OHD Kids Fishing Derby

[Scott McKee]

I need a few more volunteers for the Old Homes Days Kids Fishing Derby on Island Park in Williamsville next Saturday, July 13 from 9AM to noon.  If you can only show up for a few hours that's fine.  Please respond to this discussion if you can help.  Thanks.

[John Jarosz]

Beam me up, Scotty.  I'm "IN", but where the heck is Island Park in W'msville? (I live in Lakeview).  I've never done the Old Homes Days but I will be there from 9 AM to noon.  I can take hooks out of bluegills but for measuring lengths, I'll have to brush up on my reading.

Can you either post all the details or send me an email?...Thanks..jj

[Scott McKee]

Jump off the 290 at Main Street heading east.  Drive for a bout a mile and turn right into the Amherst Town Hall parking lot (just past South Cayuga Road).  If you drive over Ellicott Creek you've gone too far.  I'll bring pop and waters for the crew.  See you on Saturday, July 13th and thanks!

[John Miller]

Unfortunately I overlooked Gabe, Owen and Emma's Saturday soccer games.  My kids and I are reluctantly out of the OHD event. 

[John Jarosz]

Hey, everybody....I'll be at the OHD fishing derby in Williamsville, Saturday A.M., along with other members.  If you happen to be going there, please stop by & introduce yourself.  I haven't personally met or know a lot of members of the NMA (other than reading your postings) & would like to connect a face with a name.  I'll be wearing a white T-shirt that reads "CLASSIC DRY FLIES."

see ya'...JJ

[Scott McKee]

Traditionally at the Old Homes Day's Kids Fishing Derby I try to walk around and give the competitors little pep talks and answer any questions they may have at least once, but with only forty-five minutes of sleep after getting half of Williamsville loaded at the joint the night before, and my ever present arthritis making standing a chore, I sat this event out at the "weigh in" station.

We had a very good turn-out this year.  About 50 anglers-of tomorrow, their parents and five NMA members (Carl Schenk, John Jarosz, Joe Zolnolski, Carrie and I) and Dave "Turk" Reed, a non-member who always seems to find time to help at these and many other of "our" events, made for one great event.

There were about forty fish caught; bluegills, large mouth bass, rock bass and one very surprising Atlantic salmon.  (The Atlantic salmon is of course false, there wasn't one caught, there were two, which of course is also false.)  The winning fish was an 11" large mouth caught by a young man who is no stranger to the OHD Kid's Derby top ten.  I didn't get permission from parents to print any of the names of the participants, but this kid, at eleven, is a very good bass angler.

For some of the older anglers this was a serious competition, with many asking for updates throughout the derby.  For the younger worm dunkers, just catching fish and even seeing fish made their days.  The seventh place finisher was the grandson of our liaison with the Old Homes Days committee, and kept telling his grandfather, "I finished seventh" in a quasi-question-exclamation.  Great stuff.

Many thanks to Carl, John, Joe, Carrie and Dave for offering their assistance.  Carl, Joe, Dave and Carrie have been attending for years and I bet the same will be said about John.

We have taken a sort of backseat approach to this event in the past. With a little work and planning, we could help make this a bigger and better derby in the future.  Perhaps a deal with a bait shop for free worms and a corporate sponsorship to acquire more and better prizes and parting gifts for the kids would be a great start.

Either way, the kids, their parents and the crew responsible for cutting us the $200 check seemed impressed and were very grateful for our participation.

On a side note, a young man of 13 approached me after the derby to ask a few questions about muskies and to show me the musky lures he'd made.  I think he and his dad might attend our next meeting.  The kid seemed really interested in not just the catching of our favorite fish, but the releasing of them.  Let's just say he is a very impressive young man and I hope he and his dad join.  His lures looked like little Grandmas. With a few adjustments, they would catch a fish or two.  (Jerry, I'll try to get you a deal on them.)  Mr. Toothy, I think the smile on this kids face would crack his head in half if you gave him a few tips.

[John Jarosz]

Scott...sign me up for next year!!  I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids.  There's something about watching kids get excited catching fish that is better than catching them yourself, and they sure were EXCITED!!  Like I used to tell my kids & their friends whenever I took them fishing:

"Going fishing isn't about catching fish." 

I thought that excuse would work whenever we got skunked, but they knew better.  To them, it was just an excuse the old man used for not catching fish (smart-alek kids).

Anyway, you hit the mark right on the head.  The NMA could easily make it bigger & better for the kids with just very little extra effort, because it really is about getting kids excited about fishing and the outdoors.  I spent four years as a Cub Scout leader and seven years as a Scoutmaster in Boy Scouts trying to keep their interests alive in the outdoors all the while dealing with their hormones running wild...and it was some of the best 11 years of my life.  Extremely challenging, but still some of the best years of my life. 

Next year, when you're first contacted about doing it again, count me in.  I'd like to be in on the planning, if I could.