The Jersey Paddler Classic Demo Paddle is a demo day where $8 gets you a paddle and a PFD and the ability to just about demo paddle everything one of the largest largest kayak shops in New Jersey has in inventory.  Along with company reps and on my side fishing guys representing the products to answer any type of questions you may have prior to purchasing a kayak. The demo was for a full Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM – 3 PM.

Saturday Morning was a cloudy day. Not much of traffic early but as the day went on the sun eventually filled the sky and it was busy for a good 2 hours. There was a lot of interest in the Jackson Kayaks I had brought my brand new 2015 Kraken for demo. Not even paddling the boat yet and that’s what its for! I also brought my personal Big Rig with the Torqeedo Motor for people to demo which may or may not have been the best idea. There was a ton of interest in the Torqeedo as well as the kayaks.

Jersey Paddler provided me with a Coosa and a Cuda 12 demo. It seemed like a slow day but I was told they had over 180 participants registered. In all it was a good day. I packed up everything and went home to take care of the dog.

Sunday was picture perfect weather and it showed. The crowds rolled in in droves! I saw a few people from the day before whom were still undecided. A family strolled up looking for a Big Tuna and thinking they had stocked me with all demos from the shop i told them i didn’t have one but would check on it. They tested out the Big Rig for a little while and while doing that my request for a Big Tuna and a Coosa HD appeared upon request! The family was totally happy after running them through the seating positions the were headed back to the shop the purchase one!

The day went on and the Big Rig was in the water just about the entire time. I feel the kids riding it paid their entry fee just to cruise. It was hard to retrieve the boat. I was sidetracked by questions and all kinds of them.  As i sit back here and type this article i find the amount of experience over the years has equipped me with the tools to help those who look to get into the sport. I’m glad to help and share the info I learned by trial and error.

Love doing these days even though it takes up fishing time. To everyone whom I met at the event tight lines!

Prefish Day:

It all begun with a 5:30 alarm. It was to be mini tournament time at Lake Denmark at 7:00 am. Lake Denmark is located outside the wire of the Picatinny Army Base about a 45 minute drive north into the mountains. After arriving I made my donation to the tournament pot. I say this because typically I do not fish freshwater lakes. Although the times fishing them the tendency to catch fish is there.

After waiting for the guys who stayed at the cabins the night before to get back from breakfast we all launched in the lake around 8:00 am. I opted to paddle the Big Rig as it is the bass anglers dream kayak due to its stand-ability and stability for standing site fishing all day long. The guys wouldn’t let me compete with my Torqeedo although pedals were aloud which I felt was not at all an advantage. Next time I think everyone paddles.

I tied on an inline spinner bait and first cast fish on its a pickerel. It was pickerel all day long! Fun to catch those toothy critters. Inline spinners seemed to work best but i do believe if i had some top water poppers they would have been hooked and landed on those also! Around 11:30 I paddled my Big Rig back to the boat ramp and loaded it back up as it was time to catch the Rangers hockey game at the cabin! The 2 bedroom and loft cabins are really nice! Fully furnished with amenities such as Flat Screen TV with cable, Internet, a full kitchen, and hot showers!

We enjoyed assorted salami and cheeses that Larry  brought and some venison sausage Dave Mormak brought along with some killer empinadas that Sam Callalo’s wife made! After lunch and the Rangers beat the Caps in game 3 we all went back to the lake to fish for a few more hours as the tournament apparently went on until 5:00. We ended up fishing until around 6:00 and by that time I was really hungry so loaded up and went back to the cabins for some beverages dinner and just to hang out with other fellow volunteers. Ending up going to bed after the fight of a life time that was actually not a good fight.

I ended up taking a shower then going to bed late around 1:30 am and didn’t not sleep much due to strange noises in the night.  I think i got an hour and a half just before it got lite out.

Event Day:

7:00AM I’m up feeling a bit tired but pack my gear up and head to the lake where I will be running the check in electronically. The sun is shining not a cloud in the sky. It was a cool morning but the forecast was calling for mid 70’s to 80’s in the mountains.

Volunteers begin to show up and its great to see the familiar faces. Its been quite a few months since most of us have seen each other.

 The check-ins went smoothly. It seemed there was 10 people in line at the most. So everything went pretty quick. From here the need is to get rid of the paper which I am working on.

Most of the volunteers were down at the boat ramp which was about 100 yards down the road. They were unloading and setting up the kayaks for the event.

The veterans started to arrive and enjoy a light breakfast! It was now time to kick off the event. Matt Williams gave his speech and then was a nice giveaway to veteran.  There was a gift card to Ramsey Outdoors and also a nice fishing rod Sean Gavin custom made in his fishing rod shop that he donated.

It was now time to give our guests a great day on the water! After a safety briefing the participating veterans were paired up with guides and set off onto Lake Denmark. Pat Od was the ramp commander for the day and did a great job! It was a picture perfect day on the water. Sunny a few small clouds made it completely comfortable. Quite a few fish were caught while Civic Duty Partners volunteers were preparing lunch that consisted of burgers dogs and sausages with various sides. Lunch was called around 1 PM and was excellent as always.

The event was a great way to kick off the 2015 season of fishing and HOW events. Keeping up with our great weather record once again!

After lunch the event was extended to 3:00 PM by the event coordinator. We wanted to end at 2 PM due to it being Sunday but it was just too picture perfect to pack it up. A quite a few people went back out fishing after lunch and had to be rounded up at then end. A couple hours later we were all packed up trailers loaded to be transported to their home base for another day.

Thanks again to all of the volunteers who take up a beautiful weekend day to fulfill taking out veterans fishing and helping them rehabilitate back to the civilian life or just have a great day.

The Plastic Hull and founder Matt Trucks have been featured on Kayak Angler TV. Check out Scott MacGregor founder of Kayak Angler TV and his coverage of my Jackson Kayak Big Rig rigging at the Jersey Paddle Sports expo 2015!! Going over gear such as the Ecoxgear Ecorox – Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker, Bending Branches Navigator Paddle, the Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp Chart Plotter and Sonar, and the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 along with its integration to the Big Rig.