Seward fishing community gives back to military

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Gross
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
SEWARD, Alaska --  The third annual combat fishing tournament, largest military appreciation fishing tournament in the nation, took place here May 21. The tournament has grown tremendously going from 66 servicemembers in 2007 to nearly 300 in 2009. The troops are from every branch--active duty, Guard and reserves. 

Bob "Capt. Bob" Candopoulis, Saltwater Safari and co-organizer, said, taking this many people out wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for the 30 boat captains from Seward Charter Association who volunteered their day and equipment to take the troops out fishing for a day. 

Not only did the charter companies help but, "Many organizations and individuals donated to this special event, Bob Candopoulis and Keith Manternach with Specialty Truck and Auto along with the Armed Services YMCA of Alaska put in countless hours, headed up the event," said Mari Jo Imig, Deputy Director Armed Services YMCA of Alaska on Elmendorf. 

The troops boarded busses on Fort Richardson at approximately 12:30 a.m. and headed out on the nearly three hour drive to Seward. Once the busses arrived and everyone unloaded, they found and went to their assigned charter captains, who then led them to their boats. Once aboard, passengers could help themselves to some hot beverages and snacks while the captain sailed through a few hours of remarkable scenery on their way out to the fishing grounds. 

Anthony Orme, 3rd Medical Support Squadron, spoke of how he enjoyed and appreciated the day of fishing that he was able to experience. After several hours of fishing and a lunch donated by several Anchorage restaurants and businesses, the captains steered their boats back toward shore. Once they arrived to shore the troops picked a fish they caught to be weighed and entered into the prized drawings. Each crew then took turns hanging their fish beneath the "Caught at Seward Alaska" sign and getting their photos taken. Many servicemembers caught two fish or more and more than 3,000 pounds of filleted fish were brought in. 

Following the weigh-ins the fish were processed and packed while servicemembers attended a banquet. 

During the banquet three major cash prizes were awarded. Reeling in the largest fish was Brent Johnson, 3rd Security Forces Squadron, who earned himself $10,000 for his 183-pound halibut. 

This year a mystery fish prize of $5,000 was given away in two pieces: half went to Rock William, Fort Richardson, and the other to Francesca Popp, 3rd Wing Public Affairs, for each having 6-pound fish. The mystery fish is any fish 40 pounds or lighter and a number was drawn from a jar from 1 ounce to 40 pounds to determine the winner. 

The third cash prize- -$2,500--was given to Daryl Shoup, Alaska Army National Guard, for catching the second largest fish of the day. 

However, all of this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for Capt. Bob and Manternach who stormed up the idea of the tournament after attending a Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nev., in the winter of 2006. There, they witnessed an organized anti-war protest. For the past 30 years of living in Alaska, Capt. Bob said he never saw such freedom of speech used to this extent. 

Manternach said he thinks the reason people normally don't hear of such protest around here is because Alaska is very military saturated. So, most civilians are either friends or neighbors with military personal. 

After walking away a bit angry with what they just saw, Capt. Bob and Manternach said that they wanted to do something to give back to the military community and especially those that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's when they came up with the fishing tournament. The first year they only had 66 people and put it all together in four weeks. They said they just wanted to set it up and go through it to see how smoothly everything ran. 

After having a successful first year, they decided to keep it up and have upsized the past two years to about 300 veterans each year. 

Capt. Bob and his team hope to keep this up and make it a continuous occurrence. He said that the planning for next year's trip will be shortly under way before the end of summer. 

"This little day of taking (these guys) fishing, is the least that we could do in comparison to what (they) do for all of us, and are willing to do for all of us," said a humble Capt. Bob.