What a tournament!!  The 8th Annual Ryan McCleskey Memorial Redfish Challenge was the best to date!  We had 39 boats register and raised close to $15,000 for Barbara’s Friends – The Children’s Hospital Cancer Fund!!  None of this would have been possible without the support and generosity of all of you.

From raffle ticket sales, silent auction packages, registration fees and of course our tournament sponsors, the event couldn’t have gone any better!

The winners of our first ever Sea-Doo raffle was the Gallagher family of Port Charlotte! Purchasing just one ticket back in April, proved to be all they needed.  The Gallagher’s were  celebrating their daughters graduation in Boston when they received the call that they had won the ski.  It didn’t take them long to get on the water, as they were out enjoying the Sea-Doo the following weekend!!!

The crowd was entertained by one of Southwest Florida’s best country bands – One Night Rodeo, who graciously donated their time and “off the charts” music at the weigh in!  Hopefully this was just the beginning of many great years to come!!! (Thanks guys!!)

The winning teams were a mix of previous participants, paired up with two new teams.

Please visit the Results page to see a list of the winners!  We did throw in a 4th Place Award  this year which went to Team Ashmore Construction.  Another favorite of the tournament – the “Big Calcutta” which was $1100 and went to our 3rd Place winners – Fishing Fools and Tom Hargrove….proved to be not a bad day on the water for the team!  My personal favorite (although I  shouldn’t be bias!) went to our 2nd Place winners LowTide…Tony – one of Ryan’s best friends, Kristin, Casey, and my nephew Matt!  They also had the biggest catch of the day at 6.92#! First Place went to Team Red, who’s teammates have supported this tournament since the beginning, on one boat or another..- Big Red, Billy Glass, April and Chris – congrats!

Please feel free to email any photos you would like to have added to the gallery!

A special thanks again to all our sponsors – Becky, Jeff and the gang at RumRunners, Frank, Glenda and the crew at Cape Harbour and RealMark (without your support, none of this would be possible), Jason and the staff at Twisted Conch, my favorite Weigh Master – Wayne and family – Cape Tool and Tackle, Bobbi for the great food on Saturday – Geo’s and Cafe Aguilar, Bob at Direct Impressions – the brochures were FANTASTIC, Ray and Barbara at BMI, The Root Family – D & D Bait and Tackle, The Donaldson’s & ITC, Jerry and Val Sauber, SP Designs, Tim an the gang at Stevie Tomatos, Chris and Troy for the new website, MP Electric (thanks bro!), Florida MotorSports and Windward Construction- Brain and Lauren, for your love and support of me , and this tournament!  Lastly, all of the local businesses that donated gift certificates, silent auction items, and prizes, that helped to generate thousands of dollars…THANK YOU!!!!!

In closing, with my sincere gratitude and appreciation, thank you again for supporting Ryan’s tournament and helping make his and my wishes come true!!  See you all next year!!!

Kristin