The Kingston Canoe and Kayak Fishing Club (KCKF) is a local kayak fishing group based out of Kingston, Ontario. KCKF members are from all across Ontario, and with some even being from outside of Ontario and south of the border. The KCKF was founded in 2018 by CFB Kingston’s MCpl Jeff Dicks and two others. The Club Directors of the KCKF have since become MCpl Dicks, Mat MacDonald, and former military members Mitch LeCoupe and Jim Young. KCKF was founded to create a community for other kayak anglers from the area to come together to plan trips, meet new people, and share advice, photos, and videos of their latest experiences.
Since 2020, KCKF has been hosting virtual “Catch, Photo, Release” (CPR) style tournaments through a service called iAnglerTournament, but they had never hosted a charity event. By 2021, KCKF had grown to approximately 400 members, and the club directors’ team decided that it was time to host a kayak bass fishing charity tournament.
Since many members of KCKF are veterans or active members of the CAF, Soldier On was an obvious choice of beneficiary for the inaugural charity fundraiser. After months of planning, the 2022 KCKF Bass Tournament for Soldier On took place on June 25th, 2022, in Erinsville, Ontario, with a total of forty anglers who showed up to compete. In normal season tournaments, KCKF pays out 100% of the entry fees to the top 3 anglers and biggest fish, but since this was a charity event there were no monetary prizes. Instead, there were a large number of tournament sponsors that donated some incredible prizes to be given away, including everything from small packages of fishing lures up to a premium fishing kayak valued at over $1500.00!
In total, the KCKF Bass Tournament for Soldier On raised $1391.00 and the Tamworth Royal Canadian Legion pledged an additional $500.00 to go with it, bringing the total to $1,891.00 raised for Soldier On.
MCpl Dicks filmed the tournament and produced a video for his YouTube channel, Limestone Fishing. MCpl Dicks has the ability to generate money from his videos, so he decided that any money generated by that video will also be donated to Soldier On over the entirety of its life on the platform.
The video is called “Fish On for Soldier On”. If learning more about this tournament interests you, or if you’d like to do your part in raising funds for Soldier On, please visit the link below to watch, like, and share the video.
