On Saturday, September 14th was the second annual Help Keep Emily in Her School Kayak Fishing Tournament. This years tournament was held at Kayaks By Bo in Titusville, Florida by the Rouse family. The goal was to help raise the much needed funds for their oldest daughter Emily’s school expenses. Emily is 9 years old and has been diagnosed with Chromosome 2q36 Deletion Syndrome. Genetic specialists have found no record of anyone else having the same deletion anywhere in the world. She also has autism, which causes her sensitivity to sounds, lights, and textures. Emily has anxiety in unfamiliar environments, and difficulty coping with change. The yearly tuition and fees for her school increased last year from $21,000 a year and is now at $29,000 per year. As you can imagine that is very tough on any family financially, so they decided last year to start this great tournament as the main fundraiser to help offset the cost of Emily’s school.
This years tournament had 121 participants with four divisions for Overall Total Inches, Standard, Lady, Junior, and Fly. The check in took place from 5:30am to 7:00am at Kayaks by Bo. At this time, you were able to pick your token and measuring stick. The weigh in was from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. The targeted species for this tournament was Redfish and Trout. On your scorecard you were allowed to enter your top 3 Redfish and your top 3 Trout.
I decided to enter the fly division this year which was added to this years tournament. There are not many kayak fishing tournaments out there. That have fly divisions, so I thought that this added an interesting twist to the tourney. For the tournament I brought my 2 8wt. fly rods both paired with my Galvan Fly Reels. On one I had an EP baitfish pattern which I tied the night before and the other had a fleeing crab pattern. I ended up catching all of my fish on the EP baitfish pattern. I caught 2 Trout and a Red for a total of 46.5 inches. I also lost another Redfish and a really nice Trout during the tourney. The 46.5 inches was enough for me to take take first place in the fly division. The prizes for the fly division were amazing and included: A Wang anchor, Simms fishing bag, fillet knife, gift cards, books, rod wraps from Hell Brand Leather works, a Backwater’s Assault Hand Paddle and quite a bit more.
Prize table for the 4 fishing categories
The winners for all divisions were:
1st Place Red: Bruce Keesling, 34.5″
2nd Place Red: Zack Rece, 33″
3rd Place Red: Dee Kaminski, 32.5″
1st Place Trout: Chuck Dehnel, 26.5″
2nd Place Trout: David Harris, 26.25″
3rd Place Trout: Nick Dyroff, 25.5″
1st Place Jr. Angler: McKenzie Hester, total inches 22.25″
2nd Place Jr. Angler: Michael Coope, total inches 22″
3rd Place Jr. Angler: Skyler Hester, total inches 13″
Overall Total Inches, Standard Angler: Chuck Dehnel, 159.25″
Overall Total Inches, Lady Angler: Dee Kaminski, 49″
Overall Total Inches, Fly Division: Scott Jontes, 46.5″
Overall Total Inches, Jr. Angler: Isaac Spotts, 64″
Overall winner Chuck Dehnel
All of the tournament prizes, raffle items, and silent auction items were all donated by companies in the fishing industry and by local companies in the Central Florida area. One of the larger prizes was a flats boat donated by Inshore Power Boats. They raffled of the boat by selling a deck of cards at $50 per card. The cards were torn in half and if your card matched the one drawn you won. The IPB flats boat was won by Edward Ratanun.
Edward Ratanun with his lucky card
What I took away from this experience is honestly hard to put into words. It is quite moving to see how a group of people can come together to help out this wonderful family. People came from all over the state to take part in the event and to do their part. To be quite honest , I feel like the Rouse family grew by quite a few members this Saturday and I am sure they feel the same way. This years total for the tournament was $11,350 for Emily which goes to show that the kayak fishing community came together not for just a tournament, but to help one of their own.
Tournament Raffle Items
I wanted to also say thank you to Chad Hoover and Hook1. Not only for his support of this tournament and the Rouse family, but for also supporting me. I would also like to thank Galvan Fly Reels, and Orlando Outfitters. If you would like to learn more about Emily and her tournament please visit www.helpemilynow.org
Scott