2015 LRC- It's a wrap!

Quote from RBark:
Originally planned to stay until tomorrow, but decided to come home so I could get at least one fishing day in on a lake tomorrow. Bet the water is flat at Anchor Bay tomorrow and I'm missing out.... 

Umm... No actually, Sunday was pretty rough out there. I don't think anybody went anywhere but onto the roads

Congrats to everyone who won, and I appreciate the person who worked on the check-in and passing out gear on Friday night (never caught her name, and I'm really bad at lip reading people's names anyway ["hello I'm jim0rz4403 on NCKA" "...say what?"  ]) for helping me figure out what needs to be done and what I'm supposed to do. I was surprised when she and some others started fingerspelling at me, that was awesome.

Next year!
[/quote]

That very cool lady is Wingshooter's wife. She is indeed very nice.

It was great to meet a good bunch of people. Again, no question Mike made the right call. Some of y'all are more than equipped to launch and land in those conditions. Many of us are not, but would have tried anyway. Yard sales would be the best outcome of that. I have to say I never saw anybody stick the nose of a kayak into the sand and spin it a** over teakettle before. Is there a name for that maneuver? Pinwheel? Cartwheel? Oh, Holy Bleep? 

from Anchor Bay,
Dan

I wanted to get in and say thanks to Mike, Bill, Mike's Fam, and everyone else that helped in this event! Also a special shout out to Rider, thank you for all the help and teaching for myself and my kiddo on Friday!. He was beaming on with the fish, new filet skills, and new knowledge on the salt.

He is still on cloud nine after winning that raffle for the Avet as well! He is so jazzed and loves this group! I do too!

It was a pleasure meeting everyone! We will be back next year and to other events as well!

Thanks all!

The kids are the future of NCKA.  Glad to see them out here learning & experiencing great things!  Super jealous of the new reel!

Thanks Mike for putting on another fun event. You and your helpers all do a wonderful job. I wish I could have made the bonfire but I had things to take care of back in camp in Gualala. The rain held off long enough we almost could have done it Saturday night. It was still a fun time and I'm am looking forward to the next one. NCKA Rocks!

Quote from RBark:
Originally planned to stay until tomorrow, but decided to come home so I could get at least one fishing day in on a lake tomorrow. Bet the water is flat at Anchor Bay tomorrow and I'm missing out.... 

Umm... No actually, Sunday was pretty rough out there. I don't think anybody went anywhere but onto the roads

Congrats to everyone who won, and I appreciate the person who worked on the check-in and passing out gear on Friday night (never caught her name, and I'm really bad at lip reading people's names anyway ["hello I'm jim0rz4403 on NCKA" "...say what?"  ]) for helping me figure out what needs to be done and what I'm supposed to do. I was surprised when she and some others started fingerspelling at me, that was awesome.

Next year!

That very cool lady is Wingshooter's wife. She is indeed very nice.

It was great to meet a good bunch of people. Again, no question Mike made the right call. Some of y'all are more than equipped to launch and land in those conditions. Many of us are not, but would have tried anyway. Yard sales would be the best outcome of that. I have to say I never saw anybody stick the nose of a kayak into the sand and spin it a** over teakettle before. Is there a name for that maneuver? Pinwheel? Cartwheel? Oh, Holy Bleep? 

from Anchor Bay,
Dan
[/quote]

 That would be called Pitchpoling. hehehehe

Although the sets were big at times, out on the water it was pretty glassy. The bite however was the worst I have ever experienced save one day in my life.

The fish were off I think due to the big storm that moved through early Sunday in the night. The ocean was wild Sunday

more pics

Bows and arrows were the order of the day for those of us that chose to stay in.
Had to show them how it's done with my 20# kids bow!
What the heck is Gwiz doing? New bow fishing rig??

more

I had a blast. We went down Thursday night. Knew Friday was gonna be the best day and didn't want to miss it.  The season is closed for us up in humboldt.

We got out about 9.  It was a beautiful day.  Great seas.  Wind picked up afternoon and it got sloppy. I picked up a couple nice 28" lings and 2 decent Blues.  Then on the north side of fish rocks I got my heart broken.  I hooked up on a monster. This felt like one of the biggest lings I'd hooked up on all year.  We traded line back and forth.  Until it made an incredible run toward fish rock taking me with it. It finally sawed me off on the rocks.  .
That evening we had good beer and great fish tacos with friends, stoked up the fire and traded fish tales. Awesome time!

Next day it was disappointing to see the weather fx had stayed true.  We all geared up and watched and waited. It's frustrating to see the water so fishable outside but not being able too get to it. 

Really admire the guys that made the trip out.  They studied the surf for a long time before taking their window.  Mad props.

Rider deserves big props too.  When the first guy out flips a hobie with outriggers in some pretty mean surf a ways out...he doesn't even blink.  This guy dives in with out hesitation to help...NCKA's finest if you ask me. Rider, we never met but I was seriously impressed with the way you handled that situation.

The potluck and raffle were awesome.  Way to go Mike and crew.  Another great event. 

Looking forward to net year!

I couldn't be more thankful for everyone's generosity and how awesome you all are! For my first real event (where I had to make a commute) it was hard to squeeze the 5 hour drive into work and being home for my other half! Especially with a newborn at home!

Huge thanks to Sarge for the camp spot, captn hookd and I were super stoked on the generosity!! I wish I could've stayed Saturday night so I could've really connected with a lot more of you guys! Wish I could've called you with details on the new yak...

For the folks I met for the first time as well as the fellow guys who decided to paddle out with Krusty and I (ravensblack & others), it was great sharing the experience out there... Even with the fishing being horribly slow!

I had a great time helping the two pioneers in the early morning on both the AI's way to handle the issues and roll overs like bosses!!!

Super stoked on my new friendships made, new wheeleze for the yak, and looking forward towards sharing many more of these amazing memories  to come!!!

Does anyone have photos of us launching or coming in? I look forward towards seeing you all again! Anyone want to fish SC, Monterey, Big Sur or north of SC don't be shy to call or email me, I have some sweet spots that may change your mind on the waters here!!

Woohaa! What a weekend. Sucks that I have to go back to reality tomorrow.....although its working at donner lake!!!!  The tourney weekends go so fast, its like a blink and its over.

Thank you Mike, MOMMA KARA for puttings this on, so much work goes into an event like this!!!!!!!! Thank you James aka RIDER, Derrick DIRTYBASS, Bill the CURE and Pat the Sin for all you guys did for this event. 

The weather was KNARLY!!!!!!!!!!!  Megs and I showed up Thursday to a dead camp ground, weather looked pretty awesome. Friday I fished and it was sporty but well worth it cause I scored a limit!!!!!!!  SAT holy shit, the ocean was angry plain and simple stay on the beach and BBQ/hang with the family!

I manned 3 grills on sat all at once....it was intense almost like an ER room haha but I enjoyed every moment Thank you DaleShark for being there helping me out, your awesome dude!! 

And Finally the most important.  My new lady Megan " Megs" had an absolute blast this weekend. Thank you for everyone accepting her into the madness.   She enjoyed spending time with everyone and I couldn't get her to stop talking about the weekend all the way home!!! Shes ready for the next one.....crabfest if we can find a spot to crash and will bring the grill we are in or else ill be day tripping. 

Thank you Lowrance, HOBIE!!!!!!,Pro Cure, Ego, Outdoor Pro Shop,Wheelez and Pacific Outfitters for all your donated prizes for LRC!!! we can't thank you enough for your support for our passion.

The worst of the worst I didn't take a single FN picture this weekend!!!!! WTH Eric lol, I need to work on this!   

The NOAA swell forecast was dead on, with huge barreling waves crashing in front of the campground. I was bummed to hear the event was cancelled after putting on my drysuit. So when I heard Craig was heading out, I was all in. I knew the launch and landing could get hairy, so I took everything off my Trident 13 except for the fishfinder and a single game clip, and stashed my single rod in the rod pod.

Fortunately the surf was much more manageable at Chicken Cove. I watched 2 sets of waves before launching, and paddled like a mad man until I was clear of the surf zone. I turned around and saw RippinLips and Tyler following close behind. We made it through the surf zone without any problem.

We fished the kelp bed in front of Fish Rocks, keeping a constant eye on the swells breaking around them. Shortly after, ravensblack and shoprat join us. Too bad the fish were tight lipped. We worked the reefs and kelp beds until 11, when we decided to paddle in to beat the high tide and land while there is still a beach. Again, we sat outside the surf zone and watched a set of waves go by before paddling in and landing safely. No wipeouts to see here fellas.

It was good to fish with you again, RippinLips. I will definitely take you up on your offer next time I fish Santa Cruz.

Thanks to Michael, Kara, James and the rest of the gang of helpers for putting on another great event.  A special thanks to the sponsors Branson Baits, Lowrance, Hobie, Pac Outfitters, Outdoor Pro Shop, and all the others I cannot remember for the fantastic donation of prizes.

Michael that was a great call to not to do the fishing competition part of the event.  Not fishing gave us more time to meet new people and get caught up with old comrades.  The pot luck was fantastic with lots of delicious food. 

It has been many, many years since I have had a yard sale on a launch.  So many years that I cannot remember the last one.  During this yard sale I donated to the big blue one fishing rod and reel, a fish clip, and a hog trough.  It was about a $300 dollar dump.  This was my second most expensive yard sale.  A few years ago on a 2'-4' swell day a sleeper 14' wave came out of nowhere and broke right on top of me and that wave broke my paddle and broke my kayak seat and that one cost me around $600.

Thanks guys I really appreciate it. Although this event wouldn't be possible without the help of everyone involved, my wife Kara who I forgot to mention at the beginning, ouch... nah she so cool. Bill for handling a lot of the Lowrance issues while I was gearing up for the event. James and Derrick for an awesome raffle presentation and sponsor highlights, great job guys! Tim and Eric the BBQ masters. I went over to see if I could help in any way and he looks up like "step the hell away from the BBQ boy" haha, awesome viddles guys  . I also want to thank CaddyChris our Fire King, he collected and built an awesome bonfire, both nights! I also want to thank everyone who worked together and bought into the whole site share thing. I knew that with limited space people would have to hang out together. I could feel the vibe, it was good!

OK, making the call Saturday morning was one of the most difficult things I've had to do in awhile and yet one of the easiest. Tough, because you guys came all the way out there and it didn't happen, I felt bad. Easy, because the cove was blown out with 6' swells at times as we seen with a few yard sales and mild injuries. But everyone made it in, a few items didn't but I think we definitely made the best of it!

I like that some folks brought bows, that was fun on the beach. Next year I want to expand on this and I plan to bring a few 3d targets. Maybe also have a horseshoe pit, volleyball net and corn hole.

I think the raffle went off great and after a years worth of pitching and harassing sponsors, collecting $1000's of dollars in awesome gear, it went to some well deserving folks. Congrats to all the winners! Also congrats to Ray, LapuLapu for winning the Revo 16! Man it's good to have that thing out of my garage  . What a sweet boat, enjoy brother and thanks for supporting such a cause I feel so strongly for! Thanks to everyone who bought tickets, you're making our club that much better.

I want to thank all our sponsors... Lowrance, EGO, BransonBaits.com, Kokatat, RAM, YakAttack, Scotty, Hobie, Pro-Cure, Red Bull, Wheeleez, KayakShed.com, American Legacy, MonsterFishingTackle.com, Andy1976 jigs, Pacific Outfitters, Hill Flat Limber, Alaskan Beer Co and Craig Davis, the Albion Open director. These sponsors believe in OUR event and our club. If you get a chance drop them a email, phone call, whatever and say thanks for being a sponsor for LRC, it will go a long way, trust me! Thanks.

Ok that's about it. Thanks again for supporting the Lowrance Rockfish Classic and see you guys/ gals next year!

Mike Lavoie
Lowrance Rockfish Classic Director

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