All I can say is, "WOW!" This was an amazing tournament.

The event starts with a captain's meeting the night before the tournament that included check-in, vendor's displays, dinner, review of rules, and a raffle. Unlike any other sporting event I've participated in, the SWAG (captain's) bag included more stuff than I could possibly imagine. Hat, t-shirt, fishing line, sunscreen, stacks of stickers, a safety whistle, and on and on. Dinner were these amazing wings catered by Ker's Wing House and it was followed by the rules review and raffle. The raffle took over 2 hours! There was so much stuff that sponsors donated that it seemed the raffle would go on forever....and this was only the first night!

We got started early on the day of the tournament going after the big fish. We spent nearly six hours trying and only ended up with four trout among us, none over 16". None of this really mattered, though, as the day was beautiful and the scenery, amazing.

Check-in for the contenders ended at 4:30pm back at the Shriner's Auditorium, so we got there about 4PM to get some dinner and watch the awards ceremony. Again, the banquet included an amazing bar-b-que dinner from Sticky Fingers and a raffle with more goodies than the first night. We ate and participated in the raffle, while the judges evaluated the entries.

The awards ceremony followed the raffle and included awards for the best senior performance, best female performance, best junior, best fly fisherman, best flounder, best trout, best redfish, and best grand slam (all three fish in one day). The awards were unbelievable. All of the winners of each of the four major divisions won a new kayak! Everyone that came in the top four spots in each of four major divisions received a new paddle, courtesy of Accent Paddles. This was all in addition to the prizes for each place in the division.

The junior angler winner had an amazing grand slam on the day and he was only 11 years old! In fact, his slam was so good, he also won fourth place in the overall grand slam prize. The top female angler also came in 4th in the overall trout division. Also, the overall grand slam champion is a convert from power boat fishing to kayak fishing. That winner, Roger Bump, had the most amazing speech when he won the award, focusing on persistence and patience. He spoke not only to fishing, but also to life in general. You have to have a plan, execute it, be patient, and persistent. You could hear the excitement in his voice and I got chills listening. I only wish I'd taped that part of the ceremony. You can check out the results for the four major divisions on the Jax Kayak Fishing Forums, here.

I have also posted all the video I took from the event, including some video of our fishing day. It's broken up into two videos -- one for the fishing and one for the banquet. The banquet video shows footage of each of the four major division awards at the banquet. It's not exactly professional video, but it gives you an idea.

One of the best things about this event is that all the proceeds go to charities. This year, the tournament raised $28,000 for danielKids, DignityUWear, and Shriner's Hospitals for Children. Other than one corporate sponsor of $500 from Dick's Sporting Goods, all $28,000 was raised from entry fees and raffle tickets purchases. An amazing showing from all 340 participants.

I have to say thanks to Mike Kogan (KayakMike) for organizing this event and all the volunteers and sponsors that made this possible. It was my first kayak fishing tournament and certainly won't be my last. I look forward to next year. I will take the advice of Roger Bump and come in with a plan, execute it, stay patient, and persistent.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDoxzmXtaoU