What qualities make a great teacher?
August 12, 2015
With offseason done, Saints seek to recreate winning ways
August 12, 2015Grand Isle natives are ready to ‘ride the bull’ this weekend.
The Ride the Bull Kayak Fishing Rodeo will take place on August 15 at Bridge Side Marina on the beginning of the island.
Pre-registration for the rodeo is closed, and event organizers said that 594 kayak fishermen are already signed up to compete in the rodeo.
Folks who want to fish can still do so by signing up at Bridge Side on Friday and Saturday.
The cost to compete is $85.
The event is billed as the largest kayak fishing tournament in the world, and it’s also a sign of how far the sport has come since its recent surge in popularity.
Kayak fishing has become very popular locally in the past half-decade with several locals taking up the sport as a hobby. It is exactly as it sounds. A fisherman sits in a kayak and tries to haul in fish in the water.
But challenges obviously make the sport difficult. It’s not always easy to control the kayak, and obviously, storage in the small vessel is extremely limited.
But the sport is also very competitive, and several local rodeos have adopted kayak divisions.
One of those is the Golden Meadow-Fourchon Tarpon Rodeo, which has been crowning several kayak champions in the past several years. The 2015 rodeo admiral Eddie Callais said he wants all fishermen to have an opportunity to fish competitively. Callais said the addition of the kayak division was a move that’s been a good one for
the rodeo.
“We want everyone to have an opportunity,” Callais said. “We definitely don’t want to leave anyone out. And I think the rebranding and all of the things that we’ve done have done a nice job to build more support and to get people more aware that this is something that we’re doing, and something we’re continuing to grow and support.”
This weekend’s Ride the Bull event is the sixth of its kind. It will start on Saturday with a short captain’s meeting at 6:45 a.m. at Bridge Side.
From there, anglers will hit the water at 7 a.m. for a full day of fishing competition.
The rodeo’s 2015 captains are Danny and Kristen Wray and also Chris and Vicki Holmes.
The event is one that is also more than just fishing.
Raffles will be held throughout the weekend, which will give participants various prizes.
