Looking for a great way to celebrate Veterans Day on Saturday? If you’re a fisherman, you can travel to Perry Lake in northeastern Kansas and compete in the Veterans Day Fundraiser Crappie Tournament.
The event, hosted by the Kansas Crappie Club, is a win-win for those wanting to help veterans.
Not only can you compete for prize money, you will know that a portion of your entry fee will go to the aid of disabled veterans who want to fish and hunt.
Proceeds of the tournament will be donated to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s program that provides free hunting and fishing licenses to disabled veterans.
The program has been a big success, paying for licenses for many veterans each year. But funding usually runs out before all requests can be filled. Joe Bragg, founder of the tournament and a disabled veteran himself, hopes the tournament will help out.
“I think this is a great program,” Bragg said. “It honors a lot of veterans for their service.
“When I was making up the Kansas Crappie Club’s schedule this year, I saw that Veterans Day fell on a Saturday and I knew that would be a perfect time to have a benefit tournament.”
The Kansas Crappie Club holds tournaments at reservoirs across the state during its regular season, providing funding for the Outdoor Writers of Kansas this year. It had a competition last week at Clinton Lake that benefitted Special Olympics.
The tournament at Perry Lake will be based at the Jefferson Points Boat Ramp. Registration will be taken at the site before takeoff, which is set for safe light. Weigh-ins will be at 2:30 p.m.
Entry fee will be $250 per team, which includes the big-fish pot. But the real winners will be Kansas disabled veterans.
“If we can pay for a few more fishing or hunting licenses for disabled veterans, it will be a win for us,” Bragg said.