By Carol Doumitt, OBPC Bulletin Editor

Around 6:30 AM on a cool Saturday morning, we launched our boat and walked up to the picnic shelter at Boat Ramp C at Henry Hagg Lake. Herb and I were looking forward to meeting the veteran and his wife who would be honored guests in our boat for a day of fishing. The occasion was the Annual Take a Soldier Fishing event where boaters have the opportunity to personally thank a veteran who helped keep our country free.

Our veteran was Sidney, an electrician on a number of Navy submarines. He shared stories relating to his years of service and we enjoyed getting to know Sid and his wife Clara. It was also fun to introduce them to warmwater fishing. They had been ocean fishing and had dabbled in bass fishing. Our boat caught 21 fish – bluegill, perch and smallmouth bass – and Clara out fished all of us to the delight of our veteran Sid!

OBPC volunteers included Jim Tully, Mark Van Duser, Bill Ramsour, Don Clark, Bob Judkins, Rich Tombleson, Rick Haynes, and Herb and me. Volunteer boaters stepped up and every veteran who wanted to fish from a boat was paired with a boat captain. There were loads of door prizes for the veterans and all 100 veterans and volunteers were served lunch.

A Special Shout Out to our OBPC member, Jack Morby, who organizes and makes this event possible!