| "Kayak Kevin" Whitley |
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Kayak Kevin began his water adventures as a two-year old fishing the Chesapeake Bay with his dad and grandfather. As soon as he was big enough to hold a paddle, Kevin and his father paddled a canoe down a section of the James River every year. At age 14, Kevin was the youngest person to white water raft down the Ottawa River at that time.
In 2002, Kevin began training for longer adventures that would require extreme discipline, navigational skills and a true love of camping – in any weather, on desolate beaches, every night after paddling 12-20 miles a day. In 2005, Kevin accomplished an extraordinary kayak fishing goal by completing a 1,800 mile journey from the Gulf Coast of Florida to Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, catching most inshore species of fish including tarpon and giant snook. He paddled alone; in a sit-on-top Ocean Kayak he affectionately named “Livin the Dream.” Kayak Kevin is recognized by the Virginia Saltwater Tournament as an Expert Angler, a status achieved by anglers who register six different species for Citations in a single year. Kevin is thought to be the first kayak angler to achieve this expert status - he caught all of his Citations from his kayak, without a net. In 2006, Kevin logged over 800 hours on the water in his kayak! Kevin is a volunteer for the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program for which in 2006 alone, he tagged and relesed 697 flounder, red drum, black drum, speckled trout, toutog, sheepshead, black sea bass, cobia, triggerfish, and spadefish, with multiple recaptures from VA to NC. Kevin caught and tagged all his fish in local waters using Berkley Gulp!
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