Apologies in advance if this is a duplicate posting, but I haven't seen it on here yet.

As many of you know, two young men drowned over the weekend while fishing on the Trinity River in Fort Worth. Though they were bank fishing at the time, they were both active members of our DFW Kayak Fishing community. They leave behind young families and we want to come together as a brotherhood/sisterhood to help those families out.

So there will be a Benefit Tournament and a raffle on Sunday, 8/14 with all proceeds going to the families of the two kayak fishing brothers. Full details on Facebook at this link: Facebook Event Page

Some seriously great prizes have been donated to this cause so far so please check it out.

Rules and info:
-Meeting at Panther Island in the lot next to the Henderson Street Bridge in Fort Worth
-$25 to participate
-Raffle Tickets may be purchased 1 for $5 3 for $10
-vessels must have a 360 light
-pfds must be worn at all times if fishing from a vessel, no exceptions!!!
-You may use any legal human powered vessel (kayak,canoe, float tube, sup)
-You may also bank fish***If bank fishing you must not fish from the beach area around panther island pavilion out of respect for other events (swimmers, sunday funday, etc.)
-Prizes will be awarded for top finisher 1-3 and big bass
-Scoring will be by catch-photo-release (cpr)
-You must use a "Hawg Trough" measuring device!! They can be purchased at Backwoods, Anglers Pro Tackle, Mariner Sails, Cabelas, etc. If you can't come up with one find a partner and share, or we'll come up with one for you!!
-Total length of best 5 fish will be your score
-Only black bass species will be scored (largemouth, spot,etc.)
-Each contestant will have a scorecard which must be submitted back at the registration site no later than 1 pm.
-You may fish anywhere on the Trinity River and it's tributaries inside the 820 loop of fort worth.
-tournament directors will review score cards and verify those that may qualify for a top place finish
-If pic isn't clearly visible the tournament directors reserve the right to disqualify that catch
-take a lot of pics and take good ones
Prizes are as follows:
1st place: Vibe Skipjack Kayak courtesy of Cowtown Kayaks
2nd place: G-Rod Graphene fishing rod
3rd place: Lure packages from Clear Fork Custom Jigs/Rio Bait co
Big Bass: Vibe skip Jack Kayak Courtesty of Cowtown Kayaks

Huge Raffle Items: Total Value exceeding $1500. (guided fly fishing trips, rods, pfds, autographer nfl jersery's, & more)

Even if you guys can't get in on the tournament you can still buy raffle tickets! need not be present to win and tons of great prizes to be had. Let's show these family's how strong the kayaking/fishing community is here in DFW!!!

Will the raffle tickets be available for purchase at the tournament? As in before the "weigh in"?

Yes, at the captains meeting and also prior to weigh-in. You don't have to fish to be in the raffle and you don't have to be present to win.

You can also purchase them ahead of time using Pay Pal. Contact Tracy Dougan for more info, he has the raffle details outlined in a discussion topic on the Facebook event page.

Awesome work guys!

Update on the raffle from Tracy:

Folks more prizes for the Raffle are being added daily. The tickets are only $5 or 3 for $10 and every penny goes to the families. You can PayPal your donation, buy tickets at Backwoods in Ft. Worth, buy them from me at the Mariner Sails Working Mans Tournament Thursday night on Joe Pool, or of course I will be there Sunday selling before and after the tourny. My Paypal link is paypal.me/TracyDougan. I plan on drawing the winners around 1:00 to 1:30 PM.

Guys, these prizes are awesome, buy as many tickets as you can.

Incredible you guys put this together so quick. I'll be there.

what time is the captains meeting?

Captains Meeting will be at 5:30 AM

I am going to try to make this! Sounds like a good time.

Never fished a tourney or the Trinity, would not even know where to put in, but first time for everything.

Do it man! What you will find is a great group of friendly people coming together to celebrate a bond over fishing and to contribute to something bigger than ourselves.

I'm sure plenty of people would be willing to share some tips with you.

Yeah I've never been to a kayak tourney that it wasn't a good time. Even on big money events people are willing to help. This time I think it will be more of a coming together in support and not a standard tourney. This will be only my second time there so I'm just going to support and have fun.

It's such a tragedy and is an eye opener. We all love fishing and go all the time. I have my fishing buddy and we fish like crazy and don't really stop to think that we are just one small accident from not coming back home. See you guys Sunday

Sounds like a great event!

I haven't been active on the boards in quite a while and wouldn't mind meeting some new folks.

A couple questions, is there a contingency plan for weather? What/Where is Backwoods if I want to go buy raffle tickets/etc. there?

1. Yes there are contingency plans. The following is from Jacob Taylor, the even organizer: We're watching the weather closely. If it is not dangerous we will continue as planned. If we have a flood threat, or lightning we have a plan B that will allow all of us to fish in a safer environment. For example we may open it up to the surrounding lakes which will be much safer, and extend deadline times. Let's just hope it's not too bad and everything can go as planned.

Obviously there is only so much we can do so we'll stay tuned.

2. Backwoods is an outdoor store in Fort Worth off of west 7th street.

I highly encourage everyone to visit the event page, there are tons of updates and info there, more than I can keep up with.

camera phone allowed?