

Below is a video that Robert Lee put together that shows how awesome the tournament is.