The first event for the New Jersey Chapter of Heroes on the Water was held on May 10th 2014 at Picatinny Arsenal Army Base in Rockaway New Jersey.  There was 79 total attendees registered and others that made an appearance.

The morning started out foggy as volunteers arrived and begun setting up unloading gear kayaks rods and setting up breakfast. By 9:00 AM all of the attendees were present. There was a brief introduction and tank you to the base and Civic Duty Partners for providing and cooking lunch for all.  Rod & reel combos were raffled off and given away to a few participating vets.

Everyone then met up at the boat launch area and the group photo was taken then systematically everyone was divided into 2 groups. They were matched up with guides. Launching the vets and guides went smoothly. Before you knew it the entire lake was speckled with 40 or more bright colored plastic boats.

Fishing was phenomenal. I saw one lady veteran catch 3 pickerel in the matter of 10 minutes! It probably couldn’t get any better than that!

It seemed all of the veterans their family’s and the volunteers had a great day!. I don’t think anyone left without catching fish.

Around 12:30 the wind kicked up. everyone headed off the lake for lunch. The motor boat came and helped a few boats in. Lunch was excellent!  By this time i had to pack up and leave to attend a family obligation. It was a good time to go as the sky was clouding up due to incoming thunder storms.