The rain didn’t deter this young angler as he shows off the stringer of fish he caught during the 2013 NWIO Youth Fishing Tournament.
By John Hackett:
On June 8, 2013 Kingsley Iowa based Northwest Iowa Outdoors held its annual youth fishing tournament at Little Sioux Park near Correctionville Iowa. Despite the almost constant rain and high winds experienced during the day 114 youth still registered for the event.
The fishing started at 8:00 A.M. and concluded at noon. The first 100 youth in attendance received a free tackle box full of gear compliments of Small Town Sportsman in Kingsley.
Despite the inclement weather the youth anglers still managed to land an estimated 75 to 100 fish. Chris Robinson took top big fish honors with his 18 1/4 inch long bass. Finishing in 2nd place was Tae Anderson with a 13 1/2″ bass. Shaylee Haggin was 3rd with a 13″ bass.
At noon the anglers enjoyed a lunch of hot dogs, chips and lemonade. The lunch was donated and prepared by the staff of Dirt Road Design of Kingsley.
After lunch a prize drawing for rods, reels and other misc. fishing equipment was held. Area renowned Muskie fisherman Paul Malm of Malm Fishing Services served as emcee of the drawing. Each youth that stuck it out through the rainy weather was able to win a prize.
The prizes were donated by several sponsors, The Shooting Shop in Anthon IA; Kingsley IA Boy Scouts; Jaws II Sportfishing Charters, Port of Kewaunee WI; Nate’s Bait, Kingsley; Gone Fish’n sporting goods store, Storm Lake IA; Heavy Hauler Outdoor Gear, Kingsley IA; Midwest Industries – Shoreland’r Trailers, Ida Grove IA; 13 Fishing, Tampa FL; Matt & Misty Bubke, Kingsley IA; and the Iowa DNR. Tyler Riedesel of Recharged Outdoors in Atlantic IA offered assistance and professional photography for the event.
Each year Northwest Iowa Outdoors holds this event during the Iowa DNR free fishing days held during the first weekend in June. Due to scheduling conflicts the Woodbury County Pheasants Forever Chapter held their annual fishing derby on the same day. The Pheasants Forever folks had an additional 50 some youth targeting the fish in Little Sioux Park Lake. Organizers of both events are already discussing combining the events next year in hopes of making this the largest single youth fishing day in all northwest Iowa! Next year’s date is tentatively set for June 7, 2014.
By the looks of the smile on this young man’s face you can’t tell the weather was cold and rainy when he caught this bluegill at the Little Sioux Park.
The fish might not be all that big, but the memories made by father and son during the NWIO Youth Fishing Tournament are huge!
This little guy looks like he needs to sneak in a quick nap before using the new rod he won at the NWIO Youth Fishing Tournament.
This young angler walks off with one of the many rod & reel combos donated by NWIO sponsors.
