Wow!! I had a a fun and very rewarding summer helping out with the 2006 Fish-A-Thon, sponsored by KTIS, 98.5-FM. For starters, I joined a group at the Maplewood Gander Mtn. store to refurbish used rods and reels that had been collected. We discarded the useless ones (why donate them to begin with? Geez!), oiled or tinkered with the minor stuff, and restrung them with donated line. Yours truly put on at least 20 new rod tips and others wiped and cleaned the gear. All parts, line and cleaning materials were donated. In four hours we had over 175 complete combos. There were two other gatherings and a total of around 400 combos were refurbished.
The Main Event was held August 4th and 5th on Lake Calhoun. Over 400 inner-city youth were given the refurbished rod n’ reel combos, taught fishing skills and taken out in boats by volunteers. Volunteers included individuals from both the Twin Cites and North Metro MI chapters. At the dock, a young tiger muskie was spotted prowling in the weeds just 15 feet out! A handful of eager kids tried casting to it, but to no avail.
Governor Pawlenty came down for an hour and one lucky kid was selected to meet President Bush during his recent visit here! Most of the kids were brought in by urban pastors working with their neighborhoods to help steer kids away from gangs and give them the tools and help they need to better their lives. As for fishing – many of these kids need mentors, people who will take them and teach them. There was plenty of food and sunshine for the event and they really had a good time.
The next event, a tournament on White Bear Lake, was for the kids who were getting sponsors for raising money. Around 120 people participated, including 80 kids and a total of 32 boats with guides. My wife, Beth, and I guided one young man and his dad. We look forward to doing this again next year!
I’ll just highlight our 9-year-old pro’s day. Connor started out with his own spincast reel. Most of his experience was fishing from docks. After a short while I decided he was ready to advance to spinning gear. I brought enough gear to cover just about anything and I wanted him to have the best chance at catching anything. I gave him a medium-action spinning combo with quality 20# line and a standard 1/2 oz.spinnerbait. We were drifting over a weedbed between the Hwy. 96 boat landing and the rock bar. Connor had just got-ten the hang of casting and was putting the lure out about 30feet or so. Suddenly he had a nice northern jump it!
After a short, scrappy fight, it was lost before I could get it in the net. Might have been 22-24 inches. That was exciting for all of us! Then, a few minutes later, Connor got a 15 inch northern. Now we know we’re onto some action and we’we only been on the water about 25 minutes!
The sky was gray and there was a gentle wind at about9:30 am. “Whooaa, I think I got one,” as I looked up to see his rod bent about double over. For a moment I thought“big weed” then saw the rod pump and knew “BIG FISH!” I quickly grabbed the video camera to record the event and began coaching him. Beth had her arm through the back part of Connor’s life jacket to hold onto him while he held onto the rod and fish. There was a disturbance on the water that was clearly a large fish on the end of his line. A moment later Beth, seeing the fish thrash near the surface, thought it was a pike, then exclaimed “No, it’s a muskie!”
Connor was wide-eyed and holding on tight. The muskie was making a couple runs while the video changed from my hands to my wife’s, then she was handing it to Connor’s father so she could keep hold of Connor. Ten feet away the fish cleared about three-quarters out of the water. Connor was visibly shaking and said he could feel his heart pounding! I estimated the fish to be about 42inches. Connor asked if someone could take the rod. “No way, you can do it, it’s your fish!” I coached him. She was a strong, good-looking fish.
After a couple twists and dives she was about ready to take in. You see, at the beginning of the day I told Connor and his father we were probably going to catch a big muskie because I had left the bigger net at home! Anyway… I felt confident I could get a good grip on her and haul her into the boat. On my second attempt I got a good hold, hoisted, and she made it into the boat! There was a chorus of “Oh WOW and HOLY COW!” That young boy held on for a little less than 10 minutes to a fish almost as long as he was tall! I gave him his first “Slimy High 5”.
A quick measure and photo op confirmed she was a full 40-1/2 inches! A little short of the 42 I guestemated.Must have shrunk a bit from the fight.
I lowered her into the water and we watched her gracefully swim under the dock, come around and rest on the sandy bottom just off the end of the dock. We watched her for several minutes just resting and breathing freedom before she moved on. Priceless.
The skies cleared and Connor learned a few new things over the next three hours. He did bring in another pike that got him 2nd Place for the pike category. One other muskie was seen or lost by another kid, giving Connor the 1st Place plaque for Largest Fish! I gave him the spinner bait that he caught it on as well as the video footage! This young man is HOOKED!
