2010 Kids Fishing for Charity Tournament

On July 10, 2010 I fished my best tournament of the year with my grandson Ricky. There was no big prize to be won or glory to be had. There was however some serious fishing going on as Ricky fished his heart out for four hours looking for that one killer Yellow Perch that would put him in the trophy winner’s circle. Not a thousand or ten thousand dollar prize but an eight inch high trophy with a Perch on the top.

This was the seventh annual Kids Fishing for Charity tournament that is hosted by the New Brunswick Sport Fishing Association. This is a dual purpose event that we use to get the kids out on the water in a mildly competitive format while at the same time raising money in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The kids are split into three age groups for the competition: 8 and under, 9 to 11 and 12 to 15. The target species for these junior anglers are Yellow Perch, Chain Pickerel and Smallmouth Bass. Each child is allowed to bring one of each to the measuring board. To speed up the process the fish are measured and released right at the waters edge instead of taking them to the scales. As with all of our events, this one is live release and the “measure in” is handled by our regular weigh master Rick Courier. With his years of experience dealing with us more senior anglers you can be sure that it was running smoothly. He even took the time to help moms get that all important fish photo for the wall.

Every child receives a participation medallion and trophies are awarded for the top three fish in each age category and for each species. That’s twenty seven trophies plus a few extra for ties. You can bet that at these ages there is some serious interest in taking home one of the awards. I have two grandchildren that fish this event and they look forward to it all year and I am sure it is the same in other households. This is serious stuff.

With the families and friends that came along to help, we had about one hundred and fifty people out on the water. The basic rules are safety for everyone, share what you know and make sure the kids are having fun.

When you are competing at this level you have to get your perspective right. This is not the same as fishing a pro level Bass tournament. For example, we fished for three hours until Ricky was satisfied that he had a shot with what he had. We then went looking for a Bass. We were about fifteen minutes into it when we got a 14.5 inch fish. Ricky wanted to leave and go try for a Chain Pickerel. I told him I had more spots where we stood a good chance to upgrade the Bass but he wanted to take one of each species in as opposed to maybe culling the Bass. It was his tournament so for me it was his rules and off we went.

The first place we stopped is usually pretty good but there were no hits. Judy told me afterwards that she could see us from shore and a boat had been there most of the morning. Spot two we saw six pickerel charge out of the weeds and hit but we never got into them. Even had a couple of Flutter Worms ripped off the hooks. Did he regret not going for a bigger bass or not catching his pickerel? Not a chance, all he talked about last night was catching fifty Perch and seeing those Pickerel come barreling out of the grass.

I was near one of the other boats when we first went for the Pickerel. As they went by about a hundred feet away I saw a Bass break the surface behind their boat. The ensuing chaos in that boat was something to behold. With two adults supervising and four kids screaming encouragement I wasn’t sure for a minute who had the fish. I finally clued in and five year old Cheyenne was duking it out with the second place smallmouth in her age group. I can tell you that she was hanging on to that rod with everything she had. My only regret was not having my camera in the boat; it would have been an awesome picture. Moments like these happened up and down the river that day as families fished together in this high stakes event. It is one of the reasons I love doing it so much.

Ricky did get his trophy with a massive 10.25” Yellow Perch and he came home a happy camper. Every child got a prize through the support of our membership and with the participation of the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund. The Fund directors recognize that the kids are the future of our sport and that we are teaching them to angle in an ethical and conservation minded fashion. We are very grateful for their support.

There was a Facebook comment a few days back about not being able to be friends with tournament anglers because they would try and do you in on the water or something to that effect. I looked around on Saturday and saw a group of very serious competitive tournament anglers and I am proud to call them all friends. As I said above, every child who competed went home with a prize and there was a group of kids who came to watch the final results and through the generosity of these tournament anglers we had enough extra prizes that we called them up and put some smiles on their faces. Maybe there will be some new competitors coming our way next year.

The entry fee was $25 per boat which goes towards our donation. Through some ticket sales for adult draw prizes that these guys also donated and direct donations from our members we were able to present the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation with a cheque for two thousand dollars. Through a Federal Government matching program this donation has turned into six thousand dollars for research.

Marilyn Holm, from the Foundation, was on hand to accept the cheque and told us that every dollar that is raised puts us one step closer to finding a cure. Perhaps with our help there will be a day when kids don’t have to face a lifetime of needles as they fight off such a terrible affliction.

If you have forgotten the fun part of fishing, do yourself a favour and take a kid out for the day. It will all come back to you in a big rush.