Illinois Bass Anglers Kids Fishing Day June 11^th 2005

The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the schedule conflict with baseball games. 74 kids were registered only 60 showed up on a beautiful Saturday in June. The temperature was Hot and so was the fishing! One third of the kids were new to fishing and they all caught their first fish ever, 95 % of them were caught on film 283 pictures in all. If you have never been involved in teaching a kid how to fish, you’re missing a huge thrill. The men and woman in our club have some memories from this day that we will never forget.

Once again the girls caught the biggest fish in each category 3-7, 8-14 years old. The 2 girls who won caught their biggest fish ever to win their age group. Molly Rogan caught a 2lb Largemouth Bass in the younger age group while Madeline Gowgiel caught a 2.5 lb Largemouth bass in the older age group. Both of these girls received a spinning Rod and Reel for the prize. All the kids who were registered took home a rod and reel combo and a tackle box full of lures and plastics. An award was given to all who participated. This year’s group didn’t want to stop when we served up the hot dogs for lunch so we kind of rescheduled the awards ceremony for one hour later.

An event this big has to be well organized to pull this day off without a hitch and this year we did it. I owe a lot of people a special thanks for their help and extra time put into this event. I would like to thank my wife Lisa for this years food shopping and Tim Moore for shopping and cooking up lunch without a hitch. There are a bunch of club members to thank who gave extra time up to pre-rig the rods and put tackle boxes together. Kevin Seme was one of those members and he also donated fishing equipment to raffle off. His 2 daughters Stacey and Stephanie worked wonders with the kids. Kevin Gofron, Jim Haumann and Bob Blumenstein were also there on time to set rods up. Marc Fosteryd also found his way to help us out that day. Bud Edmunds, Mike Stephenson and Jim Blumenstein also donated merchandise for our event.

The Illinois Bass Anglers need to give a special thank you to Pat Sweeney for the use of the facilities where we hold the kids fishing day. Without our sponsors we wouldn’t be able to provide for the children like we do. We would like to thank all of our sponsors and especially Scott Beschorner of Strictly Fishing of Plainfield, Barb Zage of Imagination Graphics of Park Ridge for making us look so good, Setyr Rods, McCoy Mean Green Line and Ed Shirley Sports and Limit Lure Company. The Illinois Bass Anglers are a B.A.S.S. Federation club who donates to the Make-a-wish Foundation. The club hosts a benefit tournament every year, this year is for Multiple Sclerosis and we usually run a Hot dog cart at Cub Foods in Plainfield for this year’s charity. The club is helping the Cub Scouts, Weblos and Boy Scouts get their Fishing Merit badges this year in Orland Park by teaching them to fish and practice CPR Catch Photograph and Release. The Club also hosts a Bassmaster Kids Casting Competition every year. Our club is dedicated to teach youngster’s to fish and help out in cause’s where we can make a difference. The Illinois Bass Anglers would like to once again thank all of our sponsors without your support we couldn’t have provided the same level of positive experiences for the kids of tomorrow.