HOWstanding!!! Oct. 8th De Valle

  Great Job Everyone!!!!

  Thank you so much to everyone who came to help and everyone in the background....

 Not sure of all details but we had somewhere around 30 vets...

about the same on Volunteers....  lots of food....

 Some Good stories to come....  and everyone had fun...

even me....  


 So tired... can't think straight...  

special thanks again to everyone for going out of your way to a lake that was bound to be tough to fish and show these Brave Men and Women that we Really do appreciate their Service and

 Want them to Join NCKA!!!!    

 Everyone worked very hard and hate to single out anyone...

 But a Quick Special Thank You to KayakJack for Cooking all week and moving that Mobile Kitchen out there...

 Wilderness Hunter for Beating the Bushes and Pounding the Pavement for all that Great stuff...

RancinRob... Oops... racinrob for getting it there...  

would not have survived without that COFFEE!!!!!

 Ben, Charlie and Scott for bringing their boats....

Frankfishing for Keeping me sane....

Everyone deserves Huge props for what you did , but too tired to get it all right and will get back to ya soon....

 Lots of people to thank...

Thanks Again ,,,

and everyone was also very generous with the donation box...!!!

 I'm pretty sure it's covered!!!!  Thanks so Much!!!

 OutStanding Job Everyone...

 More to come....     Good Night.....

 

Arrived at the park around 7:15am.  Took a snap shot of several deers walking in the parking lot.  After unloading my yak, came over to help setting up the fishing rods to get them ready for the day.  The breakfast was delicious and the hot sauce made by Jack was "perfect" with a good spicy kick to it.  My fishing partner for the day was David.  He's a retired veteran who served our country for over 30 years and a "hard core" fisherman.  This was his first time on the kayak but he handled it like a pro.  We started out fishing close to the boat launch and moved to a different spot every 30 minutes or so if the fish don't bite.  He got several hits but none of them stick.  We came back to the picnic area for a quick but great lunch and got back on the water to try a new spot right across from our picnic area.  Less than 15 minutes after I threw the bait out, I got a good hit which was taking line from my free pool.  I count 1001-1003 (per Frank's instructions this morning in his quick group tutorial) and closed the bail and set the hook...Fish On!!!  It fought very good and ran toward the submerged tree to my left, I tried to steer it away but it's too late as I'm now playing tuck-of-war with the fish wrapped around the submerged branches!  David came over to assist but we can't get it out so he got out of the kayak into the water in an attempt to pull the tree branch toward the shore.  I pleased to him to get out of the water since he might get cold but he said the water was warm and determined to untangle the line.  He could feel the fish hitting his leg but can't reach it (the water was about 6ft deep).  I told him to forget about the fish but he wanted to try one more time.  Unfortunately, the line snapped and the fish was gone.  I told David that I would love to have him as a fishing partner any day and if next time he fish in Benicia (he told me earlier he fish there a lot in the past) I'll loan him my kayak so we can fish together again.  Once again, thank you David for trying so hard to help me and I hope to see/fish with you in the near future.
I saw lots of smiling face today, too bad the fish was not cooperated due to lots of bait fish available in the lake.  I would like to thanks Don, Jack, and everyone who participated and make this event a success one.  Here are some pictures of the day...

A few more...and guess what Mooch was doing? 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=26805.0;attach=76652;image
The attack of the feather. Look out....He's dangerous!

Again I am proud to say I am part of NCKA. I had the privilege to talk to David prior to him becoming Sailfishes private retriever and he had to concentrate to get what he was thinking out. This individual vet had just gone through some major trauma and was grasping for words. However, after Sailfishes retrieval class he was animated and crisp with the incident mentioned and very fired up. I don't think this would pass the VA protocol for treatment but after witnessing this myself I would have to say that David was living the moment rather then the past.
Sailfish great job and thank you for your service to this vet. Only one thing if you want a retriever I have a couple left from Bella's litter that you can purchase Love Frankfishing
   

It was real cool to be helping the vets again. We put out a wicked spread with bbq chicken,tri-tip,homemade blackbean salad,potato salad,chips,homemade salsas,homemade chili,fresh-cut fruit,pastries,peet's coffee,hot cider,bagels w/creamcheese. There was some serious brotherhood goin down at delvalle yesterday. I got to go on a guided tour of the lake with tiny and a few of the vets on the pontoon boat. We had a real good time for sure. One of the vets named Jerry,has his own hobie mirage-drive boat that he pedals with a prothstetic leg. He has a great sense of humor and is a member here now. I hope he can make it out to some hook-ups and fish with us more. Thanks to my galley crew,tiny,bigfoot,jedmo,great bass2's wife and the other lady(sorry i forgot your name). Special props to guitarzan who loaded and unloaded every piece of gear with me twice,worked hard in the galley,made time to mingle with the vets and still found time to inundate us with ciffisms. Danglin' thanks for your countless hours swimming through red tape to make it happen.

Some pics, still pretty foggy right now, ...

a few more

Another Thanks to Sunrise Mountain Sports...

 they were really a life saver, most everyone wanted to kayak and we had just enough Good kayaks for everyone,

with only one capsize...

 Zisco, I have your thermos and Hat...

There were a few Great Moments I witnessed,

But watching lapulapu, take a Vet, and his wife out on a outfitter, and son darting around on a outback, all day with fishing poles....

well,  that was the intention when I thought to just open this up to all Vets and family... I wanted to see family out together for a great day, but did not expect they would all kayakfish together....

  Awesome....

We were loaded for Bear, we were supposed to get another 20 plus vets and I'm not really sure what happened....

seems like Bureaucracy...  

Oh well, I'm not going there with all the good that happened...

and while I was writing up this post... David, (Sailfish's striper retriever...   )

Just called me, I have his jacket left in tini's yak...

This is a Mile stone fellas!!!  it only took a year....  a vet has called me, heard he called sunny too, and wants to buy a kayak, wants to go fishing with us and is,  

(and this is what I was hoping for... )

Telling me of some of his buddies, who lets just say, could use our help...  

I'm thinking, we know we hit Del Valle a little early, and I would hate to be stung fishing wise on this lake again, but,

it's close to turning over, we had to have made a good impressin on the park...

what do you say we hit again when it turns over in a month or so..?

Definitly. Now that you have the process down the next one will fall into place. It was great to see everyone pull together. Everyone would be amazed at the amount effort and man hours you put in Don. If they only new!
Thanks and looking forward to the next one.
  Randall

Had a great time! Thanks to Don and the rest of the NCKA crew for making the time to spend the day with Veterans! I was paired with Casey, a Gulf War Vet and we hit it off instantly! As we fished for the non existent del valle trout, we carried on and had a great conversation. I told him about my current fight with cancer and told him about all the love and support that I've been getting from my own band of brothers and sisters (NCKA ). He then opened up as well and told me about his life after the war and all the adventures and struggles that he is still experiencing to this day. What really made my day was hearing him say "where can I buy one of these fishing kayaks"   He had also mentioned that he had not planned to attend the event and was simply convinced to go by his fellow Vet buddies. And he was glad he did

As far as fishing, Casey and I decided to switch gears and go for the bass. I caught a nice 16.5 incher earlier in the morning tossing a weedless frog on the weed mats so I had a spare frog and tied one on for him. We hit all the mats really hard and Casey got one bass to swirl just inches shy behind his frog and that was it. We took a break and hung out by the hetch hetchy camp site until lunch was announced. Good times! Casey I hope you find your way here at NCKA! Best of luck to you and I hope to fish with you again soon

Kayak Jack and his "man kitchen" was a hit 

Awesome I'm glad it all worked out

agree with all the other guys, it was a great day, even if the darned fish weren't cooperating.  I took a father and son team out on my boat, trolled around a bit but didn't find anything. we had a nice little boat ride up to the dam.

Thanks Don for all your hard work on putting such great event like this for our Vets.
It was a great pleasure of mine to help in any way I can and I know that this HOW
will only get bigger in the future. I am still very impressed of Jack's out door kitchen. What a great cook this guy is. No question where I'll be camping next to
in our next fish and chill. Thanks to all that came . Looking forward to
the next HOW event. Count me in again please.

Jedmo

First person I encountered at Del Valle in the week hours of darkness was Scott (Akagrumpy's son) launching his PB. He directed me to the right parking lot where my first sighting was of Mooch and his Man Van II. Danglin and Frankfishing were already there unloading yaks and gear. Zisco and RacinRob showed up soon after. The BBQ facilities were VERY convenient...very close to the parking lot.

Enjoy the pictures. Had to stop a couple of times after Danglin's best friend Sahara licked my lens a couple of times and eventually had lengthy and enjoyable chats with one of the vet's parents.

I must confirm that it was a great day at a great venue for the event, even if the fish weren't feeling hungry. No tarantulas, gopher holes, raccoons, coyote, etc. to worry about...lots of deer out and about, however.