GCKFA home page
The Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association (GCKFA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on promoting the exciting sport of kayak fishing throughout the NW Florida and South Alabama area. Activities include hosting a kayak fishing tournament, rigging workshops, social gatherings centered on the sport and, of course, fishing.
G.C.K.F.A. Forum
The New Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association Forum is now on-line. The vbuletin software has templates form moblie phone access, we added the forum runner application for even better mobile access. The Facebook app lets users interact with the forum directly from Facebook. The Publishing Suite has built-in blog capability. Check it out! Previous forum members (before December of 2012) will need to re-register with this forum software.
GCKFA announcement
With the recent explosion of interest in kayak fishing we also have many newcomers to the sport. While kayak fishing can be very rewarding, the nature of the sport has many potential dangers for the inexperienced angler.
The GCKFA will be holding a safety seminar very soon to include topics such as Safety Equipment, Buddy System, Importance of float plans, re-entry and surf launching and landing.
This seminar will be conducted within the next month. Specifics will be discussed at the next board meeting to take place Wednesday. May 22. We will announce the final schedule shortly after.
As ambassadors of the sport we must all do everything we can to practice and promote safe procedures when on the water. We look forward to your participation.
G.C.K.F.A. Membership
This T-shirt design is for the GCKFA membership ($30). These t-shirts are available now with a new membership purchase via PayPal. Current members can purchase the T-shirt for $10. Non-members can purchase a T-Shirt for $20. T-Shirts for current member and non-members will only be available at GCKFA events.
The Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association invites you to join us on facebook to keep up with the most current information.
http://www.facebook.com/GCKFA/ (page)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/162930073723411/ (group)
Captains Meeting
The Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association holds the annual Spring Tournament Captains Meeting at Hooters on Pensacola Beach, Friday night before the Saturday tournament.
The Captains meeting is a great way to meet your fellow anglers, learn about last minute rule changes and recieve door prizes.
In 2010 we started giving away the "Best Dang Tackle Box". This is a raffle to those who participate by donating a new packaged lure, you will recive a chance to win and a ticket. A ticket will be drawn and the overflowing five gallon bucket of lures could be yours! In 2012 the "Best Dang Tackle Box" had grown to two five gallon buckets full of tackle.
Grassy Point Campout
The club is planning an overnight fishing trip to the Grassy Point Wildlife Management Area near the Yellow River delta. Grassy Point is located west of Choctaw NOLF off of Hwy 87 in Santa Rosa County.
The primative campsites provides ready access to the fishing area of Little Catfish and Catfish basins. Redfish,Ttrout, and Flounder can be found in the marshes, bayous and shallow waters.
We decided to make this event occur on the time change weekends (simi-annual). Hope to see you there! Click Here for more information
November 3rd - 4th, 2012
March 9th - 10th, 2013
November 2nd - 3rd, 2013
Rigging Clinic
Each January we hold our annual rigging clinic to help new kayak anglers add, modify, or remove items to/from their kayaks to aid them in the pursuit of the perfect fishing kayak.
Bring your yaks and any rigging projects you have. Take advantage of the experience of others.
If your yak is fully rigged, bring it to show off. Seeing how others have rigged their yaks is half the fun.
Also, if you have yak gear to sell or swap, bring it and we can set up a barter station.
This years event is to be held at Hot Spots Bait and Tackle in Gulf Breeze, FL. from 10:00am until 3:00pm on January 19, 2013
News!!!
GCKFA first quarter 2013 news
Fellow Kayakers,
The GCKFA is off to a productive start in 2013. As of February 20, we have 70 currently active members and over 40 inactive members from 2012. Please renew your membership as those funds ensure future club activities, events, and equipment. Speaking of, I’d like to take this opportunity to summarize some of the events so far in 2013.
We started off the year with our largest annual rigging clinic to date. Filling the Hot Spots parking lot in Gulf Breeze with over 30 fully rigged kayaks, the event drew a crowd of over 100 kayak angling enthusiasts. Huge thanks to Hot Spots for serving an incredible BBQ lunch. The event also educated kayak anglers in topics such as cast net throwing, kayak safety regulations, fish finder installation, gopro best practices and more!
The event also saw $1,350 raised in raffle ticket sales for Heroes on the Water Emerald Coast Chapter, which for those that are unaware is a non-profit organization that helps mentally and physically wounded vets heal and rehabilitate through kayak fishing.
We also had excellent representation from Pensacola Kayak and Sail. Bahen Privett was on the scene with new models from Native Watercraft and tons of rigging accessories.
Thanks to all who attended and made it such a great event!
Late December through early January also saw the launch of our own web forum! Media Director Capt. Mike Clubbs led the charge, upgrading our existing website and installing brand new vBulletin powered forum software. Brandon Barton did an awesome job pulling over content and steering members to the new forum. Huge hats off to Mike and Brandon as together they setup and populated the new forum in record time. The new forum is booming so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already right here: GCKFA Forum
On January 31, the GCKFA held an all members meeting at Hopjacks on 9 mile road. The venue was new but we had a great turnout with 31 members present. The meeting topics included our Annual Spring Tournament planning. Ted asked for volunteers to lead committees for tournament planning. If you are interested please contact us ASAP, your help is both appreciated and needed.
Huge thanks to Marty Mood, an active member of the GCKFA and 2012 Hobie World Champion! Marty spoke at our meeting covering a wide range of topics from how he got into kayak fishing to his experience at the 2012 Hobie World Tournament. We are stoked to have him in Pensacola and actively engaged in club activities.
Jay led a discussion on plans to improve the Simpson River Kayak and Canoe launch on Hwy. 90 in Pace. The great news is that since that discussion, Jay and Ferd have met with Steve Brown and Danny Dean from the NWFLWMD who own the property. They are excited to work with our group after doing some research of their own to see just who we were. Let’s just say they were pretty impressed with what we’ve got going on. Their plan is to improve the current site to include an entire fence line spanning the shoreline from the existing pier all the way down to thick wooden poles that block boat trailers at the other end. They plan to redo the existing launch with new substrate to cover the large bits of rubble with more kayak friendly material, and they are also going to design and trial a new kayak launch device similar to the picture below:
If successful, they will look into providing these units at other launches within their purview. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with them and look forward to the modifications taking place. One of our members, Keith Morrison has offered to help with the upgrades to the launch along with his newly instated kayak fishing club at UWF. We hope to have the modifications completed prior to our Spring Kayak Fishing Tournament.
Mark your calendars for the upcoming events. Along with the temperature, the GCKFA is heating up for spring with a host of events you won’t want to miss:
- GCKFA Annual Spring Forward Grassy Point Camp and Fish – 3/8/13-3/10/13
- Pensacola Kayak & Sail Demo Day – 3/16/13
- Heroes on the Water Emerald Coast Chapter Veteran’s Kayak Fishing Day – 3/16/13
- PaddlePalooza X hosted by BCKFC in Golden Meadow, LA – 3/22/13-3/23/13
- GCKFA 8th Annual Spring Kayak Fishing Tournament – 4/13/13
- Key Sailing Demo Day – 4/20/13
GCKFA Website: http://www.gckfa.com/ http://www.GulfCoastKayakFishing.com/index.htm
GCKFA Forum: http://www.GCKFA.com/vb4/activity.php
GCKFA Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GCKFA
GCKFA Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/162930073723411/
Let’s have a banner year of kayak fishing in 2013! Have fun and be safe.
Tight lines,
Jay Kania
President, GCKFA
850-316-1476
jaymkania@gmail.com
Jeff Lawrence, the host of Your Outdoor Show on blabtv was able to come out to the GCKFA campout and hang out with us as we prepared to feast on our roast pig. Thanks for coming out and I look forward to seeing you again at our spring tourney! For those that were out there, thanks for making it such a great event. For those that could not make it, we hope this gives you an idea of how we relax and why you won't want to miss these in the future. Enjoy!
The Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association was invited to the March 16th, 2013 Demo Day's at Pensacola Kayak & Sail, located at 3009 Olde Barrancas Ave. Pensacola, FL 32507. We were able to set up a few tables and demo a few rigged kayaks to introduce new kayakers to the association. We would like to send a special thanks to Bahen the manager of P.K.& S.
The Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association is a proud supporter of the Emerald Coast Chapter of the Heroes on the Water (H.O.W.). We will be placing several photos in our photo gallery of the recent event in Ft.. Walton Beach on 3-16-2013.
ROAD TRIP: Filmed with Gopro hero3 black at 720 and 120fps Marty Mood and Brandon Barton hit the road to fish Paddle Palooza X in Golden Meadow, La What a great tournament put on by the http://bckfc.org/. See ya next year.
Landon Mace - Video Speckled Trout 20.75" on 23 Mar 13
Logo
Image of the Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Associations color logo.
Sunset on Pensacola Bay
This is an example of some of the spectacular sunsets, with the colors reflecting in the catch and release bull red.
Bayou Landing
An image of the primative boat ramp area of the bayou campsite at Grassy Point. This image captured the refective light of the SOLAS tape on the kayaks. - Fall 2011
Surf Launch
An early morning surf launch in Destin Florida, heading out to do some offshore fishing.
G. C. K. F. A.
Gulf Coast Kayak Fishing Association
Let's Get Social!
Follow us on our Facebook page. Social networking is becoming the most effective method for getting visitors to our website.. Make New Friends or Get in touch with fellow Kayak Fishing Anglers. We have two points of presence on FaceBook a Page and a Group. When we started the website we created a GCKFA forum for our members and friends to share their kayaking experiences. Over time and technical difficulties with our previous service provider, many anglers started using the kayak section of the Pensacola Fishing Forum. We are now offering the reintroduction of the GCKFA forum to our viewers.
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