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The Kiwanis from Grand Haven, MI had a fishing tournament on Thursday with the proceeds going to the DeVos Children’s hospital.  DeVos is where Maddie (my granddaughter for those of you who are new) has gone for cancer treatments, a failed bone marrow transplant, and more treatments than any person should every have.  Anyway, Maddie’s doctor chartered one of the boats and asked Maddie if she would like to represent him.  So Maddie and I (part of Team Maddie cancer fight) were on Lake Michigan yesterday morning at 5:45 a.m.  We got out and the captain and mate dropped 18 lines.  Really normal for them, but it impressed me.  Maddie was the youngest and so she got to reel in the first fish.  After about an hour there was a hit and it was game on.  Due to the length of line that was out it took her about 15 minutes to reel it in, but here it is.  Her first salmon, which she named Itty Bitty.



There was a long dry spell and then three were on at one time.  Two were landed, but the one Maddie had got off.  A little while later we landed a Bag Fish.  Sorry that there is no hero shot of the bag fish, but it is a good story.  After reeling for 15 minutes Maddie said, “Grandpa, I need help.”  I had been holding the rod while she reeled, but took over for her.  I reeled for about 15 minutes and she took over again.  After another 10 minutes, I was back on the reel.  It was something like six inches in and three inches back out.  By now everyone, including the captain and mate are totally in to this fish and the size that it HAS to be.  When the board that held the line out in the water finally made it to the boat we found that there was a large plastic bag attached.  The bag was probably 18 inches across the top and around 30 inches long.  The way the bag was snagged on the plane it kept the mouth of the bag open so rather than just reeling in a bag, we had the weight of the water and resistance of the bag and water.  First bag fish that they had ever landed.


When we got back to dock we had our picture taken with the three fish that we caught.



All is well that ends well and this story does end well.  Maddie won the prize for the smallest fish caught.  So Itty Bitty is not only her first salmon, but is a Prize Winning Salmon.  Needless to say I had a ball spending the day with a granddaughter who had now fought two fights with cancer and still has a positive attitude.

Jerry

Looks like a great day with the grandbaby Jerry.  :highclap: :highclap: Congratulations to Maddie for catching the award winning fish.  :congrats: :congrats:

Pat

Sounds like a great day - thanks for sharing it with us and posting the pics!  Awesome picture of her on the boat - what a beautiful little girl!!!  I also like the way she's pointing at Itty.  :yoyo:

 Hooray for Team Maddie! :highclap:

 :yoyo: :congrats: Best story I've read in a while! Congrats to Team Maddie on landing the mighty Itty Bitty!!!

Congratulation Maddie!! That's still a darn nice fish you caught there!!  :yoyo: :yoyo:    Maddie is lucky to have such a cool old Grampa!!  :wink:

Good Job Maddie :congrats: :congrats:
Looks like my kinda trip.
The bag fish woulda been funny. I can just imagine the struggle it was to crank something like that in. :laf:

Sounds like blast Jerry, for a great cause and some quality time with a precious granddaughter.

Good job Maddie!!

It's not the size of the fish, but the size of the story behind it that matters. :congrats:  Well done Team Maddie!  And Kudos to you Grandpa!  Loved the story and the whole event.

HuntnCarve
Dave