Tournament report and results.

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

Well I am now feeling a bit rested after the very long days before and during the tournament.

Well I must say that with two weeks to go before the tournament and only 30 signed up I was a bit worried that this years tournament was going to flop. We had a ton of sponsors lined up but very few entrants; I was becoming a bit stressed. As the next two weeks progressed the entries began to trickle in then came in a flood to end with 87 pre-registered, still less than hoped for but the way things were going I was happy.

What a site to arrive at the launch at 4:15 and see it already lined with cars and kayaks, and that huge spread for breakfast. My wife and daughter along to help with the sign in procedure was a big help because I quickly had a line behind my truck ready to get going. Who am I kidding my wife and daughter did most of the work. With a good number of walk up registrations we hit the numbers we always want, and that is topping 100, we finished with 112 kayaks on the water for the day.

At 7:15 we sent off the last of the contestants out to the bait boat and the rest of the fray. I had already heard of some fish landed over my radio so the anticipation for the weigh in was setting in. I packed up and headed to Kate Sessions Park to make sure we had our spot staked out. When I arrived, I found Toni, and Matt Moyer had our spot under the trees reserved and my popup tent set up, So I made the run home to pick up the prizes for the winners and the raffle.

When I got back to the park with the goods, I found that Matt had let another group grab some of our space, not a huge deal but I had to bust his balls anyway. As we started to set the prizes on the table, it became more obvious what great support we had received from the sponsors. We kept unloading more and more cool prizes, we certainly had more stuff than any tournament in the past.

The first fish to roll into the weigh-in was from 11 year old Kailey Near, a 22 lb 1 oz yellow which she landed while fishing from a tandem with her dad John. Several fish came in after that but Kailey’s fish held the lead for quite some time. She finally got bumped off when 22 lb 15 oz yellow came in from Brad Collins, followed by some even bigger fish.

Of course, much of the talk was of Andy “Iceman” Allen’s catch. The word was that he had landed a nice WSB early in the morning and was waiting to make a grand entrance at the weigh in dead line. Of course he said he ran into work, but most thought it was for show. At twenty minutes before the deadline Andy walked up with what would be the winning fish a 32 pound 13 oz White Seabass. Andy is our first repeat winner of this tournament and no one deserves it more. He went as far as to call his shot on this forum only days before the event. He stated what he would do to win, and went out and did it.

Some may say that fishing is luck but looking over the results and who weighed in fish at the event, there is a trend of the same guys showing up. Mike Knott and Corey Wyrick both past winners of this event weighed in fish and many of the others that weighed in fish were names that are recognized kayak fisherman. Congratulations to Andy and the other winners as well as everyone else that weighed in a fish. Below is the list of fish weighed.
1. Andy Allen White Seabass 32 pounds 13 oz.
2. Dana Lucas Yellow tail 24 pounds 7 oz
3. Keith Martin Halibut 24 pounds
4. Brad Collins Yellowtail 22 pounds 15 oz
5. Kailey Near Yellowtail 22 pounds 1 oz (top junior and top female angler) everyone below this got beat by a little girl
6. Corey Wyrick Yellowtail 21 pounds 14 oz
7. Nathan Clookie Yellowtail 21 pounds 4 oz
8. Ari Caldevilla Yellowtail 20 pounds 10 oz
9. Mike Knott Yellowtail 19 pounds 3 oz
10. Forrest Talbott Yellowtail 17 pounds 4 oz
11. Jeff Krieger Yellowtail 13 pounds 10 oz
12. Ken Lynch Ling cod 10 pounds 4 oz
13. Steven Green Ling Cod 6 pounds 6 oz
14. Howard Appel Ling cod 5 pounds 15 oz
15. Paul Lebowitz Barracuda 5 pounds 2 oz

The weigh in and lunch was a great chance to see everyone and share stories of the day on the water. I had someone tell me “this is my favorite part, these are people I love to hang out with” I could not agree more.
The food, donated and prepared by Drew Mcpartlin catering, was unreal and everyone seemed to eat his or her fill.

The support that everyone gave during the raffle was insane, we earned $2760 just in raffle tickets. Of course Arne was the big spender and the big winner, getting the Ocean Kayak and it seemed everything to rig it up in style.
Without the sponsors, we could not make this happen, so I hope you will support them as they have supported us. Drop them a line, or email if you get a chance and thank them for the support. The Sponsor list is still up on the tournament page. I still should mention the top sponsors here. Ocean Kayak
Maui Jim
Hotel Punta Colorada
Shimano
Rapid Release
Dana Landing Market
Extra Sport
Kokatat

Thanks Matt and the Moyer family for all your help getting this together, and of course a huge thanks to my wife and family, I couldn’t do any of this without you.

I put up a new photos gallery just for the tournament, but most of the shots are just from the weigh in, if you have any on the water shots or any good shots from the event please send them to me and I will add them to the gallery.

Thanks all of you for joining us and supporting the tournament again this year. Next year please try to get signed up a bit earlier so I don’t stress so much.