Reelin' for Rae Rae - 1/12/19

[mwardncsu]

Good Thursday Morning - Just a quick update for everyone.

We continue to closely watch the weather forecast, but for the moment, things look to be positive to be able to hold our Reelin' for Rae Rae event on Saturday. We know we have a number of teams coming in from out of town - Triad & Eastern part of NC, etc, so we are mindful of your need to safely get on back down the road Saturday evening.

Fortunately it looks like things are shaping up as they did for our December tourney - with the worst of the weather is not going to start till late Saturday night, so we should be in good shape - and hopefully, have a nice approaching front to turn on a good bite. It will be very cold so be prepared and please, please be very careful when out catching bait on potentially icy decks - wear your PFDs and go with a buddy. We will evaluate on Saturday AM and if needed make an adjustment to the end time of the tournament, so make sure to keep your ears and eyes peeled to any updates.

As a reminder, we will have our Captain's Meeting from 6-9 at Cancun - if you ordered Reelin' for Rae Rae hoodies/shirts, I will have those with me then. You can also purchase raffle tickets that evening, or do so on Saturday afternoon. Please bring as close to exact change as possible so that we can get the right monies in the right pots.

At this point, the only two teams which I have heard from that plan to pick up materials at Magnum Point Marina on Friday are Team Bottom Feeders (Hodges) & Team Sea Hunt (Massey). If others would like to, I need to know no later than 8pm tonight (Thur). When picking up your materials there, please try and have a signed release form for your team fully completed, and have exact change to make life easier on Lauren.

Safe Travels & See everyone this weekend!

[mwardncsu]

Congrats to the winners in this weekend’s Reelin’ for Rae Rae benefit tournament.

35 teams fished in cold temperatures with some mid-day snow and what proved to be a tough bite for many of the teams. However, they all were there for a good cause and made the best of the conditions.

Results:
1st - Team NightKrawler - Khris & Harleigh Bradley - 32.25” / 35.5” - 66.75” total.
2nd - Team Squidhound - Matthew & Norman Hinman, David Farley - 28” / 38” - 66” total.
3rd - Team Ruffin It - John Mathena, Tommy Thompson, Marty Riddlebarger - 29.75” / 35” - 64.75” total.

Big Fish - Team Squidhound - 38”







We had four tough youth anglers fish the Reelin' for Rae Rae event today - we appreciate their coming out and showing support for Rae Rae along with their parents.

Harley B of Team NightKrawler took 1st place with a 35.5" fish, and Finn from Team Pontus was 2nd with a 32.75. Cameron of Team Clayton Kings and Thomas of Team Rock-n-Reel’n unfortunately did not land a fish today, but all of them are winners for coming out to support the event!



Thanks again to Team Pontus for their donation of the Youth trophies & prizes!



Of course, the real winner was Rae Rae and the Owen family thanks to the kind support from all our anglers that came out and fished the tourney. With the snow settled from yesterday, we've been able to tally all the generous contributions from the various sources associated with the event.

We're overwhelmed that through the various sources associated with the event, we were able to raise just over $10,000 for Rae Rae and the Owens!

Just an incredible outpouring of love and support from all for Rae Rae. As we've said before, the generosity from those involved around the Striper Mafia family is just incredible.

Thanks again to all the anglers, those in the local communities around SML & Kerr/Buggs Island, Magnum Point Marina, Crazy Horse Marina, Martinsville Family Medicine, SML Fish Finder, Carter Machinery, American Striped Bass Challenge, Smith Mountain Lake Bassmasters, Cats N' Stripers Guided Fishing Charters, Kenny Short, Clints Striper Guide Service, Smith Mountain Game Farm, Halesford Harbour Inn, Virginia Metalfab, Cancun Mexican Restaurant & Grill and many unnamed individuals for your contributions to the cause.

Thanks to all who contributed through entry fees, those participating in raffles, those donating in the local community, those purchasing the Reeling for Rae Rae & the "red-line striper" design shirts / hoodies, donations of winnings from tournament winners to the Owens, and others. You are all incredible and on behalf of John & Lauren from Magnum Point and those of us here at the Striper Mafia, we say Thank You! from the bottom of our hearts!

Finally - please say a prayer, send good vibes or whatever you believe in for Rae Rae tomorrow as she heads back to Duke to start her 3rd round of Chemo - this will be a tough one but we know she's a strong little girl with a ton of love & support behind her and her family and that she will persevere!

[mwardncsu]

Added full detailed results

[mwardncsu]

Thanks to the SML Eagle for their coverage of the event!