Ultimate Kayak Fishing: Kayak Fishing Rodeo 2009 Thank You - Ultimate Kayak Fishing

With the 2009 Kayak Fishing Rodeo behind us and with 3 eventful days of fishing I have to say a big
Thank you
to everyone who participated. With the wind Friday night and small craft advisory the "dreams" of fishing the backside of Fisher Island ended up being just that... Pawcatuck river, Little Narragansett Bay, Stonington Harbor AKA Nelly's flats and the railroad bridges where seeing a lot of kayak fishing this weekend. Anglers where fishing everything from New Haven Harbor to Narragansett Bay so the spread should yield some big fish and the biggest fish for a registered rodeo angler where Dude's 35" Striper on the "skunk" yak. Jack ended up with second place with a 34" striper and third where shared between Nelly and Will, both caught 33" Striped bass. There where rumors flying around that there was larger fish caught but he didn't register for the tournament.

Participants came from as far away as Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio and I think all New England states where there (Is Maine Part of NE - someone told me they are their own country ) Kidding aside, I had a fun time, I got to go fishing with a great group oof people. I hope to get to fish all of you again.

I have to give a special thank you to King Cove for hosting it and keeping the tackle store open or leave a phone number to call and get more bait. King Cove is our largest sponsor on top of letting us use their facilities and use all their parking space on Sunday afternoon. Thank you to Don Michaud and Kevin McCarthy.

Don O'Neil, buddy - I appreciate everything you do. Thank you for donating time and effort on the custom rod for FireMike, opening up the tackle shop at any time of night. I appreciate it and I we will find a way to get you kayak fishing again.

Quonny Bait and Tackle donated tackle again this year, the tackle store is run by Tim Yvon's sister and her husband. If you are fishing Quonny or Charlestown are stop in and say thank you.
Ray the owners of Line Stretcher Surface Tension Lures donated enough for everyone present to go home with a plug.
Narragansett Beer donated refreshments for the cookout.
Ultimate Kayak Fishing donated.

Thank you all for making this a fun event,
Nils

I have added a few pictures in the 2009 Kayak Fishing Rodeo Gallery and feel free to upload your tournament pictures there.

What a weekend! I had a great time and I can't believe I have to go to work now.

Thanks so much to Don and Kevin for hosting us at King Cove and for donating so many prizes.

Thanks to Don O who worked his butt off while the rest of us got to play.

Thanks to the sponsors, especially Narragansett Beer

and a special thanks to Nils for everything he does, and also to his wife and son Jack for generously feeding me and sharing their company on Saturday night.

Thanks to the management at UKF, King Cove, sponsors and all the participants for making this such an exciting event.

Nils, DonO, and Don M-- here's hoping you three get some extra sleep to make up for the huge effort required to pull off the Rodeo so beautifully this year. Your expertise, hospitality and generosity was huge and so appreciated. The three of you really make this event run so smoothly and your personal touch makes the Rodeo so much more fun and successful for each participant. Although my drive to Connecticut was long, this event was wicked worth it!!

King Cove-- what a beautiful spot, and it was impressive seeing fishermen show up from dawn to dusk, treated like friends, and each getting a dose of great advice and access to really good equipment.. and some pretty nasty worms and eels, to boot!

Nils, Jack, Robert and Doug-- it was a pleasure fishing with you guys. We were lucky to experience such a wide range of weather and water conditions to keep things exciting. Special thanks to Nils for all the lessons; I feel very lucky to learn from someone who loves fishing so much. The best thing of all was to see how much fun Nils had out on the water. For all the hard work he put in, he really loves getting out there with everyone. It was amazing seeing him catch 18 fish in a short amount of time while juggling a cell phone and running the event.

Thanks again everyone.

Catrina

I guess Dude didn't wan't you to see his "rose land" image

That's great it was a success especially considering the weather. KC and crew always do a great job...

What's in Doug's mouth? Is that seaweed?

You had to have a twig with a leaf on in the image as our tournament marker, easy to find and not something you normally have in a picture...