Richard Kong has become not only a valued leadership team member since joining the CBAF but he has become a force on the CBAF Tournament Trail. He has top five finishes in five of our last seven events anchored by 2nd place at Folsom plus Big Fish. But the truth is it was a rocky start for Richard. Read the rest of the story…
The CBAF 2006-2007 season has come to an end and with it another blessed year of fishing and fellowship for me. My partners and I have not yet won an event but we have finished in the top five for the last seven CBAF tournaments.
I have only been fishing tournaments for a few years but during those years God has taught me a lot and I would like to share with any of you who may be feeling intimidated or discouraged.
The first tournament I fished was HonorBound in 2003 and I remember being a little disappointed that I wasn’t fishing with any of my co-workers who were more experienced than I. The afternoon before the big day my partner called to cancel. Since he was bringing the boat I had to scramble to get my boat ready and find a partner. I finished working on that old boat around 8:30 p.m. and was able to get someone to fish with me around 11:30 p.m. Unfortunately, neither my partner nor I had ever been to Lake Oroville so when we arrived we couldn’t find the launch area and we missed the check-in. We ended up missing the whole tournament and went home very disappointed.
In 2004, after I had been attending church for almost a year, I fished HonorBound again with just about the same results. I didn’t know the fuel gauge on my boat wasn’t working and I ran out of gas and had to be towed in by a houseboat. My partner and I finished near the bottom – a very humbling experience.
In 2005 I fished HonorBound with Marvin Inman and we finished in 17th place. In addition to HonorBound, I tried fishing some of the WON Delta tournaments. At the first tournament we caught only 3 keepers. I remember being somewhat embarrassed and not wanting to weigh my fish. At the second WON tournament of the season, my partner accidentally dropped my keys into the water while we were launching the boat. We blasted off late and finished in 12th place. Third time is the charm – right? Well, at the third tournament my boat motor quit and I couldn’t get it started again so we ended up fishing around the launch ramp and didn’t catch a thing. That ended the season for me. At this point I was beginning to wonder if someone was trying to tell me something!
It was during the summer of 2005 that I and several others were invited to Paul Baker’s house for something called the Christian Bass Anglers Fellowship. We had a great time of fellowship and planning and it was then that CBAF was born. The Holy Spirit was moving and we went away knowing that God had a plan for us. Paul and his wife, Diana, did a wonderful job hosting the weekend and we even got in a little fishing at Lake Don Pedro.
It was on October 29, 2005 that CBAF had its first event at Lake Don Pedro. I decided to fish it with my son, Brandon. It was a warm clear day and the fishing was so tough that we ended up letting the boat drift for awhile and we just laid out on top for about an hour. We talked about smart fish and stupid fish and decided that we liked catching stupid fish best and laughed. We didn’t catch any fish that day but then neither did many others. Only five boats brought in fish that day and no one had a limit. But it was then that I realized I didn’t feel badly at all because I had a great time with my son.
The next CBAF tournament was at Oroville in February 2006 and my son didn’t want to go because it was so cold. So here I was again without a partner but this time I didn’t stress over it. In January I was attending the ISE Show in San Mateo with some of my co-workers to promote CBAF and while I was walking down one of the aisles I felt something poke me in the back. I turned and it was Rus Snyders poking me with a fishing rod in the Quantum booth. I had worked with Rus a little when I was a manager at Fisherman’s Warehouse but I really didn’t know him very well. We shook hands and had the usual “How’s it going?” conversation. We played a little catch up and I told him that things were going well and I had been attending church. He said that he felt like he should go to church because he was going through some things in his life. It was at that moment that I felt the Holy Spirit’s leading to invite him to fish the Oroville tournament with me. He agreed and we finished in second place. The whole experience was a blessing to me because I got to help a brother and turned an “acquaintance” into a friend.
Because of that experience, I have changed my focus from being a fisherman to a fisher of men. In doing that, God has blessed me and turned my discouragement to confidence through my obedience to Him.
