Kayak fishing may not be your thing, but picture this, a fishing tournament PACKED with 430 kayak anglers competing for $70,000 in prizes while raising over $42,000 for charity. That ladies and gentlemen is the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic. It just happens to be the largest kayak fishing tournament in the world. Anglers compete in four categories, flounder, redfish, trout, and inshore slam.
The captains meeting was held Friday night where Mike Kogan explained the rules for the tournament and raffled off an amazing number of prizes with all proceeds going to charity. The fellowship hall of St Ephrem's Catholic Church was filled to overflowing with people from across the United States. Local anglers Justin Carter and yours truly drove down to represent Charleston at the event.
Saturday morning the field of 430 anglers launched into warm temps, high humidity, and a strong wind. The one benefit of the wind was that it made the 90 degree day more tolerable. The downside was that it made paddling difficult and sight fishing completely impossible.
Justin Carter managed two of the three species by putting respectable trout and flounder in his Hobie Pro Angler kayak before 7:00 am. He spent the rest of the day searching for the elusive redfish and hooked up with a nice fish with just 5 minutes left before heading to the weigh in. He fought the fish through a couple of blistering runs but it managed to spit the hook before coming to the landing net. The flounder was large enough to get Carter a top 10 finish in teh flounder division.
The Top angler was Ryan Conner of Fernandina Beach, FL who put together a 60.1 inch slam consisting of a 30: red, a 17.1" trout, and a 13" flounder. This combination won Connor a fully rigged Hobie Pro Angler kayak.
I was fortunate to land a 20.6 inch trout which was good enough for a 4th place finish in the trout division. I was even more fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a weekend fishing with a good friend.
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