Articles

BRYAN’S FISHING CAMP 2005
Candlewood Lake: August 15-19
By Ray Kerchal

For the 8th consecutive year, Bryan’s Fishing Camp was sponsored by The Bryan V. Kerchal Memorial Fund at the Girl Scout Camp in New Fairfield, CT. The free camp for youth fishing is hosted by the Fund in conjunction with the Great Hollow Wilderness Camp (Regional YMCA of Western Conn). After weeks of hot and humid weather with temperatures in the 90s, we had perfect conditions. Humidity was low and the temperature never got above 80 degrees. There were 60 campers (23 overnight and 37 day campers) and 45 boat captain volunteers.

The boat captains did an excellent job of finding fish for the kids! All campers caught at least one bass and, for a few, it was their first fish ever. The big fish of the week, a 6.50 pound bass, was caught by Max Schmitt, age 11, from Newtown, CT and 10 of 18 first time campers caught bass on tournament day, an unusually high percentage.

On Wednesday, Mike Fisher came in with a very old fire extinguisher that he caught in 12 feet of water just offshore from his father’s home back in the 1970s. When his father, picked Mike up, he recognized the fire extinguisher as the one he and his brother had lost overboard when night fishing in 1978. He said it brought back many memories of his teen fishing years. A special event trophy was given to Mike at the awards ceremony Friday afternoon.

Another first at the camp also occurred on Wednesday. Randy Shook (A-2 group) made a cast and his bait flew off his hook. As he was reeling in, he caught a nice smallmouth keeper on the bare hook. A special trophy was also given to Randy at the awards ceremony on Friday.

On Thursday evening the staff and overnight campers traditionally have a cook out with hamburgers and hotdogs. This year Mike Kane, owner of Tournament Force Tackle, donated funds for a special meal. After chicken, ribs, baked beans and macaroni and potato salads, two sheet cakes were served.

Friday is always camp tournament day. Drinks, snacks and sandwiches were provided for campers, staff and parents attending the weigh in before the awards ceremony. Before trophies were awarded, Joe Rackiewics, President of The CT BASS Federation was introduced. Joe presented the Memorial Fund with a donation of $2000 to encourage and support youth fishing opportunities.

The first place tournament results follow:

Group A-1 (1st time at BVK Camp)
Big Fish: Zach Zeno of Southbury - 4.88 lb bass
Most Fish: Michael Guglielmo of Monroe - 44

Group A-2 (All fish)
Big Fish: Adam Riefenhauser of Southbury - 3.57 lb bass
Most Fish: Ian Rogers of Waterbury – 66

Group B (All fish)
Big Fish Matt Rogers of Danbury - 3.4 lb bass
Most Fish: Cody Gillotti of Danbury - 116

Group C (bass fishing only)
Big Fish: Mike Fisher of Pleasantville, NY - 3.83 lb bass
Five Fish Limit: Kyle Radaulski of Brewster, NY - 12.17 lbs (4 bass)

Big Fish of the Week: Max Schmit (B group) of Newtown - 6.50 lb bass

All new campers went home with a new rod, spinning reel, tackle box and a bag of surprises. The Camp gave away extra rods, reels and tackle boxes to campers for their friends.

Sponsors:

Candlewood Bait and Tackle, Plano, Lucky Craft, Luhr-Jensen, Gambler Baits, Tournament Force Tackle, N.E.H. Trophies, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Reynolds Marine, Al Phillips (rods) and Pure Fishing (reels).