5th Annual New Jersey Fluke (Summer Flounder) Kayak Fishing Tournament by Matthew Trucks | Aug 27, 2012 | Cuda, Fishing, Fishing Reports, Fishing Tournament, JK Team Posts, Saltwater, Saltwater Fishing, Team JK, Tournaments, Wrap Ups | 0 comments Tournaments in kayak fishing are looked forward to by the anglers as time to get away from everyday life and have a great experience doing something they love. Its not all competitive being the format we use by raffling off prizes instead of having 6 winners. Everyone receives a prize just for registering. The winners receive a nice plaque. Thanks to all of the kayak specific companies whom donate product to make this possible. This year the tournament benefited Heroes on the Water. A charity based on taking wounded veterans from the US Forces kayak fishing. Year 5 of the tournament was a blast with a twist! I arrived at the tournament HQ on Thursday July 19th to help our committee get everything setup. There were 2 RV’s set up for staying at the HQ and the Elks Lodge fluke tournament committee was setting up their huge BBQ. The following is a breakdown of my experience. Day 1: Friday July 20th. A nor’easter storm came in off the ocean and made it a really tough day to fish. East north East winds gusting 25-30 mph. Decided to fish the only place that could be shielded at all. This seemed to work for about 50 yards from the beach. Once past there the wind blew ferociously. It was actually really hard to paddle against. I toughed it out and fished on. Called it a day after 4 short flounder and 1 of regulation size at 18″. Fishing in the North Easter storm 07-20-12 First keeper fluke 18 inches 07-20-12 Third fluke 07-20-12 Video of the drop in! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj30NMU0sCc&feature=plcp[/youtube] Fishing was great despite the beating we all took. Drove back to the HQ camp and enjoyed being rained on. Hung out with some friends then set up for the Captains meeting at 7PM. Rain coming down in sheets! Setup for the massive BBQ at the elks lodge 07-20-12 At the captains meeting the tournament kayak division committee handed out the captains bags which included some swag info. The rules and times were announced in verbal form to the anglers. Also announced was the postponement of fishing due to small craft warning by the coast guard. Instead of the tournament being held on Saturday the 21st it was to reconvene on Sunday the 22nd. We had about 25 of the 35 registered show in the driving rain. Great turn out! Some of the tournament prizes 07-20-12 The table displays some of the prizes and the plaques to be given out at the awards ceremony. Included there is items from Yak Attack, Scotty, Yak Gear, Mad Frog Gear, Squid Anchor, Gullwing Paddle, Sunjammers Watersports, and Jersey Paddler. Day 2: Saturday July 21st Saturday a much better day! Although both the boat and kayak division were postponed to Sunday a bunch of kayak anglers went fishing anyway. By noon time the winds had subsided and it became a beautiful day to fish. Myself I landed over 30 fluke between 8in to 17 in. A few other guys had some nice fish 21 inches to 24 inches in size. Around 5PM the winds came up 10-15 out of the south southeast making it a slow but steady paddle south to the drop in. A majority of us fished from 1 Pm til around 6:30 PM. Cuda on the beach 07-22-12 Man does that boat look nice or what! Day 3: Sunday July 22nd Short fish on Sunday Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day or fishing. Although i was a slow day for catching. Paddled over 6 miles in search of a moving tide. Finally around 1PM at the tip of Sandy hook the tide started moving out fast. Too fast as a matter of fact with the weight I had on board to hold bottom. On my second to last drift i noticed probably over 500 boats making headway back into port. I figured the wind had made a bad turn out in the ocean and it wasnt long before it would switch to south east 15-20 mph. Straight back to the drop in point. I decided to call it a day. Once again the Cuda outperformed itself on the 4 mile paddle back in. Made it back in a little over an hour and a half. To sum it up I didn’t make it back in time for the awards due to the long paddle back and traffic back to the HQ. So I enjoyed some BBQ and helped pack it up. Results of the 5th annual New Jersey Kayak Fluke Tournament Group Photo Longest Fluke: John Kravcha Andrew Tortorello, Toms River, NJ Phil Orsini, Scotch Plains, NJ Three Combined Longest Fluke: Judy Seger, Deal, Allenhurst, NJ Gary Ward, Brick, NJ Larry Newman, Brick, NJ Matthew Trucks ‘Yak Chum’ Jackson Kayak Fishing Team Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
