Not even bad weather will keep us from treating some deserving servicemen
to a day of tautog fishing.

Capt. Willie Dykes, co-host of Outdoors Delmarva (WBOC 16), reports on Military Appreciation Day in Lewes, Delaware.

September 15, 2015
by Scott Krieger

The Seaview Fishing Pier sponsors a year long fishing tournament for anglers. Varying by different species, a portion of the entry fees for each participant was donated to Military Appreciation Day, Inc. SeaView pier owner Greg Ludlum and his Son Tyler, have sponsored other Wounded Warrior fishing events in the past and were happy to be able to help. MAD volunteer Richard Phelps helped coordinate the tournament. The 2014 donated was $340 and Greg kicked in $60 more to even it out to $400! All goes straight to the event and taking these Active Duty Troops fishing, saying One, Simple, Thanks!

If you enjoy pier fishing like I do, make the trip up to North Topsail Island and go catching with them. They have a great staff, grill, and hotel onsite as well.

Make SeaView Pier your “go to” and tell Greg, Tyler and everyone you appreciate them helping in our mission to say

Greg Ludlum, Owner of Sea View Pier presenting a donation of $400 to MAD representative Richard Phelps

Grand Prize Winner Gordon Campbell who won two divisions plus a half day guided fishing trip with Capt. Bill Hamner of Fish On Charters. Mr. Campbell is holding his cash winnings and a trophy as the Grand Prize winner.

October 25th, 2014 Military Appreciation Day Inc, (MAD) received its largest cash donation to date at the Bistro by the Sea restaurant in Morehead City, NC. The Cape Lookout Shootout King Mackerel Tournament, held at the Boathouse Marina, in Beaufort N.C. has four separate fishing events.

Tournament founders Chad Shingleton, and Patrick Overstreet formed the event and chose Military Appreciation Day, Inc. as the beneficiary.

Chad Shingleton of the boat “Tide One On” has been a volunteer boat captain for Military Appreciation Day for numerous years, fishing with all branches of the Military at our Morehead City NC events. Both Chad and Patrick being avid king mackerel tournament fishermen, knew some of other fishermen who wanted a different style tournament, and added twists such as the “Team up” where boats can win cash prizes by lottery, and “Big Three” made the first season very successful indeed!

MAD volunteers worked at each tournament either helping to prepare and serve food at the Captain’s meetings, general help and cleanup. The day of weigh-ins volunteers helped to dock the boats who were weighing fish, and load the donated fish up on the fish buyer’s truck

The most heart touching part of the donations was the overall generosity of each of the winning boats. At the awards ceremony for the first leg of the four tournaments, Captain Mike Williams of the boat “Release” announced he wanted to donate $1,000 of his winnings back to MAD and his check was re-written on the spot! Captain Williams stated he was happy to do it and wanted to start what he hoped is a long standing tradition year after year.

After each one of the remaining three tournaments, the winning boat followed suit and, then again, and then once again at the championship! MAD also benefitted from the fish that were caught, all weighed fish become property of the tournament and were sold to a local fish market, proceeds from that were donated as well.

Representing the organization at the awards banquet were Mr. Don Gray, Morehead City Event President, John Polosky, one of the three founders of Military Appreciation Day. The donation check was $8,000 accepted by Scott Krieger, Chairman of The Board of Directors for Military Appreciation Day, Inc.

Military Appreciation Day Inc, is proud to “Join Forces” with the Cape Lookout Shootout King Mackerel Tournament, plans are already being discussed how the organization can further benefit the tournament next year at their Captains meetings dinners and weigh-ins.

Scott Krieger
Military Appreciation Day
www.militaryappreciationday.org

More information about Cape Lookout Shootout and photos available in the forum.

I now want to take time to THANK each and every one that helped and contributed to making MAD1 Lewes a success. To each committee member, volunteer boat Captains, general volunteers and our donors and supporters I THANK YOU for our great success in Delaware.

From Left to Right Jim Clark, Boat Committee; Hector Reyes, Chapter President;
Charlie Jerrell “CJ’, Food & Beverage Committee, Judy Mangini, Public Relations;
Christina Earns, Fundraising and Bill Baker, Jr. Chapter vice President.

“When we started planning for the very first Military Appreciation Day event back in 2006, we had a fairly simple idea. The idea was to find a way to thank some very amazing people for all they do for our country. We wanted to thank them for their personal sacrifice, for their dedication to keeping us safe and free and also to celebrate the accomplishments they have achieved. While the men and women of the United States Military are without question the most amazing force in the world, there is a unique parallel that after eight years of MAD is becoming more and more obvious. That realization is that our volunteers and donors are also an amazing force. Because of your hard work, generosity and support, Military Appreciation Day is now the largest, all volunteer “take our troops fishing” event in the world”.

“Without you, MAD could never accomplish our mission of One, Simple, THANKS! On behalf of the Board of Directors at Military Appreciation Day, Inc., and our volunteers all across the country, thank you for your support and for continuing to be a part of the MAD family!”

We are looking forward to our continued growth in the season to come.

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS … GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hector Reyes
Chapter President

October 26, 2014
By Chris Franks, President Southport NC Chapter, Military Appreciation Day

After a delay from September to October because of bad weather, MAD Southport/Oak Island is in the books.

The Captain’s Meeting on Friday October 17 went well for all of those attending. For the approximately 75 people that were there the food was great and the fellowship even better. The evening was made even better when it was found that Scott Ks’ grandson was able to come home.

The evening ended with a raffle for 2 custom gaffs made especially for MAD South. A big surprise for MAD was when Sam Edwards brought in 2 copper fish, 1 grouper and 1 king mackerel, that had been made by a local artist. He offered them for, as he said, “Since I am not going fishing, I had the money to do it”.

Saturday morning brought the troops to our door and captains ready to put them on the fish. It also brought a fairly stiff wind.

Our final tally for the morning was 40 boats and 76 troops. Far less that our records, but every one counts.

There were some last minute cancellations and some shuffling of troops onto other boats, but all of the troops that made it down were able to get out.

Those first few boats that made their way to fish off of Oak Island were met by some sporting conditions. Listening to the radio, and reports from later on, made it clear that any who ventured that way were in for a rough time. Many of the boats then made the trip up the Cape Fear River to Carolina Beach where the sea conditions were more favorable.

Once everyone was able to make it to their fishing locations, there were some mixed results. Some landed on a few fish while some had to work at it. All of the captains were giving it their all to put their troops onto the fish.

The fish that made it back to the docks were varied and there were many undersized fish released. All of those that I spoke to had plenty of opportunity to land fish and had a great time on the water.

Once the troops were back at Southport Marina, a meal of hamburgers and hotdogs was waiting. There was plenty for them to eat and the volunteers made sure that not a single troop went home less that stuffed.

While the postponement and weather made for a challenging event, all went very well. As usual we wish to give the troops One. Simple. Thanks. For all that they do and invite them back again for next years event.

Also none of this would not be possible without the support of ALL of our volunteers. Finally our great appreciation goes out to all of our supporting businesses.

 
Previously ….
Read more

Mission Accomplished!
As posted on Tidalfish.

The motto of Military Appreciation Day is “One. Simple. THANKS”. Our mission is to take active duty military personnel out for a day on the water to fish and hopefully catch, with a side benefit forging new friendships on the boats and at the feast after the fishing. So as stated: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I was completely spent when the day ended Saturday and did nothing but veg out yesterday after cleaning the boat and fighting the #*%^$ traffic to get back to Richmond. But I didn’t want to let another day go by without thanking all those who made the day possible.

After two consecutive Saturdays on the bay with flat calm seas it was no surprise to anyone that we had NE winds topping 15 kts to greet us on Saturday morning. However this would not deter the fantastic, dedicated group of captains and crew who volunteered their time, boats, fuel and bait to take the troops out. As covered in our pre-event Captains meeting safety was priority one and all boats fished and returned safely with no incidents worth noting.

The MAD armada of Captains is listed below with captain’s name, boat name, boat type and species caught:

Hector Reyes – Whatever – Carolina Skiff – Spot, Croaker
Mike Avery – Seaduction – Hydrasports – bluefish, sharks
Cliff Rowe – Mulch Man – Carolina Classic – flounder
Danny Forrest – Kate Lynn Dawn – Concorde – Guests Canceled
Patrick Boyle – Infection – Grady White – Spanish, bluefish
Steve Godin – Dach Of The Bay – Parker – bluefish, croaker
Ron Alexander – Blizzard – Angler – Spanish, bluefish
Jorge Rivera – Don Jaime – Parker – Bluefish, toads
Crosby Forrest – Old Forrester – Harkers Islander – Spanish, sharks, bluefish
Wayne Smith – Sarah Kay – Sea Hunt – Flounder, bluefish
Carmelo Tuzza – no name – Sundance – Bluefish, BSB, flounder
Mike Rendenna – Love & Luck – Phoenix – Croaker
Brian Adkins – no name – Albemarle – Flounder
Bret Wesson – no name – Maycraft – Croaker, spot
William Robbins – Gonzo – Sportcraft – Cobia (54″, 53 lbs)
Bob Jones – Gal-o-mine – Grady-White – Flounder
Jack Bartell – Reel Cool – Sea Pro – Sharks, bluefish, flounder

I’d ask each captain to individually thank their crews because if I tried listing them I’d miss some but they should know their efforts were appreciated. Without captains and crews there is no fishing and of course without supporters donating services and funds events such as this are simply not possible. The following is our list of supporters and if I’ve left anyone out, please forgive me:

Wallace’s Bait And Tackle
Virginia Air Distributors
Rudee Angler
Heritage Motor Company
Shurtape Technologies, LLC
Harry Eklof & Asso.
Fleming’s Awards & Promotions
American Legion Post 320
Wawa Store #699
Central Virginia Television
Somersaults Snack Company
Sea Tow Lower Chesapeake

All supporters received a very nice plaque which we hope they will proudly display in their respective places of business. Those businesses not represented Saturday will receive theirs shortly.

Special thanks go out to Irene and Randy at Wallace’s Bait and Tackle as they worked their butts off for the second year in a row to put out a fantastic feed.
Another special thanks to Sea Tow for covering all MAD boats during the event and thankfully we did not need to call them out but knowing they were there was a relief.
Another special thanks to Nancy Rodrigues and Michael Abley who made enough cake to feed 175 people and simply dropped them off as they had other commitments.
And while too numerous to list individually the number of volunteers who helped insure our guests were taken care of that day were fantastic. We had troops who came to do nothing more than help set up and break down. Others who helped insure the families were signed in and know where to go. We even had vendors who set up canopies, such as Homes For Heroes, not to sell anything but to insure the troops knew there are services available to assist them and their families.

Finally to all our troops and their families: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICES AND YOUR COUNTLESS SACRIFICES!

And on behalf of the Virginia Committee members I want to personally thank Scott, Bubba and Hector. Without their help and support our event would have been considerably less successful and organized. THANK YOU!!!!