Arriving on Thursday night after the 3.5 hour drive to Virginia Beach I met up with fellow anglers Dee and Kelly. Kelly was nice enough to invite me to stay at her cousins house for the weekend! We got up early Friday morning to hit the CBBT for the Bull Reds. Chris Parson and Gene joined us. The mile paddle out was a breeze with the Kraken 15.5. Its very stable fully loaded and does not loose speed.
Afterwards I joined Kelly Dee and Kelly’s family for her nieces birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Although almost a complete stranger these people welcomed me like family. We enjoyed dinner laughs and some cake together. We said farewell and it was time to get some rest because we had a lot of tide to compete with for these bull reds.
Arriving in the dark it was a warm morning however it was tournament day and there was a lot more activity at the drop in areas that access the bridge tunnel shoreline. Tournament participants were readying their gear and launching for a shot at the big redfish. 
Soon after launching the sun emerged a huge red globe emanating a warm hue of light. Beginning with another calm morning but just missing the slack tide by 30 min or so. We were in for a famous 4 knot tide day. 
Holding place at the bridge was near impossible. Every snag to retie cost about a mile paddle back to the bridge. Not sure if it was just the amount of kayaks anglers pressuring the fish or the fish were just not there catching was slim. The same boat was there as the prior day and only saw them hook and land 1 fish. Fishing was dead and the winds were starting to blow. I decided to call it a day and move to another launch in behind Lynn Haven inlet. The paddle back was shaky as there were easily 3 – 4 foot waves and a following sea. We went to the drop in and it was un-land able up to the wall there. So we had to paddle back west to the beach that was rapidly disappearing. A text book surf landing was in store as the waves were rolling and crashing.
Kelly and I arrived at the launch soon after to fish the backwaters of Lynn Haven. It was nice to be back here as it had been four years. Everyone i talked to said fishing wasn’t great. I threw a spoon at first then swtiche to a DOA jig with a paddle tale. It took about an hour and by now the wind was way worse. I lost Kelly due to the shallow water. Her pedal drive just wasn’t working in the area. She eventually caught up and jsut as she did i had a fish in. The only red of the trip.
a 17″ Red Drum or Redfish
Fishing unfamiliar places is always a challenge. Managed a total of 4 more reds in the 14-16 inch range then called it a day too late to even make it back for the weigh in. We loaded up and were headed back to the hotel where the event HQ was. The food was great and hanging out with the jersey guys was awesome also. The tournament raised over 15,000 for charities in 2016 which made it possible to donate 14,000 to the Tidewater Chapter of Heroes on The water and 1,000 to the Portsmouth chapter of Project Healing Waters. Over the past 9 years of the tournaments existence has raised over 100,000 for charity which is amazing.