Jeff’s Report From The 2009 Jacksonville Classic Kayak Fishing Tournament

The Jacksonville Classic kayak fishing tournament is organized by Mike Kogan and the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Club members. It’s the world’s biggest fishing tournament of its kind.  Jeff McGovern is an active club member, and here is his report from the event:

-”The 2009 Jax Kayak Classic was wonderful.  The weather was warm and the wind which has been blowing it seems for weeks finally laid down a little.  As you know three of us rented the house right on the water at Shady Oyster Fish Camp right near the base of the 206 bridge.  Talk about a great location, we were only a few feet from the water.  Saturday morning instead of facing loading the W, packing my gear, driving to the coast, unloading and setting up my stuff, it was just a short stroll down the steps and in the water.
The fishing has been picking up lately and we were not disappointed.  Everybody caught fish and that’s were the fun is fighting the fish and reeling them in.  We did not catch anything that would place but that was OK since the action was great.  I managed a number of little jacks that are more than enough fun for anyone even tiny as the one you see in the picture.  Other than that I did catch a half dozen black drum which are superb table fare.  By the way note how that measuring board can be placed across the rim of the W.  Very easy to measure even while on the water, a task in a sit on top that might loose you a fish.  In the W the chances are much less.

We only fished till around noon or so and then headed up to Jacksonville for the checking and dinner.  Of course the meal was pure southern style BBQ chicken and pulled pork with baked beans and slaw.  To wash it down there was a bar selling beer but my favorite is southern style sweet tea.  This time around we raised over 40 thousand dollars for the main charity and had 430 registered participants.  I’m sure today a number of folks just slept in to recover from the event.  It was a great time and from what I saw a typical southern hospitality for all, everyone had a blast.
The W is well suited for inshore kayak fishing tournaments.  Gear is close at hand and everything reached easily.  This time around I brought three rods.  Two were spinning rods, my little Chaos twins, with the Daiwa 1300SS reels I’ve found so reliable over the years.  Those two outfits we spooled with 10lb pink Fireline with 15lb fluorocarbon leaders.  The third outfit was a new style Emmord Rugged Flex pack rod set up with a Shimano Curado 200B reel spooled with 15lb Big Game High Catch line and a 20lb fluorocarbon leader.  The Emmrod was for topwater work at first light the spinning outfits were for the balance of the fishing day.  I’m still surprised at how well a rod can be handled from the W.  The distance and control is second to no other paddle craft out there. I’ll send over the shots in a few emails.  The first one of me and the W is a required shot for each participant.  It must show the person, the boat, and the measuring board at the launch site.—Jeff”