Tournament Sponsors
The 2015 event is now in the books. The winners paid, the charity check on its way and the summaries and stories out the door! We always want to take time to thank our sponsors and remind everyone all year long what they do for us for this one day every year. Donations were a record. Standard donations expanded by our longtime sponsors. Strong donations by everyone else, I had to lump things together to get through the raffle so we weren’t there until midnight. All of the sponsors are listed below. Some notes on individual sponsors included first.
Our lure sponsors: Exactly the same all five years. Mirrolure, 12 Fathom, Joe Hebert Fishing: Strong donations matching previous years.
We have only had one real sponsor change in all our years. Ocean Kayak came on as a Super sponsor for 2015 without hesitation. That donation was for the biggest money value item of the event. I would like to thank Jonathan Small at the company for setting up that donation.
Werner Paddle with an expensive paddle donation AGAIN. Thank you Danny Mongno for support our event and being a part of the radio show/website!
Russ at Stick-It Anchor pin: Ten pins donated. Our participants were thrilled to get them. Oddity of oddities, crossing categories in both divisions and overall pool, one big winner got three of the ten. That was nothing short of bizarre.
The Fish Grip: Tucker and Cam Hoge, five time sponsors of our event, many of our participants received The Grip. Just really great people and a fantastic product, buy this and give it to your friends if you already have one.
Micah at Kayracks.com donated a rack. Kasey Arrowsmith won it but it found a home with another participant who could put it to use better. Great donation from Micah for the third straight year. A Safety Harbor company, if you need any welded aluminum projects done, call Micah.
Smith Optics: Shon Lassiter visited on check-in night and dropped off another awesome donation. Shirts and hats added to their usual donation of product: I gave Shon my first two pair of Smith sunglasses I have ever had. Seven and six years, heavy use. They finally gave in to that use: Warrantied, Shon said both styles still available: Two new pair will be coming to me to replace these. If that doesn’t tell you multiple things about this product!
Absolutely huge donation from the Scotty company. They have been great before: This year they were extremely good to us. We stretched their donation out to every winner in the No Motor division, multiple winners in other divisions and still some left over for the raffle. We hope they will always be involved with our event since so many of our participants use so much of their stuff all the time.
Also spread out to every division and leftovers for the raffle lottery: Ted from Tuf-Line send a great supply of supply spools and hats. My sponsor for braided line, watch for a new product review I will be putting out on their “Tournament” line. Great company, great supporter of the Classic for many years!
Tackle Webs: Great donation again from Captain Michael Ortego. Another great gift idea, if you don’t own them yourself, you will.
Grace attended the event representing Cutco. A donation of a Fisherman’s Solution was a great item for one of our people to receive. If you need any knives or other high-end items: I will give you the information to get it there. I will be dealing with them for my own needs in the future. If you do not know about Cutco, you need to.
Daiwa, two nice reels for our winners. Yak Attack with a Black Pak, rod holders and accessories for our winners! New for 2015: Estrada art: Shirts, hats, decals and two beautiful prints for our winners and raffle! Local shop Angler 360: A donation of a great fishing rod also landed with one of our top winners. An Aqua Dream lure pack from Captain Mike went to one of our lucky winners. Lee Martin with Sweetwater got me two 12 Packs of beer, keychains and hats. I know that because of that, a number of you were enjoying their pints of Sweetwater at the Fat Cat! Supporting the Ladies division, Kendall Albritton with Women of Water.
Our two biggest sponsors backing the Junior division but spilling into the other division: Fishing Supply Liquidators and the Skyway Fishing Piers: Both five year sponsors of the event. FSL, a great place to buy rods, reels and tackle. The Skyway Piers will be open for at least ten more years and an easy place to catch some fish: A great destination to take visitors because no fishing license is required.
Support all of our sponsors! Let them know your experiences with the Captain Mel Classic!
Tournament Lures
12 Fathom: Craig Bayhi
MirrOLure: Eric Bachnik
Captain Joe The Edje; Joe Jig; Silly Willy: Joe Hebert
Neil Taylor: Uncle Neil’s teasers by Neil Taylor
Event beneficiary: Suncoast Animal League
Angler 360 , Bill Jackson’s, Tampa Fishing Outfitters, Fishing Supply Liquidators
Tournament host site The Fat Cat Tavern, Bill Soleau
Ocean Kayak
Werner
Stick It anchor pins
St Croix
Daiwa
Smith Optics
Kayracks
Sweetwater Brewing Company
Estrada Art
Women of Water
Aqua Dream
YAK Attack
Scotty Fishing
Tuf Line Ted
The Fish Grip
Skyway Fishing Piers
Tackle Webs
Cutco
Bay Area Canoe Kayak Club
Hardcore Kayak Anglers Club
Hurricane Pass Anglers Club
Fat Cat Tavern Fishing Club
Strike Three Kayak Fishing
Alex Berg Woodworkings
Tampa Bay Watch
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
