Please post photos of your kids and share their fish tales!

I took the Pledge sometime ago, I thought then as I do now what a great way to introduce someone new to fishing that would'nt otherwise have tha opportunity.

On Sunday 4/26/2009 I entered myself and my friends son into a memorial tournament for Mike Van Guilder Sr., who was a retired Turlock Ca. policeman. Mike Sr. was killed in a tragic car accident just a few months ago. Mike had been involved with tournament fishing locally as well as Berserk Bait Co.

Matt who is 14 y.o. has had a real tough time this past year. His Mother passed away in October 2008 from a long battle with cancer, he had witnessed his father having a heart attack just 6 months before his mom passed away. On top of this he suffers from ADHD. A very tall order for a young man to deal with.

Sunday was a beautiful day at Lake McClure, we were th final boat to check in, boat number #53. We blasted off at 0630 AM and arrived at our first spot shortly thereafter.

Fishing was good and we caught a limit of spotted bass by around 1030 AM, however Matt was struggling a little bit trying to get a feel for the hookset. My goal for the day was to get Matt a fish, I wasn't concerned where we came in the standings, I just wanted it to be a fun day for him. Right around 12 noon Matt hooked up to his very firts bass, only this was no ordinary fish, it was a monster as I witnessed it leap clear of the water with a huge head shake, this fish was big! After a valiant fight the fish rolled up to the side of the boat and I hoisted the fish in.

For the next two hours until weigh in Matt was on cloud nine, peeking into the livewell every five minutes to check on her.

Weigh in time was near so we strapped in a blasted off to make it there on time. As we listened to the weights coming in I realized we might just have a chance to make the top ten. We weighed in, Matt's Big fish was 7.06 Lbs! The biggest fish of the day, our total weight was 11.80 lbs which ended up 2 lbs more than anyone else for the day.

It was very exciting to watch Matt light up, he was so excited about everything, the drive to the lake, the blast off, the weigh in, he was ready to come apart at the seams.

We had bbq and then awards, he came away with 4 plaques and a check for the win!
His excitement barely contained. All the Pro's with their sponsored jerseys were coming up and giving him high fives and shaking his hand, it was awsome to witness the very best this sport has to offer, especially to a "kid" who really needed something positive in his life.

I can't thank any of them enough, they didn't have to go out of their way but they did, the Van Guilder family and Berserk Baits and the tourney sponsors di an outstanding job.

After dropping Matt off and heading home to my wife I realized my prize, a day spent with a young man, what a blast I couldn't have written a better ending had I tried.

Hello Everbody! If you would like to show off all your kids pics join www.thecamolounge.com Absolutely free to create a profile, photo slideshow and much much more. See you at the lounge!

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