Almost lost in a thread over the weekend, Team Ave Maria finished in 8th place out of what looks like 26 boats in the FLW Striper Series Championships down in VA...

Kudos to Captains Mike and Ron :btu:

Thanks John !
I planned to post a report with pictures, but I was waiting for some to be emailed to me and others are on disposable cameras!

We got down to Virginia sat late noon, got the boat in the water and checked into our hotel.
We head out sunday scouting the Chesapeake Bay bridge, but only found small fish there, so we went and stuck to our plan of fishing WAY north up the bay !!!
Monday was a blow out because of high winds so we got in the truck and took the LONG ride north to where we planned to fish to snoop around, and we stopped in quite a few bait/tackle shops and got as much info that we could !!!
We even came across Omega protein co. and for anyone who dosen't know who the are, they are one of the biggest problems with the lack of bunker/pogies around !!!
Tuesday, we head out early, going 70 miles north and fished about 6 hrs, landing MANY FAT slot size fish that we needed !!!
and some fish too big like the 40lb fish that was brought to the side of the boat!
Wed, we did more of the same, but covered more ground and spending less time at the same spot!
So we figured as long as the weather was on our side, we would be in good shape !!!
Wed evening we go to the captains meeting and dinner !
Starting time was 7:00 am thursday, once released I start driving us north doing about 40kts.
We get about 30 miles and the port engine blows the prop (spun hub)
So we continue with the stb ,motor 5000rpm and the port would do about 2000 rpm without slipping, but we were dont to 18 - 20 kts at best!
We go another 20 miles and made the call to start fishing there.
Lines in the water and about 1/2 hr later we had a good fish on.
We net the fish and it measures 33 1/2 inches and about 18 - 19 lbs!!
We stayed there about another hr with no luck and figured we were going to need about 5 hrs to get back in and because we were running heavy on one motor, that motor sucked up most of the gas in the tank that feeds it, plus the wind was supposed to kick up soon.
We get about 2/3 the way back and realized we were making good time when we came up on some birds working so we started fishing again.
After about 1/2 hr and no fish, we started bringing in the lined slowly one at a time.
Just as Mike M was to grab the last rod it goes over, fish on !!!
We get it to the boat and net it, it's not as good as the 1st fish, we don't even measure it, but we know it's in the slot.
Now we make the call to head to Cape Charles gas which was close by.
About 1 mile from the gas dock, the stb prop blows (another spun hub) But fortunately we we have a spare stb prop with us!
We limp to the gas dock and I get in the water and change the prop while they pump the gas.
We make the the weigh in with 15 minutes to spare and when the days weigh in is done, we are in 6th place. we are pretty happy considering the prop problems only allowed us to fish less than 2hrs! but are also a bit bummed because we know we could have been much higher in the standing without the prop problems !!!
Thursday night the weather really kicked up with a gale warning posted till noon friday.
We were hoping for the day to be poseponed till sat with the final day being sunday.
But early friday morning we get a call that they plan a meeting mid morning and for us to be there.
They decide we will start fishing @ noon and have to be back in at 3:00, Not good for us !!!
So we head out at 12: and instead of it blowing 30 - 35 it's blowing 25 and there were 5-8 ft seas !!!
I'm not sure on the number, but there were more than a few boats who decided not to head out!
As we are being lead out the river, there was a crew on a pilot boat who made jestures with their hands being guns to their hears, kind of saying , you guys are F***ing nuts !!!! :doh:
But we head out anyway!
we don't get out too far and start fishing as best we could manage !
Fish for only about 1 hr and it's time to head back in, No fish caught !!
We go to the weigh in and of the boats who went out, 2 boats got 1 fish each and each of those fish put those teams up into the top 5, dropping us down to 8th :(
Sat we head out to fish for fun and we needed to burn a lot of gas because we wanted to get the tanks close to empty so we wouldn't have the extra weight for the LONG ride back to Ma.
Of the 5 teams fishing sat for the championship, only 2 teams brought in fish, and of course, even though we were out of the running, we hammered good fat slot size fish !!!
So even though we had some bad luck with the props and the weather not helping, we can't wait till next year and will most likely be fishing every leg that FLW is planning.
For anyone considering fishing FLW next year in our opinion, they are 1st class far above the way other tournaments are run!!!

Sounds like you had a blast. I fished that bay as a kid with my Grandfather. Lots of memeries there. Congradulations on the 8th place finish.

I forgot to mention,
The 3rd (spare) prop starting going on the way in from where we got gas to the check point for weigh in !
Seems there has been an ongoing problem with Etecs burning up prop hubs from the exhaust getting them too hot, but they now have a new redesigned prop that has fixed the problem.

Also,
For anyone considering a new boat or motor,
We can't say enough good things about Eagle Marine In Sandwich Ma.
After we got the the check point for the weigh in , Capt Mike got on his cell phone and called them.
By the time we got in the river to the marina, tied up, and our fish weighed, they had a tech there with 2 brand new props that he installed for us !!!:humpty:

raider ron you. forgot the luck part. on tuesday were heading out and rons hat blows off. and it brought us good luck we caught some big fish that day. well thursday. were heading out and boom his hat blows off and yes we landed two nice fish. so friday ronnie is doing his best to let the wind take his hat for the fish gods. but it just wasnt to be. and we said its not the same if he just threw it in.as ron said this was a top notch turnament. the shops down south where very helpful. and we lerned alot.if anyone was on the bubble about fishing f l w this year i would highly recomend you fish it in 2007. as ron said we have pics coming tommrow

Awww - I wish I knew you were going up that far, I grew up in that area :hihi:

That Friday was my type of weather! I made a 16 mile one way run in that slop in a 21 ft boat, hit one wave that was about twice the size of me...Took a wave over the stern that dumped water in my boat that went over my boots! Nice having a few hundred gallons of water sloshing around my boat...We came back from behind that day with a 19.6lb fish that put us into fifth. We got to fish the final day, what a blast...Over a hundred fish in the boat but not one in the slot, two other teams didnt get to weigh anything either...We stayed in fifth.

nice work guys! :btu:

way to go guys!!!!:humpty:

That Friday was my type of weather! I made a 16 mile one way run in that slop in a 21 ft boat, hit one wave that was about twice the size of me...Took a wave over the stern that dumped water in my boat that went over my boots! Nice having a few hundred gallons of water sloshing around my boat...We came back from behind that day with a 19.6lb fish that put us into fifth. We got to fish the final day, what a blast...Over a hundred fish in the boat but not one in the slot, two other teams didnt get to weigh anything either...We stayed in fifth.

You must be Team Power Play
Congrats on the 5th place !!! :kewl:
Anyone who managed a fish caught friday deserved to be in the top 5, especially in a 21 ft boat !!!

Congrats guys, well done! :cheers:

Congrads all! Sounds like ya'all had a blast... Can't wait to Spring...
:cheers: :bounce:

Way to go guys. Cow Hunter & Team Ava Maria are the best.