Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Carlos Maceo and I have fished the Kent Narrows, MD CCA Catch & Release Tourney a few times in the past and it was time to do it again. We had skipped the last 2 years to ride in the Tour de Cure (for Diabetes).

We went to a new ramp ( to me), Shipping Creek on Kent Island, and we were on the water by 7AM. The tourney started at 5:30 AM but we had no interest in going that early considering that is 83.1 miles from my house!.

Anyway, we were off....



Kinda reminds me of some of the boats my countrymen have taken out of Cuba to come to the US for freedom....

It was a spectacular day, not a cloud in the sky. Carlos was ready for the sun!



We started to look around and I found some water that went from 7' to 20' that was holding some fish. I scored 1st!



But he was 1 1/2" shy of legal so I could not count it.



We caught fish almost every drift but they were concentrated in a very s,mall area. I called a friend of mine that was nearby and they came over but could not score.

I was using a baitcatser and Carlos had a 7wt fly rod. He got his 1st one and gave it a smooch...



Carlos had asked if I had ever caught a ray...yea was the answer and then I got hit and the reel started screaming. No way to stop it and Carlos had his line out so I could not chase it down. It was a big ray and I finally had to break it off. What a run!

None of the fish we caught were legal and just when we were going to change location, I got slammed!



This one went 19 1/2"...got one for the board!



Everything shut down around 9:30 AM. Now what are we going to do?

Well....Carlos gets a hit and the fish takes off like an albie! I told Carlos he has a massive striper on!



But he know he had a ray....and he had never caught one. I told him we would land this one! So I started chasing it so Carlos could gain line. It was textbook...just like TV. I had to back down a few times, zigzagging all the way. Carlos' 7wt (and his knot) held up as he fought the ray. After 15 minutes or so, he got it close and I grabbed the leader. I yanked and the fly broke off. Leader touch = caught fish.

That was a cool experience for sure.

We got off the water early (tourney ended at 3:30 but we wanted to head back at that time). So we socialized a bit...saw a bunch of old friends....ate some good food and headed back at a reasonable hour. We did not stay for the finals but 25" was the fly leader and there were a few 30"+ fish that were in contention for big fish. They also had a top 3 category (93 3/4" won it)  and a kayak division. Redfish12 may have been in contention.