When choosing your New Braunfels Getaway, remember that A1 Vacation New Braunfels donates fee stays for our Wounded Heroes!

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Heart of Texas Kayaks
KayakFishingMagazine.net
Ruthless Fishing, Inc.

Kayak Fishing Magazine raffle to aid heroes
Jon Shein describes his relationship with KASA and a new raffle supporting the HOW program

I met Jim Dolan and his wife Sally in February of 2008. They were booked as my clients for a day of kayak fishing. I was guiding part time and writing a book about kayak fishing. The following day we headed out to fish the Chokoloskee oyster bar flats. We had a great time and Sally caught a beautiful 38.5" snook. We talked about a variety of things that day, including Heroes On the Water. I thought it was a great idea and having become friends we stayed in touch.

In my discussions with Jim he explained that the support from the industry regarding gear was great but there were expenses that he and the other members were paying for themselves. Things like cleaning fees, vehicle rentals, etc. After finishing the book I teamed up with my partner, Joey Cambria, who was publishing KayakFishingMagazine.net. I told Joey about HOW and we both wanted to provide support so we decided to start fund raising for HOW with a raffle.

Raffle details

For the price of lunch you can buy a chance to win a paddle or gift certifiicate and help those who have given so much. Kayak Fishing Magazine is donating two AT Fishstix Paddles worth $339 each and two $50 gift certificates from Kayak Fishing Supplies.

Those who want to help and try to win a paddle will go to www.KayakAnglersSA.org and click on the donate link. Just send us the email confirmation of your donation to info@kayakfishingmagazine.net
and you are entered. For every $10 donation you will get one raffle chance, so the more you donate the greater your chances of winning.

John Shein
Advertising
KayakFishingMagazine.net

[Relaxed Yakker] Help a Soldier

Win a Paddle
[Donate]
Routh brings HOW to the heroes at Walter Reed

Wounded warriors from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and surrounding area will soon have a chance to experience the theraputic aspects of kayak fishing as part of KASA's Heroes on the Water program. Leading this effort is Cory Routh, the new mid-Atlantic HOW coordinator.

"I truly love the sport and have dedicated alot to promote it. I want to give something back and what a better way than sharing a sport I love with some truly deserving indiviuals," he said.

Kayak anglers from the Tidewater Kayak Anglers Association will support Routh's efforts

"We tentatively plan on doing at least six events in 2009," Routh said. "We will initially work with Walter Reed and plan to eventually include the local VA hospitals here in Tidewater Virginia.

"We are still very new to this but anticipate a very successful program."

Routh has been an avid kayak angler for 10 years and has owned and operated Ruthless Fishing, Inc., which offers guided kayak fishing trips and instruction.

"I am happy to have Mark Lozier as a guide, he is an ex-marine and brings that knowledge with him to Ruthless Fishing."

Routh's book Kayak Fishing, The Complete Guide is often called the "bible" of kayak fishing. He also has experience organizing kayak events for charity.

"I founded TKAA and organized its annual charity tournament which included 140 kayak anglers in 2008. For the last two years our charity has been Project Healing waters, and for each event Ruthless Fishing Inc and TKAA has offered services and support. We took 8-10 wounded vets out on the water to compete in each event. So far both event have been very successful," he said.

"Cory Routh has the right combination of on-the-water and organizational experience. I feel confident that he will be able put on high quality, safe, and enjoyable events for the soldiers," said Jim Dolan, KASA's National HOW Coordinator.

[Cory]
HOW mid-Atlantic Coordinator, Cory Routh, is planning six HOW events in 2009.

Event updates

Recent

Heroes on the Water - Guadalupe River, TX
January 31 - February 1: Five soldiers from the Darnall Army Medical Center experienced two days of fly fishing instruction and kayak fishing for trout on the Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake, TX. Colleen Harvey, CRDAMC HOW Coordinator and owner of Heart of Texas Kayaks, organized the event.

Heroes on the Water - Guadalupe River, TX
January 31 - February 1: Five soldiers from the Darnall Army Medical Center experienced two days of fly fishing instruction and kayak fishing for trout on the Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake, TX. Colleen Harvey, CRDAMC HOW Coordinator and owner of Heart of Texas Kayaks, organized the event.

"Special thanks to Al Crise, Joe Winston, and Susan Phillips and Randy James and family (with A1 Vacation New Braunfels )," Harvey said. "Al made the long drive down to the Guad, spent all day working with the soldiers on casting, equipment, fighting the fish...and then he spent all evening teaching them how to tie flies (which was a HUGE hit!). This weekend would have been nowhere near as enjoyable for the soldiers if not for Al.

"Joe spent pretty much the entire weekend taking pictures of the event, helping to move equipment (as in load a ton of boats and gear), getting everyone setup in kayaks when we launched, etc.

"The house provided by Susan was amazing. Perfect location for the event, lots of room, gorgeous and just really, really top notch. It made things so easy to be able to launch right out of the backyard and be sitting in the one part of the river that has not only water that can actually float a kayak but also huge stocked trout."

More on this event in the next newsletter...

[colleen]
Colleen Harvey (right) and a soldier from the Darnall Army Medical Center
spend a day on the Guadalupe river. Photo by Joe Winston

San Angelo Boat Show
HOW San Angelo Chapter members Bill Hancock and Karen Tyler represented HOW at at the San Angelo Boat Shoe January 23-25.

Upcoming

Heroes on the Water - Vanderbilt, TX
Will Manske is organizing a large HOW event for February 27 - March 1 near Vanderbilt, TX. Ten CRDAMC soldiers will spend a couple of days fishing for speckled trout and redfish on a private fishing lease. Many experienced members of the kayak fishing community will be volunteering as guides, including Cory Routh with Heritage Kayaks, who will be traveling in from Virginia and Jim Sammons with Ocean Kayak, who will be traveling in from California.

Heroes on the Water - Dallas, TX
An event is tentatively scheduled for U.S. Marine veterans in north Texas on March 7th. This is a good opportunity for volunteers in the DFW area to host some Heroes. Stay tuned for more info.

Heroes on the Water - Seattle, WA
KASA HOW coordinators Allen Sansano and Richard Walter are organizing a HOW event for next spring near Seattle, Washington with soldiers from the Madigan Army Medical Center.
Notes:

Newsletter
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Sponsorships
If you would like to find out how you can sponsor or advertise with KASA, please e-mail Bill Hancock or call him at 1 (325) 374-0290. KASA has many different sponsorship and advertising options available.