CCA Kent Narrows Catch & Release Fly and Light Tackle Tournament Roundup

I apologize to those of you who may have been waiting to hear about the tournament, I was waiting for a press release to come out but we're still waiting on that from the local paper and frankly, I'm tired of waiting.

CCA Kent Narrows C&R Fly and Light Tackle Tourney Sponsor Banner

We started out the day around 4:30am with a loud ringing of the iPhone alarm. As I grabbed my gear and coffee, I went though my checklist and made sure I had everything I needed for an awesome day on the water. I had pre-packed my 8wt Allen Compass and 9wt Redington Pursuit with my size 3 and size 4 Allen Alpha II's that were rigged up with Risen Fly 8wt floating and Rio 9wt sinking lines. I brought both of my Chesapeake Fly Co fly cases with me that were stocked up with Striped Bass flies like Clousers, Deceivers, Poppers, etc. I loaded up the car with my gear and all of the amazing gear our sponsors donated, grabbed my coffee and made the 15 minute drive over the Bay Bridge on to Kent Island to meet our great buddy Mike Dunlap at the park and ride to load up the boat and wait for Luis. When Luis got there shortly after me, we loaded up the TJAM's (Mike's 18' Mako) cooler, threw on the gear and headed to the ramp.

Mike and Luis loading up the TJAM after a long day.

Luis brought along his TFO BVK 7wt and TiCr X 9wt with his Gold Cup reel and Lamson Waterworks ULA Purist 2 to match. Mike was using his White River 9wt and 8wt Allen Compass matched up with his all-black Allen Alpha III reels in size 3 and 4. With all of these machines, we were destined to at least look good, especially since one of the great sponsors we had, 12wt, had Luis and I outfitted in their FREEwt Shirts and WORKwt Gloves.

All of the sponsors, organizers, and winner Rich Jenkins.

By 5:30am we were headed out to the first spot and starting to cast some lines to spots we were marking fish on the Lowrance. The wind was howling and chop was a bit high but it didn't stop us from heading out to deeper water around Poplar Island after fishing our first spot for about 15 minutes without success. At Poplar we spotted about 3 other boats using light tackle so we knew we were probably in the money. With Mike's awesome steering skills, we laid up next to the back side of the island and worked the wind drifts until Luis finally got tight on the first catch of the day...a Blue Crab. It brought some laughs to the boat but we continued to work Poplar with sinking lines until Luis got tight again on a nice school striper. As some of the other boats moved out, we moved into their spots, tight against the rocks of Poplar. Luis and I both got tight on some other schoolies.

Left: Luis getting bent on a nice Striper. Right: This guy searching for birds on the bow.

As the sun got higher in the sky, tidal change slowed, and wind began to die, we decided to hit up a hot spot Mike guaranteed would pay off. We got out to a nice shelf off the western side of Poplar in about 50' of water and began to mark fish at around 22'. The sinking lines went in with a mixed bag of flies. I had been using a nice 2/0 Clouser tied in all chartreuse that Mike had tied up for me. As we began our drift between charter boats giving us odd looks for being in deep water with fly rods, I got tight. I hauled in a nice 16" Striper. Only a few minutes later did Luis get tight bringing in a fish that would eventually land him on the white board.

In order to get on the board for the tournament, you had to land and release a legal fish (over 18") after you take a picture of it next to the official CCA ruler. We pulled in a few more fish before we decided to head in, hit up a few jettys and get back to the ramp to make the check-in time of 3pm at The Jetty.

We loaded up the boat, picked up our cars, and drove down the road to the dock bar for check-in. About half of the participating anglers had already checked in with a few nice fish on the board. The fly division had only one submission so far that I believe was around 22". We handed in our camera's memory card, checked-in and got our official CCA Tourney shirts and got a beer/plate of food in hand. I met up with Tony Friedrich and Ed Liccione, the awesome gents at CCA that were running the show to hand over the prizes donated by our sponsors. Here's what we handed over and some lucky guys won this year:

Loon Outdoors- Loon Outdoors Classic Logo shirt, Classic Logo hat, Nip 'N Sip, UV Wader Repair, UV Knot Sense, Fast Cast Line Cleaning System.

12wt- Six pairs of WORKwt gloves, two SUNwt Masks, an IMP12wt Black hat.

Risen Fly- Anakim 9/10 fly reel

Chesapeake Fly Co.- Two fly cases with a dozen hand tied flies in each

Goat Head Gear- Two Sole Spike Combo Kits

The results were as follows...

Rich Jenkins, Pasadena, was the overall winner of the 10th annual CCA MD-Kent Narrows Fly & Light Tackle Catch and Release Striper Tournament.

1st Places-

Jenkins' 34 inch striped bass was tops in the light tackle division.

Andrew Uphoff, Chester, (24 and one-half inch striper) won the kayak division.

David Sikorski, Ellicott City, was first in the fly division with an 23 and seven-eighths inch striper. 

Spenser McKensey, Centerville, captured the junior division with a 25 inch striper.

Light Tackle Division-

Steve Fogle, Walkersville, was second in the light tackle category with a 32 and seven-eighths inch striper.

Phil Anderson, Baltimore, was third with a 32 and one-quarter inch catch.

Fly Division-

Joe Taylor, Annapolis, was second in the fly category with a 23 and one-half striper. 

Tony Friedrich, Prospect Bay, finished third with a 21, three-quarter inch fish.

Kayak Division-

Martin George, Glen Dale, finished second in the kayak division (21 and one quarter inch fish).

Jack Daughtry, Baltimore, 20 inch catch was third.

Fly Division winners.

Tony, Tom, and Ed with Spencer, the Junior Division winner.

Spencer decked out in his 12wt swag.

For the small $40 entry fee, we got all you can eat food, all you can drink beers and sodas, an awesome day of fishing in a great conservation-based tournament, a cool performance shirt from CCA, and an awesome day with some 90 amazingly knowledgeable anglers on the Chesapeake Bay. An ENORMOUS thanks goes out to all of the sponsors above who, in a time crunch, helped us out and made this tournament one of the best yet with some amazing prizes. For more pictures from the tournament, check out the TLTFF Instagram or Facebook page photos.

Boom...Morgan