Fun And Fundraising – The 2012 Fish-A-Thon For A Cure
The Fish-A-Thon For A Cure was the one fishing event that I was really looking forward to participating in this year. Unlike most of the other events I participate in, the focus of this one was not so much on the fishing, but on collecting pledges and raising money for finding a cure to this insidious disease. Of course, the fact that raising pledges would culminate in a day of fishing was no hardship.
Darrell and I had begged for pledges from co-workers and family, doing our best to convince people that even $5 would go a long way. It’s amazing how fast several pledges of $5 can add up. With our pledge forms in order, we packed up the boat and headed to Deer Creek Conservation Area on July 21st for a day of fishing.
The morning was cool and clear, with a promise of heat and sunshine to follow. Registration was quick and efficient and before long Darrell was backing the boat down the steep hill to the launch – thank goodness he’s good at these things because I would have wiped out some people on the way down.
Having never fished at Deer Creek before, and being unable to find much in the way of information online, we had the challenge of trying to figure out a new body of water and catch some fish.
Sporting my new hat to start the day.
The Fish-A-Thon has prizes for the biggest bass, the biggest fish, and the Deer Creek Grand Slam – catch 5 of 6 out of bass, crappie, bluegill, trout, perch, and carp.
For the first few hours we caught nothing but rock bass. It didn’t matter what we threw – although they really seemed to love my drop-shot rigged with a Gulp minnow – the rock bass inhaled it, and everything else stayed away. We came across a school of bluegill and could not convince them to bite any of our offerings. Despite the beautiful day, the green and peaceful scenery, and the fact that this was supposed to be a fun day, I did feel a little frustrated over the lack of bites.
One of the many ‘fingers’ off of the main body of water.
Eventually we moved further along to the other end of the reservoir, where conditions started to look a little more favorable for our type of largemouth bass fishing. Weeds finally started to appear, and some gorgeous slop seemed to beckon. We each started landing bluegills. Then, while I continued to have fun with the bluegills, Darrell landed a bass and a perch. Nothing was big, but at least we had bites. Realizing that maybe Darrell had a shot at the Grand Slam we decided to go in search of crappie. With 40 minutes left in the day, Darrell landed his crappie and decided to target a trout, instead of a carp, to round out the grand slam.
Darrell’s crappie.
Time was not on our side and Darrell did not manage his trout, but he did landed a solid 10-inch slab of a bluegill.
A nice bluegill.
With the fishing activities over for the day, it was time to head to the pavilion for a BBQ and prizes. Let me tell you, I have been to a lot of fishing events with BBQs, but none of them rival the incredible amount of delicious food prepared for those in the Fish-A-Thon. It was wonderful!
After dinner it was time for the prize portion. This is where Ryan Bonin, who organizes this event along with Dan Bouck, made sure to bring the emphasis of the day back to the pledges and raising funds for finding a cure for cancer. This year’s event raised $14,000! And of that, $1,400 was raised by one participant – Tom Cox! What an amazing job by Tom. Next year I will be more proactive about collecting pledges – if Tom can raise that much, I can certainly do much better than I did this year.
Prizes were awarded so that each participant went home with something. I cannot begin to tell you how fantastic each prize package was. Darrell and I came home with lures, hooks, a sweater, make-your-own lure kits, and more. The sponsors for this event are unbelievable. One of the biggest sponsors was Laurie from Dixie Tackle Shop in St. Thomas, Ontario. Laurie donated an insane amount of prizes, and also guaranteed pledges to anyone who stopped by the store!
There were so many amazing stories of how people haven chosen to help out this event, I can’t even begin to list them all here. The organizers and their family are all amazing people who put in a huge amount of hours to pull off this event. Thank you to all of them for making this a truly memorable day, and for putting your efforts into such a worthy cause.
I encourage everyone to either participate in, or donate to, this event next year.
You can find out more about the Fish-A-Thon by visiting the Facebook page.
argosgirl
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