7th Grade Fishing Trip Out Of Saugatuck

[westrate]

The 17th dawned breezy and cold with 22 charter and private boats moored at Tower Marina in Douglas. By 6:30 some of the 70 Saugatuck 7th Grade students, a couple of teachers, administrators and some press began to arrive and by 7:00 all were checked in, given a tee shirt and a Shimano fishing hat, then assigned to and boarded their respective boats.

Fishing was slow, however about 65 to 70 fish were caught with the smallest going about 1 pound to the largest going just over 20 pounds. All boats returned to the marina at 12 noon and pictures were taken and prizes handed out. Rods and reel combo and wind shirts (provided by Shimano) were given to the student who caught the largest of each species, the most fish and the student who was the first to get seasick.

Captains cleaned and prepared the fish and then Duck Unlimited fried up the salmon and lake trout along with some perch (that was donated) for all students, staff, press and crews. Beverages, potatoes and ice cream were donated by DeMonds and Kilwins. The five fryers had a hard time keeping ahead of the hungry group.

The Saugatuck/Holland Charter Boat Association and the Saugatuck Big Fish Classic would like to thank the companies that donated food and prizes, all the captains and mates that donated their time and boats for this outing. I would also like to thank the readers last week who emailed me and called and volunteered to help if we needed it. A good time was had by all.

[jimbobber]

awsome captain Westrate! , I hope we can do this in Holland some time.

[westrate]

awsome captain Westrate! , I hope we can do this in Holland some time.

We are talking about doing the same thing in Holland. I am talking to the steelheaders exec. director tomorrow to discuss this, however I do not know if it is too late in the year to do this or if we should plan it out for next year. I would have to find out if we could get a sponsor like Shimono to help out. We will have to have a lot of help if we get this started.

[Priority1]

:thumb: Nothing better than fishing with kids.

[Casey II]

Great Job! I would be up for helping out in both Holland and Saugatuck.

[JWheeler]

Hats off to all involved! Hope that this is something that the kids won't soon forget:thumb:

[EdB]

Nice job, what a great way to get some kids exposed to fishing who otherwise wouldn't get the chance.

[Nailer]

Great time for the kids. Thanks to all.

[fishinmachine]

nice captain great job taking the kids out sounded like a great time