The West Coast kayak fishing community is mourning the loss of angler Ryon Mora, 38, who died Saturday morning while fishing a tournament on California’s Lake Almanor. The tournament trail’s sponsor, Bass Angler Magazine, canceled the event immediately after Mora’s death, which BAM confirmed Sunday.
Mora’s cause of death remains under investigation. The circumstances surrounding the incident are also unclear, but it reportedly occurred during the first hour of the one-day tourney. According to an information page for the tournament, competitors started at 5:50 a.m. when there was enough light for safe fishing.
“The day began like any other tournament morning, under cloudy skies and a light 3-4 mph breeze. At 6:37 a.m., BAM Tournament Director Michael Bray received an urgent call reporting an unmanned kayak on the lake,” BAM explained in an article. “BAM staff, including CEO Mark Lassagne, immediately responded to the GPS location provided and located Ryon Mora in the water at 6:42 a.m.”
Lassagne tells Outdoor Life that he was in the media boat with Bray when Bray received the call. They ran to the GPS location as quickly as they could and found Mora floating face-down in the water roughly 100 yards from shore. Lassagne says Mora was separated from his kayak and still wearing his Type III personal flotation device. He was unresponsive when they pulled him into their boat.
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“I ripped his life jacket open and started doing CPR right away while Michael called 911,” Lassagne says. “Michael was driving back to the dock, so we’re going 45 mph, and I’m doing CPR at the same time. And we got to the dock right at the same time as the paramedics.”
He says the paramedics tried for around 45 minutes to revive Mora but were unable to resuscitate him.
“My hats off to those guys, the Plumas County paramedics and the fire department. They worked extremely hard and tried everything they could to revive him,” Lassagne says. “The kayak fishing community was also great … everybody helped out, and there has been a lot of loving support from them.”
Lassagne says the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the cause of death. The PCSO did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
“Ryon was a respected competitor, fellow sportsman, and beloved friend to many in the kayak fishing community. He took all proper safety precautions and was participating in a sanctioned event,” BAM said in the statement issued over the weekend. “This heartbreaking incident is a reminder of the unpredictable nature of the outdoors.”
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