Best Day Ever
Once again I have chaired the Kids Fishing for Charity event on the Saint John River. This is our tenth consecutive year running this popular children’s tournament in support of the Canadian Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In the grand scheme of things we don’t have the resources to make a big donation but I think every dollar helps. Juvenile Diabetes is a growing problem in North American and more research is needed to help find a cure or a better treatment for kids with this affliction. One of our young competitors was just diagnosed this year so it hits pretty close to home.
Registration started a 7 am and it was already up to 20 degrees, it was going to be a scorcher with a forecast of 32. Fortunately for all involved, we only run this one from 8 to 12. We brought extra water and made it available for free at the registration for anyone who felt they needed a bit more for the boat. The cost for the tournament is $25 per boat and that money goes directly to our donation. The kids each receive a goody bag of assorted tackle donated by our members, sponsors and with support from the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund. We also had five bikes donated which are held for a draw at the end of the day. Every child receives a participation medallion and a prize. The kids are divided into three age groups for the trophies and we award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each age group. They are allowed to bring in one each of Yellow Perch, Smallmouth Bass and Chain Pickerel and they brought in some awesome fish this year. The Chain Pickerel in particular were bigger overall with two 23 inch fish brought in.
The kids get their fish measured by our tournament director, Jimmy Munn, who takes the same care with the kid’s fish as he does with ours. He volunteers his day for this one every year because he says the kids are priceless to deal with and he doesn’t want to miss it. When they leave Jimmy they head straight to Bert Beek on the grill for some free burgers and hot dogs then over to get a slice of cake that has also been donated by the Boone family. They get us a great big slab cake for this event every year and I actually got to have a piece this year.
While we tally up the results the kids get to check out the prize table and try and pick out the one they hope to get. We draw names at random and each child comes up and picks what they want off of the table. Sometimes the choices are not what you would expect but the kids are sure happy about it. We also did an adult table and sold tickets for those prizes along with a fifty fifty draw. Our past New Brunswick Sport fishing Association Chairman, Bert Beek, won the fifty fifty draw and promptly handed over his winnings to the representative from Juvenile Diabetes. The gesture speaks for itself and shows you the kind of guy he is. With Bert’s donation and the entry and draw funds we were able to donate $1312 to the fund.
After the trophies are handed out we get to the highlight for most of the kids and that is the bike draw. This year the draw turned out to be a lot more special than usual. I don’t mind admitting that I am a bit of a softy and I was very touched when the first young fellow’s name was drawn and he came down and said he just got a new bike and wanted us to put the bike back into the draw for someone else. What a very special young man who was in the nine and under group. This happened three more times and I can only think that not only are there some outstanding young people out there but also some extremely proud parents.
A big thank you to all the members and sponsors who donated prizes, money and their time to make this another successful year. Thank you for sharing our belief that we need to introduce the kids to the sport we love so much. We had just under seventy kids and as many parents for the tournament and it was taped for broadcast on Backwater Casting on Rogers TV NB.
One of our anglers brings his son over to this event every year from Prince Edward Island. This year his son brought a friend who had never fished. The young lad got a good fish and took home a trophy and he is hooked. As they headed back to PEI he said “today was my best day ever”. That is why I do this event every year.
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