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The fish might not have been biting as much as hoped, but the anglers turned out in record numbers Saturday at the West Salem Rod & Gun Club’s annual youth fishing contest.
The final tally was 122 enthusiastic youngsters hoping to catch a fish and win a prize. Last year the event attracted 73 anglers.
“We’ve got approximately 40 fishing poles and T-shirts to give away, plus every kid gets a ticket that entitles them to a hot dog, a pop and potato chips,” said Dave Easterday, club president. As with last year, West Salem Boy Scout Troop 77 was on hand to sell concessions.
Prizes were awarded for the biggest fish in four categories: trout, perch, sunfish and crappies. However, the sunfish and crappies were not cooperating Saturday as no entrants caught either species.
“Last year, they got some big crappies and bluegills — one crappie was 11 and a half inches — but this year they don’t seem to be biting,” said Gilman Bolstad, vice president of the rod and gun club.
The winner of the trout division was Julian Grosskopf. His winning fish was 11 1/8 inches long. There was a tie at the top of the perch division between Cody Anderson and Sawyer Springborn. Both anglers landed perch that were exactly 8.5 inches long.
At the end of the day, all the poles and shirts were given away. A drawing was held so those who didn’t catch a winning fish still had a chance to go home with a prize.
According to Easterday, it takes the efforts of eight to 10 club members to put on the affair. “It’s a lot of work, but we love it. We’re trying to put something back into the community while promoting fishing,” he said. “Also, it’s a chance for parents to do something together with their kids — something that not always easy to do these days.”
John Laffey of La Crosse was fishing with his daughter, Avery, but they hadn’t had much luck. “She usually does real good on the river (the Mississippi), but we haven’t had any bites yet today,” Laffey said.
Mark and Autumn Pfaff of West Salem had a little better luck. “She caught a couple of bullheads earlier,” Mark said as the two enjoyed a shore lunch of hot dogs and potato chips.
For Autumn, as for some of the other young anglers, the lure of nearby playground equipment was occasionally hard to resist. “She has a hard time staying off the monkey bars,” said her father.
Max Vitto of West Salem was patrolling the shoreline, constantly looking for a better spot to fish from. “He loves fishing and we come here a lot — you might say he’s obsessed,” said Max’s mother, Beth.
This year the rod and gun club held a raffle to cover the costs of the tournament.
The winner was given a choice of $1,000 or a Browning Citori “over and under” shotgun.
“We sold 250 tickets at $10 apiece,” Easterday said.
He added that, unfortunately, one of the biggest expenses for an event like this is purchasing insurance.
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