On May 21st I had the privilege of teaming up with Ryan Collins for the 6th annual Cheeky Schoolie Fly Fishing Tournament.
Anglers from all over the country attend this event on Cape Cod. It's even touted as the largest fly fishing tournament in the world!
My preparations started early that week with a run through of reels, rod, line, leader, tippet, flies, waders, and boots.
Making sure all my gear was in good working order was a critical step in readying myself for a striper-packed weekend.
Gathering Intel
Ryan and I had chatted about recent reports, where the fish were being caught, and what was being used.
Considering we were fishing in a competition, Ryan and I quickly embraced the "go big or go home" mindset.
Ryan had acquired a bunch of beautiful, large herring patterns.
I sifted through my collection, and set aside a few of the larger options. In an effort to match the hatch, I attempted to tie a few flies with a larger profile.
My fly-tying skills are not exactly honed, but it was a fun way to pass the time until Ryan and I would be casting our flies at "monster" striped bass on the tidal flats of Cape Cod.
Scouting for Fly Fishing Spots
The day before the tournament, I met up with Ryan at dawn to spend a few hours scouting some of the popular fly fishing areas shown in the map below.
The conditions couldn’t have been more ideal. The wind was moderate, the temperature working its way from the 50’s to high-70’s, all under blue bird skies. We geared up and hit the water!
Seven hours and four seemingly perfect spots later, we remained fishless (however as of May 27th, some awfully large bass have been caught in this area from boat and shore).
Ryan made mention of one more location quite removed from where we were originally focusing. He didn’t have time because of work obligations, but he suggested I give it a try.
With high hopes of finding fish I headed to the area shown in the map below.
Unfortunately I got skunked!
I gave Ryan a call on my drive home, and informed him about the lack of activity. To my surprise he said, “I still think we should fish there tomorrow.”
The wind was due to pick up that evening, blowing in from the NNE. The forecast also called for a temperature drop of 25-30 degrees, so the fish were sure to respond.
However, I couldn’t figure out why he thought this was the best option. I asked for clarification, expecting some technical answer from this seasoned fisherman.
His response: “I’ve just never been skunked there!”
Cheeky Tournament Check-in
As I drove to the Cheeky check-in location on Saturday morning, a long caravan of pickup trucks and SUV’s slowly wound its way into the West Dennis Beach parking lot.
Ryan and I connected, and began to navigate our way to the registration table through a sea of beards and waders.
As we waited for the event to begin, we were able to chat with a number fellow fishermen that recognized Ryan and his work on My Fishing Cape Cod.
The tournament “goody bags” were distributed along with the required measuring paraphernalia. After a quick recap of the tournament's history and rules, the teams were off to their “secret spots.”
Donned in our Team MFCC swag, Ryan and I were ready to fish.
Off to Our "Secret Spot"
When I scouted this "secret spot" the day before, it took me 30 minutes of trudging through woods and sand to get from my car to the prime fishing spot.
However this is not what Ryan had in mind. He turned to me and said, “I’m going to power walk to the spot if you don’t mind.”
I responded with “Have at it, I’ll catch up.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed at Ryan’s focus and will, as I proceeded to march my 250lb, wader-wearing frame down the beach. I was a tiny bit worried that we’d have to turn back by the time I caught up with him!
Suddenly, Ryan came to a stop.
It was tough to see due to the distance, but I could just make out his form as he dropped his bag and waded into the waves. I could just barely see his arm making long, graceful fly casting motions.
Big Flies but Small Bass
In the distance, I could tell that Ryan was starting to fight fish. By the time I caught up to him, he was on his second or third bass. I scrambled to ready my gear as fast as possible, so I could get in on the action!
For the next 1.5 hours we caught and released a couple dozen fish. I threw a white and grey clouser, while Ryan stuck with his 8”+ herring streamer. Both patterns managed to get lots of strikes.
The bulk of our catch were sub 20” schoolies.
However Ryan did hook what looked like a 30" bass that he lost at his feet.
Finally catching fish (after struggling the day before) was very satisfying, and to compliment that feeling, it was nice to know we were on the board for the tournament!
As the tide continued to go out, the fishing slowed and eventually shut off. We packed up and made our way to another spot. It was a beautiful walk back with dunes, and seagrass laden coves.
All of this in an area I had never been before!
Secret Location #2
The specific spot we decided to post up and start fishing was much more contained. You can see the spot highlighted in the map below with the red arrow.
We started by drifting flies in the swift current in lieu of casting, because the wind direction and intensity made casting very difficult.
The action at this second location was much slower than the first. It was a solid 30-40 minutes before we got a bite.
The first fish I scored was caught by drifting the streamer out around a point and then stripping over a sand ridge in the shallows.
Ryan had worked his way about 50 yards to my left with a bit more wind protection. We fished hard, while trying our best to manage for the time.
It was going to take awhile to get back to the cars, and drive back to South Dennis to turn in our score card before the 2:30pm deadline.
A "Huge" Hookup
Suddenly, Ryan exclaimed, "Huge fish!" I looked back over my shoulder and saw Ryan’s rod doubled over, his left hand desperately trying to control the fish on the end of his line.
This was the fish we were looking for! This bass would put us on the leaderboard for sure.
As I backed down the beach stripping in my slack to get ready to help Ryan land his monster, the hook pulled. As disappointing as that was, we were encouraged to know that there were a few big fish around.
We kept at it hard for another hour or so, but time was waning. With enough fish to justify turning in a score card, we packed up and started to hike.
By the time we made it back to the cars, we had hiked about 5+ miles, over 30,000 steps (according to my Samsung Frontier).
The Catch & Release "Weigh In"
The drive back to Dennis was about as close as you could possibly make it. With cards due in no later than 2:30, my GPS said we had 20 minutes to drive and it was 2:08pm.
Red lights, stop signs, cars taking their sweet time to enter traffic, it literally came down to the wire. When we pulled into the overflowing parking lot at Swan River, there was no time.
I gave Ryan the signal, and he raced into the building turning in our numbers with 6 seconds to spare!
The Cheeky folks and all the sponsors had some serious gear to award including cash, Costa glasses, rods, Cheeky reels, and Yeti coolers. It was quite the spread!
We enjoyed a few beers, and bumped into more MFCC fans that recognized Ryan and his work on the site.
Out of 320 anglers, Team MFCC placed 31st. We weren't even that far out of first place in terms of total length!
All in all it was a fantastic time. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to participate in such a beautiful location with such a pleasant and knowledgeable angler like Ryan.
Next year… they don’t stand a chance.
About the author
Doug B.
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Great story. Thank you for sharing
The tournament’s always a bunch of fun. Hope all is well Marc. Happy Holidays to you and your son!
I wish I would’ve done the tournament. Sounds like an exciting event to be a part of! Any specific tips you’d have for tournaments of this nature? Ned, Dex and I will be in the MV Rod & Gun Club tournament this upcoming weekend.
Do it with us next year, Brian. We’re hoping to make an organized and fun MFCC thing of it next year if possible. I am certainly no seasoned tournament angler but i think there’s a lot to be said for pre-tournament prep and reconnaissance; testing locations if at all possible to see where the fish are and what they’re eating. That and time management. We really cut it too close on that front.
Brian do you also fly fish!?
It’d be great to get you involved in this tournament during 2018.
Count me in for 2018. I knocked the dust off my flyrod this season. About half of my fish so far have been on the fly. I haven’t fine-tuned my skills, but I can get the line in the water.
Great re-cap of the fly fishing Tournament!
It was a lot of fun, Tom.
You could have fished another 5 seconds. Enjoyed your report and hope your legs recover from the walk. Number 31 out of 320 is great.
Enjoyed the journey and it goes to show how fast the fishing can change, day to day. Well done guys!
five and a half seconds, Jake. Yes it was fun. Next year I’m going to start training so i can keep up with the Cape Cod Kenyan. … although don’t tell Ryan i said that, i don’t think he likes that nick name. 🙂 the motivating part is Ryan hooked the two fish that would have won the thing. Oh well, “Horse shoes and hand grenades”