Annual Kids Charity Tournament

Well the 2nd Annual event is over and what a great time we had. The weather held up long enough for our young anglers to enjoy some good fishing and great hot dogs. The day started off slow but eventually the fish decided to co operate and gave the kids some fun. At one point we had 5 kids with a fish on their lines. It was amazing to watch their faces as they reeled in their catch. The target species this year was panfish. Although the perch were the largest of the species that were caught. The concept of this event is it introduce kids to the sport of fishing and the outdoors. If we can introduce the kids of today to this great sport of fishing and show them the proper ways of catch and release and fishing techniques, perhaps they will stick with the sport and become the next great Big Jim McLaughlin or Bob Izumi. Kids are the future of our sport and hopefully this event will help them become part of that future. From the amount of fish that were caught on Saturday I think that our next fishing phenom is not too far away. The format of this event is to provide a ticket to each child that catches a fish. The one with the most tickets at the end of the event will be declared the winner. The winner this year is Karlan with 13 panfish. His brother's Kylor and Koltan came in second and third respectfully. What a minute...aren't the Izumi's brothers??? Congratulations to the winners and to all of the kids that participated. The biggest winner was CHEO for whom this charity event is for. This year we raised $334 bringing our 2 year total to $534. Thank you kids.

I would like to thank everyone that made this event a success this year. John McLaughlin from Rideau Ferry Harbour Marina for holding the event for us. The location is perfect and there was plenty of dock space for everyone. To Sheldon Hatch from Ezelo Outdoors for donating the dew worms and the first place prize package of a rod and reel combo along with a Flambeau tackle box. Big Jim McLaughlin and Shimano for our 2nd place prize of a Shimano rod and reel combo along with a tackle kit. To the Canadian Sportsman Shows for the donation of all the spider fishing rod and reel combos. To Wave Worms for donating bags of plastic for the kids. To George's Marine and Sports for the hats. To the Jamieson family for the drinks for the kids and to the Cox family for the incredible donation. Also to our cooks, Heather and Kim for those great hot dogs and chips. I would also like to thank Gina from the Perth Courier for covering this event. With out each and everyone of you this event would be as successful as it is. So from the bottom of my heart... Thank you!!!!

I have already started planning for next year's event. John McLaughling from Rideau Ferry Habour Marina said that we are welcome back again next year which will be May 2nd, 2009. Lord willing we will have more kids out and hopefully we can make it bigger and better each year. Until then, congratulations to all of the kids and enjoy the pictures.

Pete

Click here to see pictures from the 2007 event.