Once again Don Mackenzie and the crew of Boats Incorporated hosted and wouldn’t let down the customers and visitors to the 26th annual “One Tide Challenge”. What a challenge it would be.
The dock was hyped with anticipation of the fish that would be brought to the scale. Despite good reports and fish coming into Niantic, anglers were uncertain on how the heavy rain and wind would affect the area after several inches had fallen recently in our prime fishing locations.
Shortly after the storm passed, several boats scouted the area and were faced with large bodies of dirty water. Randy Saitta tested his game plan early Friday and found enough fish to give him plenty of confidence heading into Saturday’s tournament while others remained tied up at the dock preparing tackle and not running the risk of jinxing their luck.
After a little Friday night pregame party with a captain’s casting competition and karaoke, the real stage was set for the 7AM captain’s meeting Saturday morning. There were 52 boats ready to compete for the 26th King of the Dock Title, including 60 lady anglers battling it out for the ladies championship as well as 25 youth division entries.
The dock was loaded with every kind of bait and tackle known in the hunt for trophy bass and monster blues, with every imaginable strategy and tactic ready to be deployed.
Lifelong friend Victor Sottile joined Bobbette, Michael, Mitchell and myself on Saturday morning. After several conversations on location and tactics, we decided to take eels with us as we ventured venture to Block Island to try to capitalize on the epic bite of large fish. With the tide at full strength upon our arrival, we started drifting eels. The area seemed very slow, so we returned to our comfort zone and started trolling long wires. Our crew is most comfortable with jigging parachutes. We jigged for about an hour before our first bite.
We joined a fleet of boats including Montauk and Connecticut Charter boats, which would be a true indicator we had picked the right spot. On this day the fishing was tough and we would have to work hard to compete.
Although many boats left the marina with Block Island and Montauk set as a waypoint, others stayed close and did well. Ed Jensen, a two time champion, stayed true to his normal haunts and place third overall, while Wade Thomas stayed in the sound and capture the biggest blue, weighing in at 14.8 pounds and taking honors in two categories. Another boat that stayed close to home was the Rebel Yell, which drifted buck tails at Plum Gut, and put Emily Fiore on the biggest bluefish in the youth division. Mason Baeztook second in the youth division using the tube and worm method over at Montauk, and once again Gus Mike finished strong in third place.
In order to be crowned the king, you need to produce a Bass and a Bluefish, with the most combined points, with the bluefish scoring the biggest points per pound. Ray Etienne joined his normal tournament crew. After hitting his local resources Ray put a plan together that would work setting out for Block. In an effort to get his bass, it was suggested he use tubes which he did. After a conflicting report, he wasn’t sure if he should spice the tube with anything, so after a good hour without a bite he put the Captain Bruce pink Otter Tail on which netted him a 37 pound bass. After another hour or so, he was still short a blue fish, as was our team.
With half the day behind us Bobbette, landed a 13 pound bass and Michael put us in contention with a 32 pound bass. All I could think was, “I am fishing Block for about 4 hours and I can’t find a bluefish in August”. Talk about frustrating! Raymond in the same position had a report of “critter” bluefish inside Black Point, ran close to home to catch the front end of the flood tide and landed a 14 pound bluefish. In an effort to leave our lines in the water as long as possible, we stayed at Block Island’s Southwest Ledge, and at about 1:45, Bobbette and Mitchell doubled down on 2 bluefish that would surely push our team up the leader board.
No one truly knows the results until after dinner at the awards ceremony where over $29,000 in cash and prizes were handed in 16 categories by Don Mackenzie. Ray Etienne and crew were crowned our new 2014 “King of Dock” and our team placed second overall with Bobbette awarded as the 2014 Ladies Champion. The second and third place bass that deserve recognition in the mid-thirties were caught by Tom Annuli and Tom Purcell.
Since the moon tide and the heavy rain, fluke fishing inside has been tough. It seems like boats are taking farther rides to bring home a decent catch and sometimes that isn’t guaranteed. Sea bass seem to be saving many trips when the fluke just aren’t there.
As most of the locals out of Niantic know, no one fishes harder for fluke than Glenn Rokicki, and Tuesday night he returned to the dock with a 14 pound fluke landed by crew members Frank Migliore out at Block Island. I am sure we all will hear more about this fish.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Tom Clapsadle, Jr.