Our seventh event of the year was a fishing tournament in Sargent, Texas.  What a weekend!  Great food, great fishing and great people.  After the wonderful weekend of fishing in Palacios last month, I was afraid we might have used all our luck gambling with the weather this time of year.

We arrived late Friday afternoon and were greeted to a benefit dinner for the soldiers.  Dan and Lisa Kuderick had the dinner at their weekend home and hired a chef to cook.  He did a wonderful job in preparing a meal that was incredible to say the least.  The chef (Andy) even wore his Chef outfit for the guys!  The menu consisted of the following:

Appetizer
Red Snapper Ceviche
Shrimp Veracruz
Entrée
Seafood Fondue with Crab, Crawfish, Oysters and Scallops
Freshly Baked French Bread
Crab Cakes
Grilled Shrimp
Blacken and Grilled Amber Jack
with Couscous, Romaine Salad and Roasted Corn Salad
Dessert
Peanut Butter Pie

One of our wounded soldiers had stated to the chef, that he and the guys had been talking about the food, which in and of itself surprising, as most soldiers usually shovel the food in the mouth and don’t care what it is!  Andy’s dinner however, was the best meal that they had ever had, I was told.

The Kudericks also arranged for a special guest to have dinner with the guys, Retired Navy pilot, former Astronaut and Atlantis Shuttle Pilot Michael McCulley.  His mission STS-34 deployed the Galileo spacecraft to Jupiter in 1989.  He gladly posed for photo opts with the guys!

Saturday morning found us out on Matagorda Bay fishing for trout and red fish as the sun rose over its slick waters.  The fishing was good for everyone but me as you will see in the picture of me holding nothing in my hands.  Everyone caught fish except me.  All three wounded soldiers placed in the tournament.  Lewis from Iowa won the heaviest speckle trout, Ryan from Texas took the third place speck, and Caleb from Arkansas took the second place red fish.  I would like to add they donated all the prize money back to their wounded brothers and sisters at BAMC ($700) ... what a testament to the integrity of our fighting men in women!

The tournament itself (M. SGT GONZALES MEMORIAL) brought in almost $17,000 for the INTREPID FALLEN HEROES FUND.  The HUNTS FOR HEROES team will be on hand when Hector Gonzales presents the check in front of the CENTER FOR THE INTREPID.  I am proud to have been a small part of this weekend.

Click Here to see a few pictures of the weekend.

Our next event will be the duck and dove hunt here in El Campo.  Practice your shooting skills ... Teal and White Wings are tough ... See you in September.  ..........Billy