Friday afternoon at about 3:30 p.m., Delores and Judy met up at Aardvark's Florida Kayak Co. www.FloridaKayakCompany.com to pick up the brown, 12 ft tandem KC Kayak fishing kayak they agreed to rent in order to compete in the 2nd annual Nature Coast Challenge kayak fishing tournament in Yankeetown the following day. Matt & Sue Clemons, owners of Aardvark's were kind enough to give the girls a discount with their rental knowing that it would be their fist time entering such a tournament. Judy had never fished from a kayak before, so the entire event was a completely new experience for her, and although Delores had a fishing kayak, she had never entered a competition before. This would be new territory for them both on different levels.
When they arrived at Aardvark's, Matt led them to the kayak that they'd be using for the day. It was quite impressive. They were both relieved that it looked very stable and Matt pointed out the most impressive feature of all - the plastic molded seats that could be inverted and quickly bolted in to become standing platforms. Their concerns about the possibility of flipping over accidentally were squelched after Matt explained the odds of that happening because of the design on this particular kayak. The girls were 'sold' and learned a few pointers from Matt as he taught them how to properly load a kayak in the back of a truck.
They pulled out of Aardvark's parking lot and headed to Judy's house less than three miles away. Once they arrived, they were eager to get things organized because they knew that they had to be at the Captain's Meeting that evening at 7:00 and they weren't sure how long it would take them to work out the details of tandem kayak organization. Let's see - the tackle box in the front, the bait bucket in the middle, the cooler in the back along with the anchor, the Hog Trough fish measuring tray mounted on the right side, the net secured on the left, and rods in their respective holders. Yep - that about took care of it. Judy poured two glasses of wine, they sat down in a couple of nearby yard chairs, toasted to their future tournament win, and proudly admired their mad organizational skills while moving on to the next topic - Time Management.
Now it was time to plan out their strategy. They planned on being up by 5:00 a.m., and to Moore's Bait & Tackle at the 6:00 a.m. opening time to pick up a bucket of shrimp (because that bait shop gives members of the Nature Coast Lady Anglers a 50% discount on live shrimp). Next would be to arrive at their selected launch site (Levy Co. Park) at 7:00 a.m. at which time it would be considered 'safe light' and they could get their fishing groove on and hook into that winning trout or redfish. It would only be a matter of time. They would spend the day fishing until 2:00 p.m. and still have enough time to paddle back to the launch site, load up their gear, and drive to the Inglis/Yankeetown Lions Club (sponsors of the tournament) by 4:00 p.m. to pick up their trophy and prize money. It seemed to be a flawless plan.
Delores & Judy talked all the way to the Captain's Meeting about making a few slight changes to their plan that would improve their chances of catching the prize winning fish. In the back of their minds they really thought they stood a chance. They found the Inglis/Yankeetown Lions Club building comfortably tucked away on a side road off of Highway 40. If they weren't looking for it, they would have passed it in a heartbeat. They strolled into the building filled with men and quietly sized-up their competition.
When they walked in, they were greeted by Donna here, who knew instantly who they were. "You must be Judy and Delores", she said, "It's a nice surprise to see some girls give these guys a run for their money." She rummaged through an assortment of bags on the table beside her and handed one to both Judy and Delores. Oh how women love free stuff! Then she went on to ask them if they'd like to donate some funds to the 50/50 drawing that would be held the following day at the official weigh-in. Both of the girls pilfered through their purses and handed Donna a wad of cash in exchanged for however many tickets said wad would buy. They made sure they still had enough cash for the bar behind them, mind you. Priorities and all! The girls took their goody bags and walked over to a nearby table and pulled out a chair. They were anxious to see what cool items they got.
They inspected and commented on each item as they pulled it out of their bag, a baby-wipe dispenser, seafood recipe cards, vehicle protectant formula, a water bottle, a package of fishing hooks, a portable garbage bag, the tournament token, and a huge XXL official tournament t-shirt with a sweet note pinned to it that read: "Sorry we did not order the XS, S, or M sized t-shirt that you requested. Your application was received after the t-shirts were ordered. In the future we will try to do better. In the meantime, enjoy your new "sleep-shirts" <smiley face> After a few glasses of wine, they really didn't care much at all about the size of the t-shirt. At 7:00 p.m. a home-made buffet was laid out for the tournament participants and we all chowed down before the Captain's Meeting officially began.
Rob, the tournament director, stepped up to the mic and clicked on his Power Point presentation. He gave everyone his cell phone number and permission to call him with any questions, which would come in handy for us the following day. He went over the general rules and regulations, pointed out the most popular launch sites, and finished up with an open forum round-table with a question and answer session and then he dismissed everyone. Delores and Judy drove home, drank another glass of wine, made final plans, synchronized their watches, and then went to bed with the expectation of winning their first fishing tournament.
5:00 a.m. and they both got up and dressed for an exciting day. After a nice hot cup of coffee and a hardy breakfast, they drove over to Moore's Bait & Tackle and met up with the co-owner, Lauren Moore. They told her that they were competing in the Nature Coast Challenge kayak fishing tournament in Yankeetown that day and so Lauren gave them the best shrimp in the house at the Nature Coast Lady Angler member 50% discount. Once their bucket was full of fiesty shrimp, they loaded it in the back of the truck and headed to their selected launch site - Levy County Park by the Yankeetown boat ramp on west Highway 40. The park gates didn't open until 7:00 a.m. but it wouldn't hurt to get there early. They arrived at the gated entrance at 6:15 a.m. and anxiously waited until someone came to unlock and swing the gate open. They waited....and waited....and waited....and waited some more. Well now, this was an unexpected kink in their plans. They had already envisioned themselves paddling out in the water by now, yet, here they were still sitting in their vehicle watching the biting midges (no-see-ums) swarming the truck and crawling all over the driver and passenger windows anxious to feast on their tender flesh. Dealing with them would, unfortunately, be a necessary evil. The best they could do would be to prepare themselves for the onslaught by smearing insect repellent on as much of their exposed skin as they could before they even got out of the truck.
By now it was 7:30 a.m., well past the allowable launch time. They could have caught their trophy fish by this time had they been able to get into the park, but unfortunately, the gate was still locked tight. Luckily, Delores stored Rob's (the tournament director) cell phone number in her phone and called him to tell him about their quandary. Rob sounded genuinely shocked that the gate to the park entrance had not been opened yet and he gave the girls a couple of options. A) they could wait until he was able to rectify the situation (no telling how long that would take) or B) they could drive back east about 50 yards and launch at Redneck Beach on the opposite side of the road and since the girls had already turned their truck around in that direction anyway, they opted for the more risky move of launching at a site they knew absolutely nothing about - Redneck Beach.
Even though they got a late start, their spirits stayed high. They launched their inconspicuous brown tandem kayak and paddled as fast as they could across the river channel so that they wouldn't get plowed by some speeding boat full of rowdy redneck anglers anxious to get to the Gulf and do some Spanish mackerel fishing. They made it across and paddled to the opposite shoreline so that they could take a five minute break, thank the Lord for getting them across the channel in one piece, and get everything situated just right. Well, they spoke a little too soon. No sooner had they taken a deep breath, when the dreaded speeding boat came buzzing past creating a wake so strong that it rocked their kayak violently and pitched tsunami sized waves crashing over the left side of their yak. Everything was soaking wet less than fifteen minutes into their trek. What a glorious day it was turning out to be, but still, they pressed on. They had no intentions of letting those trivial issues stand in their way of $200 worth of prize money, heck, it was probably already spent, truth be told.
They followed the shoreline of Chamber's Island and found a promising spot to anchor down and cast out. Judy got hooked up right away and the anticipation of what she had caught was driving them crazy. Would this be the prize winning fish? It certainly was a possibility. But as she lifted the specimen out of the murky colored waters, the white underbelly could be seen. Delores yelled, "Oh my goodness, Judy...you caught a flounder...you got a nice flounder!" But upon closer inspection, they were disappointed to realize that what Judy had actually caught was a stingray. Wow, this day kept getting worse by the minute. The line was cut and the next few hours were spent memorizing landmarks and retying fishing line as the outgoing current carried their kayak out toward Cuba (or so Judy feared).
They followed the shoreline of Chamber's Island and found a promising spot to anchor down and cast out. Judy got hooked up right away and the anticipation of what she had caught was driving them crazy. Would this be the prize winning fish? It certainly was a possibility. But as she lifted the specimen out of the murky colored waters, the white underbelly could be seen. Delores yelled, "Oh my goodness, Judy...you caught a flounder...you got a nice flounder!" But upon closer inspection, they were disappointed to realize that what Judy had actually caught was a stingray. Wow, this day kept getting worse by the minute. The line was cut and the next few hours were spent memorizing landmarks and retying fishing line as the outgoing current carried their kayak out toward Cuba (or so Judy feared).
Rob, swung by in his Tracker boat to check on them, as he did with all of the anglers in the tournament. He told them that the gate to the Levy Co. Park didn't open until 9:00 a.m. so it was a good decision they made to change launch sites. He also told them that he was worried about how they recovered from the oversized boat wake that nearly capsized them. He had seen the entire incident but was too far away to help. He left them with a final piece of information that they would be fishing the outgoing tide until after the noon hour at which time the tide would change and they would have better luck catching the elusive trout and redfish that they were searching for. Until then, it would be in their best interest to just relax and have fun - which, of course, they intended on doing anyway.
Delores and Judy paddled over to a nearby shellbar and got out to stretch their legs. There happened to be a very deep cut between the shellbar they had stop to rest at and another nearby oysterbar so it seemed to them like an interesting place to cast a shrimp on a circle hook. No sooner had Judy pitched her bait out there when it got hit by a nice sized Jack Crevalle. Well, after a number of hours of near misses, you can imagine their excitement when they saw it up close and personal. Just as much as you can imagine their disappointment when it threw the hook before they could get it netted. Typical for the way their day was progressing.
Out of the corner of Judy's eye, she spies a couple of dolphin fins rising from the water's surface. The girls knew then that no fish would be caught any time soon thanks to those dolphins. The good news was that the pod of five were leisurely passing through the same cut they were fishing and were in no hurry to get anywhere anytime soon. Although both cameras were within reach, neither of the girls grabbed for them. Their attention was fixated on that slow moving pod as they came within feet of the shoreline because the oysterbar cut was so deep. They watched in awe the beauty of those magnificent creatures. Sometimes it's just nice to appreciate the beauty of the world.
Out of the corner of Judy's eye, she spies a couple of dolphin fins rising from the water's surface. The girls knew then that no fish would be caught any time soon thanks to those dolphins. The good news was that the pod of five were leisurely passing through the same cut they were fishing and were in no hurry to get anywhere anytime soon. Although both cameras were within reach, neither of the girls grabbed for them. Their attention was fixated on that slow moving pod as they came within feet of the shoreline because the oysterbar cut was so deep. They watched in awe the beauty of those magnificent creatures. Sometimes it's just nice to appreciate the beauty of the world.
Judy and Delores had been out on the water fishing for half the day already and although they hadn't caught anything even remotely close to what they had hoped and expected, they were still having lots of fun. They realized that their fishing time was coming to an end because they had to be back at the Lions Club for the official results by 3:00 p.m. They slowly packed their gear back in the kayak, reorganized things once again and relaxed as the current carried them back to the area they had started from earlier in the morning. Since they hadn't caught any of the targeted fish, they decided to anchor down within sight of their launch site and just fish for the sake of fishing - no pressure. It seemed many of the other anglers had the same idea as they felt almost surrounded by kayaks all of a sudden. Then, out in the distance, they hear a loud voice carry across the water, "You lucky s-o-b, you're gonna win it again this year, aren't you? You'd better not throw that thing back, I want to take it home for dinner." Delores and Judy could hear the entire conversation and knew exactly what was going on, mentally taking note of the location where the alleged winning fish was caught. That information would come in handy next year. Clearly the winner was right there in their midst. Their heart sank a little. They had such high hopes for their very first tournament. They wanted to blow everybody away with their mad fishing skills. Those plans would have to wait for another opportunity. With the pressure off, Judy cast her line out and amazingly hooked into her first trout of the entire day. Do you have any idea how excited those girls were when she netted that trout and actually got it in the kayak? She quickly positioned it on the measuring tray and took a picture of it for proof and then released it back in the water. If they hurried back to the weigh-in, maybe she could get her name on the leader board before someone else knocked her off. Due to the lack of a breeze at this time of the afternoon, the biting midges were out in full force and the girls were being eaten alive. They paddled back to the launch site as quickly as they possibly could, again praying that they would get across the channel without incident this time.
Delores and Judy loaded up their gear and headed back to the Lions Club for the Nature Coast Challenge Award Ceremony and After Party. Upon arrival, Judy went inside to proudly turn in the picture of the 15 inch trout she caught. She was in first place until someone strolled in ten minutes later with an even longer fish, knocking her out of contention. Theresa, one of the other members of the Nature Coast Lady Anglers came by to hang out with Judy and Delores, curious as to how they did in the tournament. They drowned their sorrows in beer and chatted with the other anglers that had been gradually accumulating as the minutes passed.
All of the folks that were socializing outside had been called in so that the awards could be given out. There were more desserts spread out on the buffet table and Judy and Delores wasted no time in snatching up a handful of homemade brownies and a couple of cold beers. After they all made themselves comfortable at the tables, the judge announced the winners and handed out prize money and the rest of the group offered up congratulations. Raffle tickets were whipped out of back pockets as numbers were being called and most everyone ended up walking away with some sort of consolation prize once it was all said and done, including Judy and Delores. It was a really fun ending to an equally fun day. The girls didn't win any significant awards, but they did gain a lot of insight into tournament rules and expectations. This experience will most assuredly come into play when they sign up for their next one - whenever that may be. They are both looking forward to the next opportunity to participate in something similar in the future.
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