100-Year-Old to Join NC Lions Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) Fishing Tournament

OUTER BANKS, N.C. - Oct. 13, 2014 - PRLog -- OUTER BANKS, NC (Oct. 13, 2014) — Where does a 100-year-old woman head in the fall to drop a line in the water looking for a nibble? If you’re lifelong fisherwoman Elsa Jennings, it’s the 32nd Annual NC Lions Club Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) Fishing Tournament on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Jennings, who resides in Hendersonville, NC, and Lantana, FL, will be joining 525 VIPs and their sighted guests, along with 375 volunteers, including high school and college students, when the fishing action gets underway Oct. 20-22 on four OBX fishing piers and two headboats.

At home, Jennings keeps a motorboat at her dock on Lake Osceola (NC), but now has to have a companion to enjoy it; yet, she still fishes solo from her dock. She says she loves the Outer Banks tournament. “I’ve fished on the boats in the past, but last year I had trouble standing up and being by the rail.” That didn’t stop her, though; she caught “a good-sized croaker.”

“The piers are good, too. I like casting out and reeling in,” adds Jennings, who suffers from macular degeneration, but still has some peripheral vision.

She appreciates the Lions putting on the event. “What they do is so good for the disabled. I like the lectures about different things and doing the crafts and visiting the places on the Outer Banks. And I like how I’ve learned how other people like me have learned to get along with their situations. Some of them are very inspirational.”

One of those who might say Jennings fits that description is the youngest participant this year, Brittany Johnson, 23, of Linwood, NC. It’s special, she says, to interact with other VIPs.

Then there’s the fishing. “I love to fish, and there are lots of fish on the Outer Banks,” says Johnson. “I’ve made lots of friends. I learned how to keep my balance on the boat, how to cast the rod and reel, and I learned how to talk to other people and ask for help when I need it, which I wasn’t that good at before I started to do the tournament.”

This will be her third time participating. Her biggest catch to date was a 12-ounce flounder that “put up a great fight.”

"This truly is a community event," according to Bob Walton, president of the NC Lions VIP Board of Directors. “We are delighted that the Dare County Board of Commissioners has proclaimed Oct. 19-25 as NC Lions VIP Fishing Tournament Week on the Outer Banks.”

VIPs this year will be arriving not only from across North Carolina, but also Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin and Canada.

Longtime Lion Bill Hood, who organizes the tournament equipment, says participants will go through nearly 5,000 bloodworms, use five miles of line on 414 rods and reels, plus 575 bottom rigs.

Volunteers will serve 1,000 lunches and 2,400 soft drinks and water with 140 large bags of ice at the ready. A Wednesday night awards banquet will top off the event with camaraderie and, of course, bragging rights.

Another focus of the three-day event is learning independent living skills thanks to sessions by service providers and community agencies. Officials from NC Services for the Blind and the NC Department of Health and Human Services also will be on hand.

Everyone involved also will be have a special reason to tune into the Rose Bowl Parade Jan. 1 when VIP fishing will be one of five activities represented on the Lions Clubs International Float.

“This is the big time,” said Tournament Executive Director Gwen White. “The Lions’ Rose Bowl float this year represents five challenging recreational activities, and fishing is one of them. The others are surfing, golf, cycling and beep baseball. We couldn’t be prouder.”

White adds it’s not too late to support this year’s Adopt-a-Fisherman program with a monetary donation to help offset VIPs’ travel expenses. She’s also accepting donations of goods and in-kind services.

For more info, call 252-441-4966 or visit ncvipfishing.org.

About the VIP Fishing Tournament

The largest service project of its kind in the world, the North Carolina Lions VIP Fishing Tournament is sponsored each fall on the Outer Banks by the First Flight, Nags Head, Manteo, Wanchese, Columbia, Currituck, Lower Currituck and Plymouth Lions clubs. The event attracts 525 blind and visually impaired people, along with their guests. Participants come from 77 NC counties, 10 states and Canada. The tournament is the largest gathering of blind and visually impaired people in North Carolina.