Extreme Edge Paddling Fishing Tournament Series
Last Leg & Series Championships

By Cory Routh



Cory and members of the Tidewater Kayak Fishing Association pose during their trip to the tournament.

On December 1st, six members of the Tidewater Kayak Fishing Association (TKAA), made the 14-hour drive to St. Petersburg, Florida. The TKAA members were; David Moss, Andrea Nunnally, Mike Bailey, Kevin Kennedy, Jeff Suber, and Myself. Our mission was to compete in the final leg of the Extreme Edge Paddling Fishing Tournament Series. This would be my fifth tournament of the series and the first for the other five members.

For those who do not know, this tournament series is the brainchild of Rick Roberts, who had done a wonderful job in putting together this tournament series. Entry fees for this tournament are $75. This tournament is photo catch and release only, and you can only use artificial baits. Every angler is issued a ruler and a disposable camera. The main goal of the tournament is to catch a grand slam (redfish, spotted trout, and flounder). The slam with the most accumulated inches win $1000 and a new kayak, as well as 100 total points. The second place slam gets $500, a kayak and 99 points. There are also individual species awards for the biggest redfish, trout and flounder. First place in each of these gets $500, a kayak and 98 points. Second and third places get $250/96 points and $100/94 points respectively. This is a six tournament series and at the end the 10 anglers with the most points are recognized, and the points leader is crowned the National Paddle Fishing Champion.

Above: Cory with a respectable snook.

We left Virginia Beach at 5pm on Wednesday, and arrived around 6am on Thursday morning. I made a decision to fish an area called Cockroach Bay. I had good success here earlier this year and wanted to try it again. We all launched and immediately began to cast. It was not long before Dave Moss landed a nice 20-inch snook. He repeatedly said how awesome this place was. We found an open area that looked very fishy. Dave was wading and said that he spotted some redfish tailing. I started to paddle towards some bird that were sitting on the water and saw a swirl; I cast into it and BAM, fish on! This fish fought unlike any fish I had caught before. It spun my kayak twice before giving up and coming to the kayak. I reached down to grab him and realized that it was a snook!

So I grabbed my net while the fish made a blistering run with a textbook tailwalk. Ready to land the fish, I opened my folding net and netted the awesome fish. Although this was not a trophy, it was a "slot" fish and a notable catch, not to mention my biggest snook to date. (See the picture) Dave Moss came over and helped me with the picture and we released the fish and continued to fish.

Fishing was relatively slow but the scenery of this place was simply mesmerizing. It was like traveling to another world, Cockroach is actually one of the areas most popular paddling trails. The sun started to set, so we loaded up the kayaks and went to check into our hotel. Once settled in, we decided to plan our trip for Friday. I had a commitment with the Wilderness Systems, so for Friday we split up. I went with Scott Null and Dean Thomas to the Manatee River, and the rest of the TKAA members decided to fish an area called Bullfrog Creek.

As it turned out, I should have fished with the TKAA guys; all we managed in the Manatee River was a long paddle against the tide, and a few small redfish, trout and lots of 20-30-inch ladyfish. The TKAA members, did a lot better, with catches of 24 to 30-inch redfish, cookie cutter trout, and a 20-inch snook. A few of the team members even managed to slam during prefishing.

Above: The snook is released from Cory’s kayak.

The next day we decided to all fish together around Bull Frog Creek. We began to cast into a marked channel. Almost immediately Dave Moss yells out 'fish on" and proceeds to land an 18.5-inch spotted trout. We continued to fish that channel and several members all managed to catch 14 to16.5- inch trout. Andrea Nunnally said that she could see big redfish moving water near by. I saw Dave paddling towards that flat and in no time, he was yelling again as a nice redfish is giving him a sleigh ride. He managed to land, photo and release a nice 26-inch red.

I asked him what he was using and he throws me Capt. Jack softbait in mullet colors. I rigged it up in a weedless slider hood, and begin to cast to huge boils. Immediately my reel began to scream.

I raised my rod tip to set the hook a huge redfish spit it back at me and torpedoes across the mudflat. I asked Dave what hook he was using and he said a flutter hook. I should have asked him before. I switched hooks and as I began to cast, I saw Dave again being pulled around. This time I decided to help him out and to get some pictures of the fight. After a few minutes I got my net ready and gave Dave an assist. "This red is huge," I said as I netted it. I then handed Dave my net and we paddled to a shallow area to photograph the fish. The redfish ended up being 30.5-inches, and probably weighed 15-pounds. We measured her, took a few hero shots and let her go.

I told Dave that the fish would definitely place; now it was time to look for a snook for a respectable slam. We tried again to cast to cruising reds, but nothing was interested. At about 2:00, we all decided to head into the mangroves for some snook action. The water was still low, so all the good snook cover was out of the water. We searched for the last hour, but had no takers. So at 3pm we decided to head back to beat the 4pm deadline to turn in our cameras. Dave had a good shot at placing with his redfish, so we wanted to get back in time.

At the awards banquet we waited impatiently for the ceremony to begin. During the meal rumors began to pass about some participants that may have launched in an area that is not public. I will not elaborate, but they did launch there and ended up taking the biggest slam. Eventually they disqualified themselves and the true winners prevailed. There was lots of great fishing with 13 Slams recorded, ranging from 49-68 inches. Top Team Slams were E-Angler, (75 inches), Wilderness Systems and Heritage Teams. The title of National Kayak Angler of the year was awarded to Filip Spencer and National Team of the Year to Texas Kayak Fisherman. Florida Kayak Angler of 2005 was Jon Ward and Florida Team of the Year was Paddle-Fishing.com. Recognition was given to North East Kayak Angler of the Year, Jeff Lopez and Mid-Atlantic Kayak Angler of the Year, Cory Routh. The highlight of the ceremony was David Moss' division winning redfish. Dave is a resident of Hampton, is a member of the TKAA, and the Peninsula Saltwater Sportfishing Association (PSWSFA).