First Place
Bang-a-Rang
Dottie Kay

Big Fish Winner 
26 lb. King
Bang-a-Rang

The Very Reel Story

Kids from the Hammer Time

This is a family orientated event

Lake Michigan was a tough customer to fish during the tournament, as we started the deal with light southeast winds at 7am.  Late this last Thursday afternoon (7/4/02), the lake rolled over and brought the thermocline up to about 25 feet from 75 feet.  A major change like this scatters the fish and makes fishing extremely difficult for everyone. 

However, the participants were up to the challenge and all did a fine job in adjusting to the tricky circumstances.  The target specie of the tourney, King Salmon while scarce, did manage show up at the weigh-in in almost all of the teams fish boxes.

The Podium Finishers

Cooperation was paramount to the winning team of "Dottie Kay" and "Bang-a-Rang" and worked out a good plan, earning in my opinion the title of "World Champions" until the 2003 competition.  Second place was taken by an outstanding effort by the team of "Capt. Morgan" and "The Office."  Also, earning the last podium spot was "SpoonTang" and "Jamie Lynn," as Ludington and Bear Lake combined to weigh-in the third best shared effort award.

The theme of camaraderie, sportsmanship and a good time was maintained throughout during our friendly clash of knowledgeable Great Lakes captains.  Not once did I detect any airs negativity, or arrogance from any of our entrants.  We had at least 200 people at the weigh-in and we served about 60 hungry fishing people around 6:30pm.

This was the first year and it was a learning experience for me.  The weigh-in part went very smoothly, but the delay time to feeding everybody was too slow.  I've had some volunteers (Doug from the "Spoon Tang" and Dick from the "Sunrise") for set-up shore duties and cooking  while the fishing is underway.  This will mean food can be served at the conclusion of the weigh-in, meaning dinner will be served at 4 pm and shorten up the afternoon considerably.  If there's enough positive feedback, and I think there will be, we can do this again in 2003.

My Gratitude to All

Thanks to "Imoffduty" Craig for his excellent clerical skills and keeping the tourney records in order.  "Reel Sweet" Bill was very much appreciated for his great efforts handling the almost all of the fish at the weigh-in.  "Pen Yan" Brian was a tremendous asset, helping me load for transport, all the gear necessary to have this event.  I know I've overlooked many who helped with all the chores, especially the ladies who help with the food.  So, thanks to all of you for rolling up your sleeves and pitching in.

A special thanks goes to "Big Jon" Emory for fishing with us and my apologies for not having more time to spend with him.  I got overrun with record keeping, awards, food and photographing the winners.  "Sarah Ann" Bob deserves an honorable mention with the $3.00 tee shirts he had for the event.  He worked very hard on them and asked for no profit.........good job Bob!

In my summation everything fishing-wise was hard, there were no easy fish available and you had to work for what you caught.  This is rightfully so, to maintain the status "World Championship" conditions.  Everyone who participated can be considered winners in this event.  The only losers we had were those who did not participate!

The list of boats that entered includes Luck Charm, Bell-E-Flopper, Canadian, Wet Net, Child Play, J-Walker, Best Deal, Tail Gunner, Weebles, Sarah Ann and Finally Fishing, While these boats didn't make the top 10, they're all number one with me!

Best Sportsmanship Awards

"Best Deal" earns the hard luck and best Sportsmanship Award for making sure his 12 pound Brown Trout made it to the weigh-in, even though he had motor problems and couldn't fish the complete the full 7 tourney hours.

"Never Enough" had a no show for a team mate, something I wasn't aware of, until it was too late to rectify the problem.  Me being the floating boat might have teamed with them at the last minute and have added 21 pounds to my catch.  I'll let you do the math, so there'll be a Best Sportsmanship Award going to this team also. Thanks to the entire crew of the "Never Enough" for not raising a big stink over this issue.  I need this team to E-mail me, so I'll have an address to mail their award plaque too.

Would I do It Again?

The way I see it, it's up to you.  Even though I was over-run with at least 10 people staying at my place, I was happy to share what little I do have with them.  Some of the responsibly for purchasing the food for cookout needs to be shared to take some of the "heat" of me.  Other than that, I fished many tournaments and seen ours was efficiently run, especially for a first time outing.  The chance to met many of you and swap stories was more than fun.  Now to answer to the question, of would I do it again?   "Of course, with your help!"   Contact me at: kingscharter@yahoo.com for feedback. or post a message at: Capt. John's Message Board

2003 Planned Changes

Next year a member from all registered boats will have to be at the captains meeting to prevent this mishap that happened to "Never Enough" again.  We don't need a last minute shuffle to confuse our tournament.  Also, for the out-of-town boats I'll try to get a block of 10 slips at Solberg's at a discount rate for the 2 days dockage.

We need a limit of 50 boats has to be set to maintain a tourney at manageable levels too.  The number of folks planning to attending the picnic has to be registered also, so we don't over purchase like I did this year.

I took in some where's around $620.00 dollars and my goal was to break even after the food and awards were paid for.  I'll come pretty close to this target, thanks from help from "Snow Queen" Tom Sandborn.  He works in the Trophy and Awards Industry and got us at least a 50% discount from his boss.  Next year a volunteer treasurer would be helpful to keep the budget on track.

Boats Expressing Interest in July 5th, 2003

Second Wind, Hammer Time, Sarah Ann, Spoon Tang, The Office and Dottie Kay so far.  Keep in mind the field will be limited to 50 boats and this is just a straw poll.  If you're interested in the 2003 outing it will be held on 7/5/02.  

E-mail me at: kingscharter@yahoo.com and I'll list your boat along with the others.

Boat Teams

Pounds

67
61
58
53
48
40
27
25
23
16