Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

We ran back out after tautog yesterday. It was beautiful day on the ocean. For bait, we had green, Jonah, blue, fiddler, spider, and hermit crabs. We also had clam and conch. What we did not have were any tautog into the afternoon. We found them on the third wreck we tried.

We ended up catching 15 tog. We kept twelve. Six of those weighed in over nine pounds.

I assured him that this would not make it into any report. Of our 15 tautog, Hunter Southall caught 9 of them but who’s counting? Well, Hunter was. Included in his 9 fish were 4 in the double digits including the largest of the day at 19 pounds 8 ounces.

Bernie Sparrer caught his first-ever citation-size “chub”. The only tog I caught all day weighed over 13 pounds. After several years and several back surgeries, Bob Manus finally was able to get back out on the water with us. Josh Jordon wanted to make sure everyone knows that he caught a sea bass (no tautog). There is a nice class of sea bass on the Triangle Wrecks that will hopefully be there when the season opens May 19.

This was the Healthy Grin’s last tog trip before the season closes this week. We ended up with 24 tautog over 9 pounds with our 3 largest at: 19.5, 20, 20.5 pounds. Wes Blow is back out there in his boat right now. If the weather holds, Hunter plans to hit them after school today. The weather does not look very good for the final two days of the season and it will be closed before get the Healthy Grin back out.

The “Flounder Bowl” is back. This year’s tournament is scheduled for June 28 with a captains meeting June 27. The tournament will be capped at 120 boats this year. Online registration is available and encouraged at www.flounderbowl.com . As this is being written, 35 spots have already been taken.

This event is a two-day party with a fishing tournament on the side. The Flounder Bowl is hosted by the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association but it is the many businesses that sponsor this event which make it such a great time. These businesses are providing a guaranteed First Place award of $5,000. They also make it possible to provide food, drink and music for participants at both the captains meeting and at the weigh-in. The sponsors provide for team buckets given out at the captains meeting and they are also providing various prizes which will be given away at the weigh-in. Each team will find door-prize tickets in their team buckets which will give them chances to win these prizes.

The Flounder Bowl will be held out of Dare Marina and Yacht Sales (www.daremarina.com). Boats will be allowed to fish from any port but the fish must be brought to Dare Marina for weigh-in.

This is a team tournament with an entry fee of $200 per boat with up to 4 anglers ($125 early entry). Additional anglers will cost $25 each. Winners will be determined by the combined weight of the team’s top three fish. Cash prizes will be paid through six places.

To give everyone a chance to win, teams not placing in the top six will be entered in a “Lucky Dog” drawing. The team drawn will win an additional cash prize.

There will be a prize for the heaviest flounder caught by a child and a prize for the heaviest flounder caught by a woman in the tournament. There will also be a prize for the heaviest flounder weighed in by a member of the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association.

Teams will be given the option of entering a “Big Fish Calcutta” for an additional $100 entry fee. This is a 100% payout to the team that has entered the Calcutta, which weighs in the single heaviest fish.

There will be a second optional “Stringer Calcutta” with a $100 entry fee. This is a 100% payout to the team that has entered this Calcutta, which has the heaviest stringer weight.

There is a special Sponsors’ Challenge Division where teams entered by the tournament sponsors will compete with each other for the special Sponsors’ Trophy. The winning sponsor will get to keep this trophy until next year’s tournament. Currently, the Sponsors’ Trophy is in the possession of Just Plumbing.

The 2013 Flounder Bowl had a total cash payout of $16,750 plus sponsor donated merchandise prizes. The winnings are expected to be larger this year. This is your chance to fish with and against some of the best flounder anglers in the state. There will be food, drink, music, and multiple chances to win. Come on out and join the fun!

You can find the Flounder Bowl on Facebook and visit www.pswsfa.com  and www.flounderbowl.com .

Sponsor support for this event is nothing short of fantastic! These businesses are going out of their way to make sure that the local fishing community has a good time. We encourage Flounder Bowl participants to support the sponsors who make this event possible.

Generous sponsor support has allowed the Flounder Bowl to support various worthy causes. Flounder Bowl proceeds have been used to make donations to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, the CCA, the RFA and to support the free Youth Fishing Clinic. Sponsor donations were used to contribute to the medical fund for a young lady who required multi-organ transplants.

If you are interested in becoming a Flounder Bowl Sponsor, contact Nelson Ortiz: (757) 812-0769 or Capt. Jorj Head: (757) 262-9004, jhead@ycsd.york.va.us  .

These fantastic businesses have already signed on to sponsor the 2014 Flounder Bowl:

2014 Flounder Bowl Sponsors

Gold

Dare Marina & Yacht Sales

www.daremarina.com

Multi-Print Inc

www.multiprintinc.com

Dr. K. E. Neill

www.neilldental.com

Michael Surveying & Mapping, P. C.

www.msmva.com

Just Plumbing

www.calljustplumbing.com

Pomoco Auto Group

www.pomoco.com

Thomas E Wilson Insurance Agency

(757) 283-6351

Wanchese Fish Company

www.wanchese.com

Dodd RV

www.doddrv.com

Yorktown Materials

www.yorktownmaterials.com

Harbor Mechanical

(757) 872-4166

C. A. Barrs Contractor

www.cabarrs.com

Pyramid Roofing

www.pyramidroofing.com

Bay Propeller

www.baypropeller.com

Tow Boat U.S.

www.boatus.com

Whitehouse Cove Marina

www.whitehousecovemarina.com

York River Electric, Inc.

www.yorkriverelectric.com

Water Street Grill/York River Oyster Company

www.waterstreetgrille.net

M and M Custom Painting

(757) 879-9860

Green Top Sporting Goods

www.greentophuntfish.com

Seaford Scallop Company

(757) 898-8512

Douglas Aquatics

(in memory of Eric Arnold)

www.dapoolsandspas.com

Mercury Mulch, Inc.

www.mercurymulch.com

Silver

Hopkins Gun and Tackle, LLC

www.hopkinshuntfish.com

Zing Zang

www.zingzang.com

Grafton Fishing Supply

www.graftonfishingsupply.com

Rudees Inlet Station Marina

www.rudeesmarina.com

Bishop Fishing Supply

(757) 591-9300

Holland Corp.

www.jhenryholland.com

Sinkerman’s Wholesale Sinkers & Lures

(757) 898-3845

Pig Out BBQ

(757) 879-9100

Hunt Smile Design

www.huntsmiledesign.com

Pop’s Drive In

(757) 898-6870

Oyster Cove Boatworks & Yacht Brokerage

www.oystercoveboatworks.com

Teagle Insurance Agency, Inc.

www.teagleinsuranceagency.com

Costa Sunglasses

www.costadelmar.com

Yorktown Pub

(757) 886-9964

Joseph C. Jones, Inc.

(804) 815-6343

Parker Piano Outlet

www.pianooutlet.net

Beachcomber Restaurant

(757) 874-9420

Amory Funeral Home

(757) 898-5722

Wayne Harbin Builder, Inc.

www.harbinbuilder.com

Riptide Electric

www.riptidecontracting.com

The tautog bite on the inshore wrecks and inside the Chesapeake Bay has turned on like a light switch so we ran out into the ocean for tautog; hunting for that world record. I thought we had it. The first tog of the morning looked huge. I thought that it was going to be significantly heavier than my state record fish. I told the guys that it was going to be a short day and to catch them up while I weighed and measured this fish. I was brought back to reality when the fish only taped out at 31 inches. It still looked huge, must be a faulty tape measure. Hung it on the boat scale and it weighed 21 pounds, really big but not as big as we thought. The guys did not believe the scale and guessed at least 24 pounds. We kept fishing and back at the dock that evening, it weighed 20 pounds 8 ounces. It was joined by Stan Simmerman’s 11 pound 8 ounce tog, Charles Southall’s first ever weight-citation tog at 12 pounds 8 ounces, and Phillip Neill’s fist tog citation also at 12 pounds 8 ounces. We only caught 5 tautog all day but 4 of them weighed double digits. We also caught some really big sea bass that we had to release.  We did not catch as many as you would think with as many of the things that were down there as this video shows:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=699588896749327&l=5644832874047715481

We were using whole crabs as bait to try to avoid the sea bass but they like to eat crabs too.

PSWSFA_CHUMLINEFinalApril2014

After being blown out the past two weekends, we got back out after the tautog yesterday. It was still rough, too rough to get to the wrecks that we wanted to fish. We fished a couple of wrecks in close to the beach and we caught tog. There were no big fish this trip. We caught a total of 17 tog. We got DNA samples from each, kept 3 fish, tagged and released the rest. Three fish had already been tagged. In addition to the tog, we caught a cunner, a pollock, and a sea bass. The cunner was one of the larger ones we have caught (still small) and Hunter kept it. He also kept the Pollock as he has not tried either of those fish before and he was hungry.

Tricia and I attended the Virginia Beach Anglers Club’s banquet last night. We really appreciate the invitation. The meal was done “in house” and was excellent. There are some really good cooks in that club. There are good anglers too. Multiple anglers won awards. Beth and Kevin Synowiec were probably the biggest winners. Melanie Bayford, Don Bayford, Jerry Hughes, Bob Stuhlman, and Steve Harding were among those receiving multiple awards. Many others received awards for their outstanding catches or for their service to the club. I was very honored to receive the VBAC’s Dr. James C. Wright Memorial Conservation Award.

The “Flounder Bowl” is back. This year’s tournament is scheduled for June 28 with a captains meeting June 27.

This event is a two-day party with a fishing tournament on the side. The Flounder Bowl is hosted by the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association but it is the many businesses that sponsor this event which make it such a great time. These businesses are providing a guaranteed First Place award of $5,000. They also make it possible to provide food, drink and music for participants at both the captains meeting and at the weigh-in. The sponsors provide for team buckets given out at the captains meeting and they are also providing various prizes which will be given away at the weigh-in. Each team will find door-prize tickets in their team buckets which will give them chances to win these prizes.

The Flounder Bowl will be held out of Dare Marina and Yacht Sales (www.daremarina.com). Boats will be allowed to fish from any port but the fish must be brought to Dare Marina for weigh-in.

This is a team tournament with an entry fee of $200 per boat with up to 4 anglers ($125 early entry). Additional anglers will cost $25 each. Winners will be determined by the combined weight of the team’s top three fish. Cash prizes will be paid through six places.

To give everyone a chance to win, teams not placing in the top six will be entered in a “Lucky Dog” drawing. The team drawn will win an additional cash prize.

There will be a prize for the heaviest flounder caught by a child and a prize for the heaviest flounder caught by a woman in the tournament. There will also be a prize for the heaviest flounder weighed in by a member of the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association.

Teams will be given the option of entering a “Big Fish Calcutta” for an additional $100 entry fee. This is a 100% payout to the team that has entered the Calcutta, which weighs in the single heaviest fish.

There will be a second optional “Stringer Calcutta” with a $100 entry fee. This is a 100% payout to the team that has entered this Calcutta, which has the heaviest stringer weight.

There is a special Sponsors’ Challenge Division where teams entered by the tournament sponsors will compete with each other for the special Sponsors’ Trophy. The winning sponsor will get to keep this trophy until next year’s tournament. Currently, the Sponsors’ Trophy is in the possession of Just Plumbing.

There are a few things new for 2014. The tournament will be capped at 120 boats. Online registration is available and encouraged at www.flounderbowl.com  . The “weather advisory” rule has been modified a bit. Instead of waiting to hear what the NOAA radio is saying at 5 AM the morning of the tournament, we will now use what is forecast at 5 PM the evening before the tournament. Basically, we will know for sure at the captains meeting if the next day is a fish day or not.

The 2013 Flounder Bowl had a total cash payout of $16,750 plus sponsor donated merchandise prizes. The winnings are expected to be larger this year. This is your chance to fish with and against some of the best flounder anglers in the state. There will be food, drink, music, and multiple chances to win. Come on out and join the fun!

You can find the Flounder Bowl on Facebook and visit www.pswsfa.com  and www.flounderbowl.com  .

Sponsor support for this event is nothing short of fantastic! These businesses are going out of their way to make sure that the local fishing community has a good time. We encourage Flounder Bowl participants to support the sponsors who make this event possible.

Generous sponsor support has allowed the Flounder Bowl to support various worthy causes. Flounder Bowl proceeds have been used to make donations to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, the CCA, the RFA and to support the free Youth Fishing Clinic. Sponsor donations were used to contribute to the medical fund for a young lady who required multi-organ transplants.

If you are interested in becoming a Flounder Bowl Sponsor, contact Nelson Ortiz: (757) 812-0769 or Capt. Jorj Head: (757) 262-9004, jhead@ycsd.york.va.us .

2014SponsorsGuideRulesEntryForm

We went back out after tautog today. It was a pretty day out there and we had some great bait. We caught zero tautog. We did catch and release some nice sea bass but not a whole lot of those. I dropped the Go Pro down to see what was down there: