What is Largest Tournament on West Coast

No week long party? Tsk tsk gs8 for the win

Curious to know what kayak fishing tournament is largest on west coast. Lived on east coast until 18 months ago, fished Jamaica Bay in NY, just south of JFK runways,  three days, around 325 participants.

 Its not about the biggest. Or the most people. Its about who it helps. We had 162 anglers at The Albion Open this year. The event was able to give Joel and Marv $4500.00 to split. Another amazing thing about NCKA. In case you are wondering who Joel and Marv are, they are two of us who have struggled with cancer and were unable to work. One is gone and one is now cancer free. We never know how the dice will roll. We do know how to act though.

That's really great to hear about NCKA, good thing about Jamaica Bay is that all entry fees are paid directly to Casting for Recovery http://castingforrecovery.org/ and most of the volunteers are cancer survivors. Second best is it is held on an old airfield, plenty of room for everyone's cars, trailers, campers with multiple launch sites.

The tournament I started back east hit 100 participants this year with Hobie, Jackson Kayak and Yak Attack as major sponsors, Chesapeake Bay kayak Anglers, we raise money for Make-A-Wish because my son is a cancer survivor, happened when he was three years old, just got a job in San Francisco as software engineer.

One reason I like NCKA is the support of fellow kayakers.

Curious to know what kayak fishing tournament is largest on west coast. Lived on east coast until 18 months ago, fished Jamaica Bay in NY, just south of JFK runways,  three days, around 325 participants.

 Its not about the biggest. Or the most people. Its about who it helps. We had 162 anglers at The Albion Open this year. The event was able to give Joel and Marv $4500.00 to split. Another amazing thing about NCKA. In case you are wondering who Joel and Marv are, they are two of us who have struggled with cancer and were unable to work. One is gone and one is now cancer free. We never know how the dice will roll. We do know how to act though.

That's really great to hear about NCKA, good thing about Jamaica Bay is that all entry fees are paid directly to Casting for Recovery http://castingforrecovery.org/ and most of the volunteers are cancer survivors. Second best is it is held on an old airfield, plenty of room for everyone's cars, trailers, campers with multiple launch sites.

The tournament I started back east hit 100 participants this year with Hobie, Jackson Kayak and Yak Attack as major sponsors, Chesapeake Bay kayak Anglers, we raise money for Make-A-Wish because my son is a cancer survivor, happened when he was three years old, just got a job in San Francisco as software engineer.

One reason I like NCKA is the support of fellow kayakers.

Glad to have you aboard, EK.

Glad to hear ur son survived man kudos to you guys. Hope to see you on the water.

Who cares?
Quality, not quantity.
Purpose, not numbers.

This!

Glad to hear ur son survived man kudos to you guys. Hope to see you on the water.

Thanks, only thing is he is way more interested in computers then kayaks and fishing, but that's okay since he worked hard and it is providing him a good living.

Thats the new generation luckily i grew out of it and went back to the out doors. Hope u can draw him out of his cyber cave to get some fish on his hands

I think Cambria Slam Down had close to 100 anglers this year. Ryan can give exact figure. It is cool you did an event for Make a Wish. My granddaughter just went to Disney world. with Make A Wish she Has Cystic Fibrosis. I live on the Central Coast ( San Luis Obispo Area ). Takes me about 8 hours to get to norcal. In our area since I live just off the 101. I see more and more yaks everyday. I think someday the amount of anglers in a tournament will be limited like give me shelter event. I can see the Slam down approach over 150 if it grows like last year. First year I think we had 30, second around 100. Ryan may need some more help as it grows.   

Who cares?
Quality, not quantity.
Purpose, not numbers.

The JaxKayakFishing Classic is actually a charity event.  Not sure how Mike Hogan manages to do it but they give out around $85,000 in prizes.  A lot of that is actually in raffle prizes.  There are no cash prizes as that event.  I'm pretty sure all the major kayak brands are sponsors.  Top prize for each category is a new kayak.

This year Heroes On The Water is one of the two charities that is being benefitted.  It's an awesome event although the weather is usually terrible on tourney day.  Last year I fished in 40mph winds and driving rain the whole day.  It was far from a tank top and board shorts weather day!

Well said Craig!

To clarify, is the NY tourney three days of fishing? I've been thinking a tourney with a two or three day total. Would be a great testament to to a fisherman's skill

Four days total, Thursday is pre-fish/scout area, Fri, Sat and Sunday for tournament. You have to register your fish each day.

Meet a lot of people over four days, and they raise a lot of money for charity, entry fees, raffles, donations etc. They give a prize to the person who brings the most people from another kayak fishing club. More participants the better when purpose is to support charities. Plus more sponsors, I think it was 5 or 7 kayaks they gave away.

With over three hundred fishermen they keep a running scoreboard over the three days with 1st, 2nd and 3rd posted so you know what you have to beat and they don't spend a lot of time registering fish on the last day.

I think Cambria Slam Down had close to 100 anglers this year. Ryan can give exact figure. It is cool you did an event for Make a Wish. My granddaughter just went to Disney world. with Make A Wish she Has Cystic Fibrosis. I live on the Central Coast ( San Luis Obispo Area ). Takes me about 8 hours to get to norcal. In our area since I live just off the 101. I see more and more yaks everyday. I think someday the amount of anglers in a tournament will be limited like give me shelter event. I can see the Slam down approach over 150 if it grows like last year. First year I think we had 30, second around 100. Ryan may need some more help as it grows.

Hope your granddaughter and family are doing well! Disney World for us, flew the whole family down first class. Make-A-Wish is a great charity, another is Ronald McDonald House, spent a lot of nights sleeping there.

I think Cambria Slam Down had close to 100 anglers this year. Ryan can give exact figure. It is cool you did an event for Make a Wish. My granddaughter just went to Disney world. with Make A Wish she Has Cystic Fibrosis. I live on the Central Coast ( San Luis Obispo Area ). Takes me about 8 hours to get to norcal. In our area since I live just off the 101. I see more and more yaks everyday. I think someday the amount of anglers in a tournament will be limited like give me shelter event. I can see the Slam down approach over 150 if it grows like last year. First year I think we had 30, second around 100. Ryan may need some more help as it grows.

Hope your granddaughter and family are doing well! Disney World for us, flew the whole family down first class. Make-A-Wish is a great charity, another is Ronald McDonald House, spent a lot of nights sleeping there.

My nephew just has his make a wish trip to the SoCal theme parks and also got to go to a Lakers game. He had biliary atresia and got a live donor liver transplant from my brother-in-law, cutting edge stuff. The Stanford hospital and Ronald McDonald house were instrumental in his recovery. He's doing great now, just has to take his anti rejection meds. He started kindergarten and is doing great!

Can't say enough positive things about make a wish and Ronald McDonald charities!

Who cares?
Quality, not quantity.
Purpose, not numbers.

This!

I'm a little interested in it.  By many accounts, many of these large tournaments have many of the qualities that we have in our tournaments.  I think it's kinda cool to see like minded individuals doing things similarly to us.

-Allen

Our big tourneys will always have a less attendance than east coast or southern tourneys for the following reasons:

1. Remote locations: both GS and Albion are several hours of driving from the nearest metropolitan center.
2. Saltwater venue
3. Sometimes extreme WX requiring more safety equipment and precautions
4. For Cambria - the landlord

I don't think anyone in NCKA really cares about how many people attend our events, except for PolePole.  I think we do care about hanging out with new and old friends and having a good time. It's really more social than competitive for the majority of participants. As Dustin mentioned, we actually get together because we like each other, unlike other groups. In some ways, less than 200 participants is good with regard to launch logistics. GS in particular is not a large launch area which we share with the PB's. I believe the tournament in Vacouver BC is the longest running tourney on the west coast. I may actually compete in that one next year.

I don't think anyone in NCKA really cares about how many people attend our events, except for PolePole.  I think we do care about hanging out with new and old friends and having a good time. It's really more social than competitive for the majority of participants. As Dustin mentioned, we actually get together because we like each other, unlike other groups. In some ways, less than 200 participants is good with regard to launch logistics. GS in particular is not a large launch area which we share with the PB's. I believe the tournament in Vacouver BC is the longest running tourney on the west coast. I may actually compete in that one next year.

Aw come on.  You care Scott!!!

-Allen