GSXVIII - It's a Wrap - Big Thanks to the Community!

Make lemonade!

That was so creative and spontaneous, go Clare!

Great time at Gimme Shelter. Big thanks to Eric for organizing this event and those who volunteered to make it a success.
The Taco Shack Crew worked hard and made the best fish tacos I have ever had. Nice to meet some of the NCKA family.

Here is my photo dump from the weekend, thank you Eric and everyone to a great introduction to GS and had a blast with the NCKA community!

Fished my favorite method of a live blue but had no luck and I'm pretty sure I ended up submitting the smallest rockfish, at the time I was unaware you could simply not report LOL. Fun times everyone! Got a glimpse of the baby orcas' dorsal, and it was the largest dorsal I have ever seen!

Nice pictures 

Love it. Miss that place.
Thanks for the pics!

Thanks Eric for your hard work and wonderful time at the Cove.  My friend had a great time and caught his first fish ever from the kayak.

  What an amazing weekend. Big thanks to Mother Nature for the weather and thank you Eric for bringing the brotherhood back together again. I fished for a few hours both friday and Saturday. I caught a ling,a few verms,and assorted blacks etc. Huge thanks to Chadrock,02B,Joneszy,Butete and his wife Jingle for helping me make the tacoshack happen. also thanks to Fisheducator and others for making the bad-ass crema. Most of all, thanks to all the people who were so generous with the fillet donations. I have long felt it important to me for us to come together and enjoy our bounty of the sea together while it is fresh. It feels right and tastes good. Cant wait for the next one.

So cool to see all the pics and read all the reports and stories!!

I wish I could've made it but just wasn't possible.

Miss you all and hope to see you up there next year or out OTW somewhere else before then...

Thank you Eric for all your work and for keeping GS alive.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Finally!  Got around to unpacking and checking out my cool shirts.  Did anyone notice the year is not indicated on them? 

Finally!  Got around to unpacking and checking out my cool shirts.  Did anyone notice the year is not indicated on them?

Mmm hmm.

Finally!  Got around to unpacking and checking out my cool shirts.  Did anyone notice the year is not indicated on them?

For sure, Jerry.  I had originally worked with a local artist back in early 2020, Shawn Griggs - great guy who I've known since we were kids, and he has a studio in Ferndale - and I purchased the art for GS14 that was exactly like this year's art, but it had "14th Annual" above it.  When it came around to this year, I asked my printer if he could alter what I'd sent to him 5 years ago but never used - he said no problem.  So this year's art became a more general form of the Gimme Shelter piece.  I was very aware of it, but I felt that I should use it as it was rather than trying to engineer a new piece with more specific information about the year.  Admittedly, I feel I learned a lesson by dropping a bunch of money on the art back in early 2020, and then having to cancel due to covid.  One of the incentives for me to hold the event again was to use this art, and I'm very glad that I did.  I plan to use it in the future and just get different colored shirts and hoodies, but that plan could change.  More importantly, I realized in executing the tournament again that I really missed the community and interactions. 

The gear is fun to produce, and I'll always try to make it special.  I appreciate the feedback and will consider looking at how I can use Shawn's art and at the same time provide a date reference.

Right on.   

Raffle info:

I have always been busy administering the raffle, so photos of it and the prizes and winners are hard to come by! 

Here is a run-down of what was in the raffle:

- Cooler and cups from Sportsman's Warehouse
- PFD from Kokatat, plus t-shirt for grab bag items
- PFD from Pacific Outfitters
- Three custom gaffs from Piscean Artworks
- Ocean Setup with line counter from Englund Marine
- Grab bag items from The Lost Anchovy
- B2Squid - a squid for every angler!  and grab bag items
- Light Okuma setup from Redwood Marine
- $50 Gift Certificate from Bucksport
- Box of Custom Jigs from Kenny Baker
- Salmon and Tuna artwork from Mike Kaiser
- Tekota reel from GS benefactors
- Tournament hoodie from GS
- 5 Hawg Troughs with extenders from GS
- Fishfinder from GS
- VHF from GS
- OG Redwood Trophy Trough from GS

I hope I didn't leave anyone out.  It was a great spread for the group, and what a hoot it was to enjoy the winners' celebrations!

Big thanks to all of the sponsors and individuals who donated.

Please post photos of winners and items if you have them.  Thanks!   

Well, the shirts are beautiful, and I love mine! 

I might get creative with it and add not just the year, but the past years we couldn't hold the event with a slash through them using a paint pen.  Ha!   

After the raffle had just wrapped up and most everyone had cleared out, Sonny and his buddy Fabian were in the campground pavilion with me and Sonny asked about a Trophy Trough I might make for him.  That made me realize what I almost forgot to do.  I exclaimed, "oh fuck!" and ran out of the pavilion to my truck.  I'd made a custom 48" Trophy Trough for Captain Jake Mitchell, as a thank you for selling the raffle tickets and an acknowledgement of his status as a legitimate ambassador for Shelter Cove.

I presented the big Trough to Jake as the last move of the evening for the event, with only a handful of people there.  I wish I would've remembered to present him with it while everyone was still there.  Jake was stoked, and he told those of us standing there that he samples fish for a government science agency using a janky old trough.  Now he's got a new tool for the measuring and something to remember us kayakers by.

I want to extend a big thanks to Eric for the invite, it made my day when I got it, and has really helped me be in good spirits since then as well.
Henry and I had a great time, Tall Matt made it with us as well, and my GF too.
due to my own brain (its been a socially tough few years) we mostly stayed around The Tides hotel until sunday
We had a blast doing family things with the kiddo all dang day fri and sat, mostly watching him in the tidepools and the beach in front of the tides.
We did make it out on the water for a while during the tournament but due to health issues I didnt stay out long and just watched henry punch through the waves in front of the launch for over an hour, pretty funny watching a hobie come through wave after wave after wave. must be something about being lighter than the kayak itself to not getting bogged in the surf?
Sunday we made it over for gyotaku and boy was that fun making awesome shirts with Brandi and David! Henry has already worn his shirt to school and the sweatshirt and told everyone about his adventure.
Thank you to everyone we visited with for a wonderful and loving welcome back, it really means the world to me. Everyone was so welcoming and open for Henry and Mikaela as well, Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Again, Thank you Eric for putting this amazing event on for so long and reaching out, you're an amazing person!

also, henry still doesn't understand why Dennis is so nice and bad ass , BTW, he wants a van like that so he can travel and be awesome like that too. he's already planning when I will take him out to use the jigs. Thank you!