HOW Storm Troopers, Mission Accomplished...

Sporadic Showers...  Ya right...

  Rained all day ,,, 

     We Got it Done!!!...

 Captured the High Ground, got the shelters up first thing...

Kayakjack rocked the The Man Kitchen with Breakfast Burritos...

RancinRon and Yukon brought the Wood that saved everyone from going into Hypothermia...

Special Thanks to Wilderness Hunter for pounding the streets to get the grub ...

 Bigfoot, Thanks for taking over the Camp, and getting us power, we would have been sunk without that...

 Spike, Thanks Again, and the videos were perfect,

 Don't want to leave anyone out as Everyone worked hard to get this done and ya all were

            Champions!!!     

Thank You so Much and Proved Once Again,

   What a Incredible bunch of Folks we have right Here on NCKA...   

  Thank You!!!!   
 

We got 6 Vets out into storm conditions, we were able to get them into foul weather gear and yaks with a father / daughter team on the Bass boat, his injuries were not going to tolerate a yak...

Del Valle gave us Great logistics, but a tough bite... just a few fish caught,

but even in very tough conditions, not one complaint and all had a Great Time Once Again...

More later... very Tired...  just one more thing though...

  Thanks so much to all of you who make this Happen!!!

 Strong work does not even begin to cover it.....

Great job Don! I was thinking about you guys out there today. It was really cold and rainy in Sonoma County. I hope the next one is on a Saturday or Sunday. Had to work today to keep the wolf away. Congrats to all that did this. Jack your kitchen looks great.

WTG Don and Team - well done guys!

Awesome job!

Congrat all for another great HOW event despite the foul weather.  Sorry I couldn't make it this time.

Many thanks to Don and all the NCKA that came out to support our vets.  Many thanks to the vets who came out on a cold rainy day to fish with us. Newbies often ask me what to wear to go kayaking and I always tell them "kayak fishing is a wet sport" and yesterday was wetter than most. 

Arrived around 730 AM and rigged some rods for bait fishing. I haven't fish bait for many years so it took me awhile. I bought some powerbait which was guaranteed to catch 55% more fish. Since I have been skunked my last 4 outings, I was thinking I would catch half of a fish.  Grabbed and excellent breakfast burrito (thanks Jack!!!) and headed out to do some recon. Marked a few fish suspeneded just off the bottom north of the ramp near the pipes and on the opposite side from the pipes so plan A was to anchor up and soak bait there. Don called me in on the VHF and said he had a vet for me to take out. I was really happy because the last HOW I didn't get to guide for a vet and had to spend the day fishing with Frank and Frank guided me to a skunk. 

Picked up a vet and paddled up to the pipes and dropped anchor. Haven't dropped an anchor in over 5 years so that was interesting.  The vet I fished with is a natural kayak angler. He picked up paddling and casting really fast. We soaked powerbait and power worms for an hour or so for nada except the vet got a solid hit. A power boat and Rob were getting some action flatlining rapalas so around 1030 AM I decided to go to plan B, trolling rapalas. The trollers were getting good action on the rainbow pattern so I rigged up a Rapala J7 and J9 in the Rainbow Trout pattern and trolled the area just north of the ramp. The vet did all of the paddling and I deployed the lures. Got a solid stick on the J7 and handed the rod to the vet who brought the fish in like a pro. By then it was 1130 and we headed in for lunch.

Heated up the chili and woofed down some dogs while trying to get warm around the fire. I posted the chili recipe for those who were interested. http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,29028.0.html After lunch I had to pack up and go back to work but really had a great time. Didn't have a chance to show off my new HOW shirt because taking my jacket off was a safety hazard.  Looking forward to the next HOW event. The picture tells the story, HOOAH GO ARMY!!!

Scott

thanks everyone I know i had a good time and a very wet Yak. I didn't get any fish once again but i did get the Yak washed. cant wait for the next event.

good job guys , will make sure not to miss the next one.

Two big thumbs up for all the guys that showed up and played in the rain. It seems like we are finding our stride. Things just seemed to click and flow pretty darn smoothly despite the rain and cold. I got to take a young soldier named chad out on the water. It was his first time in a kayak and he didn't miss a beat. I gave him a 1 minute lesson on propper paddling technique and off we went. We soaked bait and moved around the lake while i preached about the wonders kayakfishing. He really seemed to get it. After a few hours of not catching in the rain,we decided to head back to the warmth of the fire. I think we will be  seeing more of Chad out on the water. Jerbear was there peddling his hobie and shakin' bait  up and down the lake with us. He shared some great stories too. I know we will be seeing him on the water. Thanks to the entire H.O.W. crew. You guys definately get it !!

Here is the e-mail sent to all HOW Chapters across the U.S. by Nation How today about our event...


 

" Neither Rain nor Snow...  "

. nor heat nor gloom of night stays these fisherman from the completion of their appointed outings ........ Nothing will stop our boys. HOW Storm troopers in Northern California yesterday. Weather doesn't stop troops in battle. Why let it slow us down back home?!!!!!!!!
 
Or as Kaleb commented - As we say in the Marine Corps "if it ain't raining we ain't training."
 
Feb 18 (Yesterday)  Don Anglin in NORCAL sends ----
 
 
From: Don Anglin [mailto:elsob@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 12:53 AM
To: Jim.Dolan
Subject: Febuary 18th 2011
 
Hi Jim,
 
Just thought I let ya know, all went well and everyone had a good time with no injuries or problems, and waivers signed!!!
 
We have had the wettest, coldest storm of the season and today did not disappoint. Real cold/wet conditions, ( Snow on the local hills!!! ), but we still got 6 vets on out the water, in foul weather gear and everyone had fun.
 
Really tired and I'll get a write up soon for the HOW site....
 
 Here is the link on ncka....
 
 Talk to ya soon,  and Yup, That is one Impressive Board!!!
 
 
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,29036.msg312391.html#new

Man!  There were some brave souls out on the water for I was freezing myself off with layers.  Thank

RancinRon and Yukon brought the Wood that saved everyone from going into Hypothermia...

for it gave me the strength to get back OTW.  Didn't mention the food too...pork butt/duck sausage.  Man!  It was great to meeting some of ya but knowing me I'll forgot your names.   

great food, great people, and not so good fishing, i will take two out of three any day, let me know when and where for the next one and i will be there.

 We really had a great crew !! Danglin,Frankinfishin Bigfoot,iroelikethat,rancidrob,rshu,yester,yukon cornelius,Mr.Storm,GB2, Jerbear and all the vets got a backstage pass to the GS5 fish-taco stand. I also want to thank fishmaster-1 for selling me one badass pan. The artery clogger was working it's magic on the breakfast burritos. It fit perfectly on my big burner and was alot of fun to cook on.

More Pics...

I forgot to mention Kayakjack, you have got to be the best out-door cook ever. If Jack is cooking I just got to be there. Didn't we take a group pic?