And the winner is,.....

[Southerly]

JAVeil won top prize - bass tracker boat, motor, and trailer in the Maryland Fishing Challenge grand finale at the Seafood Festival today!!!

[mango]

JAVeil won top prize - bass tracker boat, motor, and trailer in the Maryland Fishing Challenge grand finale at the Seafood Festival today!!!

It was warm but windy day at SPSP. lots of prizes by underarmor, WFN, bassproshops, alltackle, Marty's in edgewater,...

Then, I saw folks going on stage and asked the man next to me if it was the BIG drawing. next thing; there was John going up on stage! me and the guy i was talking to both commented that we knew John as a kayak fisher. come to find out, i had been talking to Mango - small world :^) and nice to meet you!

congratulations John, it was satisfying to see you up on stage and almost unreal watching the contest unfold with you at the top of the heap.

congratulations on a very nice citation white perch - good catch!!!

Great for John, fun to watch somebody I knew win the boat. I have only met John once and that was a ways back in Rosehaven @ a meet & Greet. My son and I were in the drawing as well and for the youth part, Riley won a Zebco rod and reel. Funny thing was that he could not attend due to a BSA campout. He asked me to collect his prizes for him and we laughed about it knowing there would be a huge turn out and chances were remote . So darn if his ticket number didn't come up and I went down and collected the combo. Moving onward to the 100.00 gift certificates and his named was called again and so off I went, up to collect another prize for him...boy will he be surprized when he gets back from camping. Again, congratulations to John on that big win, very cool.

and Southerly, finally nice to meet up with you. Hopefully we all can fish together here in the fall.

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks guys. As much as I wanted to join the CBKA tournament today, I think I made the right choice in attending the Maryland Fishing Challenge awards ceremony. I am definitely on a hot streak -- yesterday I learned that Native Watercraft was going to replace my cracked Manta Ray 14, and today I won a new bass boat!

Here is what I posted on Tidalfish a few minutes ago:

Thanks for all the congratulations. I must admit I am still rather dazed by the whole thing. After sitting through a long ceremony in the hot sun, my wife and I were about ready to head for a sandwich and a beer. Then DNR got to the final drawing. Thousands of anglers had earned citations during the year, and many of them attended the event today. DNR had a barrel full of cards with the name of each citation angler who showed up today on them. DNR Secretary John Griffin spun the barrel, and Bill Burton's young granddaughter pulled out five cards for the finalists. My name was the third one called out. As each finalist was announced, we walked to the stage and stood behind any of the five tackle bags lined up on the table. I chose the bag on the far end. After all five finalists were in place, we opened our bags one at a time, starting at the end away from me. The first three finalists got certificates for a fishing trip at Deep Creek Lake. At that point I knew I would win one of two large prizes (the boat or a 4 night trip to the Bahamas). The fourth finalist opened his bag and had the Bahamas trip. That left me, the last to open, and I already knew that I had won the boat.



I had attended in the hope of winning some tackle or a cap, but I never dreamed I would win the boat, a 16 ft Bass Tracker with 20-hp Mercury motor. I must admit that I was so surprised, I did not examine the boat very thoroughly to see all the features it includes. The photos show me and Aaron Frazier, the general manager of Bass Pro Shops (they donated the boat).



Without any further delay, I want to commend DNR and their many staff volunteers for putting on a great event today. I also thank many of our local tackle shops, Bass Pro Shops, and the World Fishing Network for donating so many great prizes. Fishing was front and center today, and I was honored to be part of it.

Regarding how I got to the finals, I felt a bit sheepish with the other finalists catching huge rockfish or other species. My citation was earned by catching a 13.5" white perch from my kayak on Jan 1. My citation was a catch and release citation. The fish came from a tidal creek/cove off of the Severn River not far from the DNR building or the State Capitol. I put the report on Tidalfish at http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/show...13.5%26quot%3B. I think I actually caught that same fish two times previously in almost the same spot. I need to get back there to see if it has grown another half inch!

[Yak Fish]

Wow! That's awesome John. I'm pumped to see an awesome prize go out to a great guy. Congrats.

[Sun]

Wow john! Congratulations!
And thanks for the ul rod. I won the smallest fish division.

[bignose]

I hear that there is a 16 foot Scout for sale........
Congratulations, couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

[tufnik]

Nice written story, John. Congrats!

[Aesiegel]

Congrats on the win, John. That might even fit into the back of your mini-van!

[surfdog]

nice John!! also glad native came through for you

[ronaultmtd]

Super! Way to go, John! In the future, I will register my fish for citations, now that I know someone who has won...you just never know...
And I want to thank everyone for putting on such a fun tournament as the CBKA event- in spite of winds, we had a fun day- damn camera operator cost me first prize in Bluefish with a 14.5 inch blue, but live and learn...learn how to operate a new camera, that is, before you take it out on a field trip! The Thunderstorm was pretty awesome last evening watching it come across the Bay and the Bay Bridge disappear in it...Martin, Michael, John and company you guys did good!

[J.A. Veil]

In the future, I will register my fish for citations, now that I know someone who has won...you just never know...

Ron and others -

Registering your citation-sized catches is not difficult and is a necessary first step. You can register an actual fish or a photo of your fish next to a measuring device. However, under the Maryland Fishing Challenge rules, the angler or someone else designated on a written proxy form must attend the event in person. The past two years, the CBKA tournament has been held on the same day as the Fishing Challenge award ceremony (that is why I was not at the tournament yesterday). Assuming that the CBKA leadership chooses the same weekend as the Seafood Festival on future years, any eligible kayak anglers will have to find a proxy to represent them or make a decision about attending the awards ceremony.

Realistically, the odds of winning anything (unless you are in the youth division) are very small. They pulled five names out of barrel of an estimated 1,000 names for the larger prizes, then a few more names later for smaller prizes. I was very lucky yesterday to beat the odds.

[Shady]

Congratulation John! You really give a lot back to the sport of fishing and I'm glad to see such a deserving person win!

[Shield]

WTG John. Congratulations.

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks guys for all the kind words. I will be considering what to do with the new Tracker Pro 165 boat, motor, and trailer package http://www.trackerboats.com/boat/?boat=3404 over the next week or so. Feel free to contact me if you have any interest.

[Hemingway]

That's great John! Quite a week for you!