Route #17: September 7, 2008
Bay Vista Park to North Skyway

“Finally Done” – After 17 days, and 129.7 miles, I have finally completed my journey around Tampa Bay. Joining me today for the final trip were my good friends Peter, Norm and fellow club member Felix. We set out bright and early from Bay Vista Park and it wasn’t long before we were on the fish.

I pulled (actually straightened) a hook on my MirroDine lure on a really nice redfish, and then Peter hooked up to a nice silver colored red.

A little bit later on, I caught a medium size snook on a topwater lure and went in search for more redfish. It wasn’t long before I found them.

Needing only a trout for my Inshore Slam, all four of us headed out towards the Sky Way Bridge, which was about 4 miles away. Today was great day as far as the weather was concerned. I think for the first time, we had the wind at our backs as well as the tide running with us. We covered the distance in short order and stopped at an area called The Clam Bar.
Peter heading to the Clam Bar.

My good friend Felix, who drove 2 hours to join me.

I picked up a nice little trout at the Clam Bar to complete my Inshore Slam. Way to finish strong I thought. Here we are wading the Clam Bar.

I started to get this feeling that something was up as I noticed Norm talking on his radio on another channel. Had they planned something I wondered? Well, he had. As we rounded the corner and headed to the beach area just north of the north rest area, I could see a large gathering of people. Norm had organized a gathering of my fellow kayak fishing enthusiasts, which included a representative of the local chapter of the American Heart Association, to cheer me on as the four of us made land shortly after 11 o’clock.
Closing in on the end of the journey.

17 Days, 129.7 miles – Land Fall

Success - Finally

To say I was surprised is an understatement; this was totally unexpected and greatly appreciated. I am surely blessed to have so many friends that enjoy the same thing I do.

This was a journey for several reasons; it started as a personal challenge as well as a way to raise awareness about heart disease. I lost both of my parents to heart disease, and my older sister is battling congestive heart failure, so all three of them were in my thoughts on every mile. Even though I had my friends along on most of the legs, I did do a couple trips solo, except I was never really alone. One of my favorite pictures of my folks accompanied me on every trip.
The celebration begins!!

I have made a lot of great friends while doing this and today was no exception. I took my new bestest buddy Davis out for what we be my last spin in my Wilderness Tarpon 160. It will be raffled off at a later date with all the proceeds going to the American Heart Association.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my trip reports; I had a lot of fun doing this trip. Its something that I am surely proud to have done. I’m not sure if anyone has gone that far in a Sit on Top fishing kayak.

I would like to thank all of my core sponsors who helped me get the ball rolling on this project:

Jay Place at Cooper James. Jay designed the Paddle Around the Bay website.
Chris Suma of Wilderness kayaks. They donated the Tarpon 160 I used for the trip.
Allen Wyatt of The Andy Thornal Company.
David Simms of Action Water Sports.
Bobby Blizzard at BigFishOutfitters.
Terry Hartley at Sticky-Stuff
Greg Reh at Tampa Bay Stitching

I would also like to thanks those members of the Bay Area Canoe & Kayak club as well as the Central Florida Kayak Anglers who supported me.

A big “Thank You” goes out to Rik at Paddle-Fishing.com for allowing me to get the word out to those that joined me on each leg. I’ll be having a banquet in a few weeks to hold the raffle for the kayak, as well as 5 guided kayak fishing trips, fishing equipment and other items. Look for this information in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading along as I Paddled Around the Bay.