CLEAR LAKE - Wrap up, Reports, Picts, ect.

Thanks Mike, James & Jim and all those that worked on this event.  I got there a little late, so I just kicked back and enjoyed the  ambiance of friends and Clear Lake (boy is that an oxymoron),  The food was delicious.  My friend and I stayed close to the dessert
table for a while and we took care of our sugar intake for the month of July.  The flipped kayak was a bummer and the loss of all the expensive gear was sad.   Thanks again for a good time.

a huge thanks to Mike and James and everyone that came out and helped make this an awesome event!
I took advantage of my organizing roll and packed super light, hung out at the camp with everybody and had a fantastic fun time.
My view of the lake sat morning:

WTG, everyone! Sorry I couldn't make it. 

++ADDED TO EVENT ARCHIVES STICKY++

I had a blast...wish we could have stayed until Sunday but we had to jet before the potluck. 

Big thanks to James, Mike, Jim, and the sponsors for another great event!  Looking forward to next years.

P.s.  Sorry about almost getting us kicked out , but they deserved it after parking the golf cart on my kayak and then their attitude about it.

WTF happened?

Man I was there and Rob had every right to slap the staff around! Accusing him of key loss and us evading paying, to running over his Yak with a golf cart drunk... and all they could say is "Huh, well she said she was sorry" in the shittiest snottiest way. This place is gonna get blasted on yelp and every other review site on the web. I will never return there and hope they all @&^#%$&@^% themselves Bad employees ruin businesses and I'll be chasing down the owner to let him know about our experience...

Otherwise, thanks for the hard work on the event guys and was good to see everyone and the sponsors were generous to the point of WOW!!!! Sorry for the downer post

Oh and Rich triump did catch a cat on sunday, I pulled a skunk...

James and his brother swimming....

Wow!
What a weekend I had at the Freshkats Clear Lake Tourney!

I rolled in Fri. eve. expecting cruddy weather, as I knew Clear Lake is usually sweltering in late June.
To my surprise the temps were PERFECT with a slight breeze in the trees.
As I shared some beers and slowly got camp together I was thinking ahead to next day's tourney, envisioning myself hoisting some Clear Lake Fatties, caught on the fly rod.
I figured tomorrow had to be good to me, after all I literally flew up to CL from Woodland with not one other car slowing my progress on Hwy 20 - It was almost eerie, with no traffic behind me as well.
Everything was going good, reconnecting with my NCKA family, sharing the stories, good vibes all around, the fishing was sure to be off the hook tomorrow, I thought to myself.

Tourney morning dawned with a slight breeze and nice temps, again a perfect scenario for a productive day OTW. My campmate ScottV got his stuff together and on the water a few minutes before me, and I paddled out looking to follow the Fly Master around to see how it's done and get into some fish as well. Not 10 minutes after I launch I hear Scott on the radio: "26 inch Catfish on the fly!" crackles through my speaker.
Damn, dude was already on fish, I better get fishing.

We paddle and fish near each other for the next few hours, and I am not having such a smooth day. As I untangle one of my numerous fly line messes I hear SV yell that he had just photo'ed another decent Bass. I get back to my mediocre casting and am determined to get a couple of fish before the morning bite shuts down. At this point I'm getting anxious, not having a bite in a few hours bothers me. As I approach the Island of Big Fish I hear the radio go off once more, this time as I clean algae off my fly for the upteenth time: "Big Bass" says SV, and I can hear the hollering from the other side of the island.

I grit my teeth and keep throwing and stripping, each time with the hope only a fisherman can endure, of enticing quarry to the bait. I hung out OTW with the some of the best anglers in the club knowing that they too knew that tourney winning fish were all around us.

"Time is 11:30" Rider's voice called out on the radio, and I thought briefly about owning a skunk for the day. Nah, I was gonna get bit any time now, right? Wrong. After it became evident that no fish wanted any part of what I was doing I pedaled for shore, defeated.

Once on shore, I pretty much owned the skunk, as it wasn't the first for me and certainly won't be the last.
A quick PBR followed by a Loomis IPA brought by Sean seemed to lessen the sting of skunking. As the award ceremonies were rolling with M.C. Rockfish bringing the show, I so wish I could have at least scored a fish or a bite - or even to have seen a bass would have been good. (BTW big props to the anglers that were good enough to podium, I'm always honored to fish with you guys and gals. Additionally I don't have any qualms about bait - live, dead, painted or tied makes no difference to me.)

As the raffle started I hoped for a little luck with my five tickets. "Skunk" I muttered after every number was called out during the raffle. When it came time for the grand prize raffle for the Moken 10 Lite kayak I was not feeling that lucky, but knew that I had a slim chance.

I flashed back to a bunch of tourneys over the years I've been in NCKA and always loved the way that a new kayak was given away, and the awesome feeing that the winner must have as they realize that their number was called. As the kayak raffle proceeded I found myself walking up to
"put your hand on the kayak" - Yakhopper raffle style - and damn if my number didn't HIT!

I was stunned, could this have happened to me? It took a couple of seconds before I realized that - WOOHOO!!!!!! - I scored the raffle kayak at a tourney! What a feeling, no doubt the biggest raffle win of my life! I'm thinking I'm gonna play Lotto or whatever it's called this week!

So the hurt of a skunk faded as I lovingly gazed upon my wife's new Moken 10 Lite. Wait, she won't mind if I borrow it will she? It looks like a great small river and pond boat, something I've been wanting ever since I sold my Scrambler a few years ago.

So thanks, Wingshooter, Rider, and Rockfish for a great time! Your tourney was great, you assembled a sizeable prize table/sponsorship and got participation by some classy NCKA peeps. Even if I didn't catch one fish or win anything I can say that I hung out and fished with a great group of anglers!

See you all at CL next year,
novofish

fantastic write up there Novofish!  I'm so pleased that you won that kayak, I can't wait to see you using it chasing Sam around the American this fall
 Although I am a little surprised you called at the awards ceremony concise, I was in top form there...

Congrats Tony!

That's awesome Tony! Congrats dude!

Tourney results and picts of some of the winners on post 1.
We were able to go 10 deep with prizes on this event. We gave away almost $4000 in prizes which was awesome.


Mike 

Way to go Tony you lucky %#^}{.

I guess I should have checked in the fish I caught too.

fantastic write up there Novofish!  I'm so pleased that you won that kayak, I can't wait to see you using it chasing Sam around the American this fall
 Although I am a little surprised you called at the awards ceremony concise, I was in top form there...

  See edit

fantastic write up there Novofish!  I'm so pleased that you won that kayak, I can't wait to see you using it chasing Sam around the American this fall
 Although I am a little surprised you called at the awards ceremony concise, I was in top form there...

  See edit

I was going for animated... 

Congrats on winning the kayak, Tony.  Wish I coulda been there for the fun.