Albion Open 2011

Thursday evening after I got off work, Ryan and I drove up to Albion, arriving around 1am Friday morning. The office was obviously closed, so our buddy Gabe let us crash at his site. The down side was, because we arrived so late, we slept in the car … in the cold … without any type of blanket/sleeping bag. Friday around 5am Gabe started knocking on our windows asking if we would like to join him on a Charter boat, another friend had set up. I kindly declined, as I was exhausted and freezing, but alas Ryan had agreed to go. 

On his way out with the boys, he did grab me a sleeping bag, so I could sleep a little more comfortably. Once I woke up, I was eager to begin setting up for the tournament, so while Ryan was away, I managed to get our campsite, put the tent up, take Ryan's kayak off the car, and get his kayak rigged (being only 4'11 getting his 13'' kayak off the car was a major accomplishment for me). Ryan returned to camp late in the day, with a limit of rock fish! Thanks to his great skill we had a great dinner of fish tacos!

On Saturday we awoke early, so Ryan could finish getting set up for the tournament. After I saw him on his way, thankfully I went back to sleep (notice the pattern .. I love sleep). When I finally rolled out of my sleeping bag, I was full of concern for Ryan. 'Did he catch a fish?', 'did he flip his yak in the ocean?' I kept asking everyone I saw with a radio, if they had heard from him, but no one had. I spent most my day waiting on the beach to see him paddling in.
Finally, just an hour before weigh in, we hear from Ryan. He caught limits with an additional SALMON!!! Ryan's rock fish got him 2^nd place in the event! We went to bed early that night, so we could head home in the morning and take care of all that fish. Overall it was a great event and couldn't get much better.

--Kat