Catchin' for kids club challenge

Last Saturday I was invited to fish the catchin' for kids club challenge tourney for TKAA. The club challenge is a little unique because it is a tournament for local clubs and not just individual anglers. The  Out of the 8 teams entered, TKAA was the only non powerboat team and we finished in a respectable 4th place.

Early in the morning I met up with Rob Choi, Seth, and Billy at the CBBT. I launched at the base of the bridge at about 6am. Our targets for the day were sheepshead, spadefish, tautog, flounder, and various other fish that we might get via by-catch. I went to a favorite spot for sheepshead but only managed a small puffer.

After trying for sheepshead for a while I decided to target spades. It was an extremely tough day for them. I spent nearly the entire day searching for some decent spades but only managed 7-8 small ones.

It was about 3pm when I finally found some decent ones thanks to Sea doo Dave. He somehow anchored right on top of the biggest school of spades I had found all day. While fishing right under his sea doo I caught about 5 spades ranging from 13" to 14" (I also lost 2 bigger ones).  I was fishing a little late and was afraid I was going to miss the weigh-in so I asked Dave if he could give me a tow back to the beach. I was lucky to be fishing with such a nice guy because he saved me about 2 miles of paddling! Rob caught a very nice tautog (22.25" 7+lbs) that placed 2nd and I think that either 1 or 2 of my spades placed also (2-3lbs).

All and all it was a fun day and a great tourney. I'll definitely try to make it again next year!