Sunday, July 22, 2001

Casting for Chemo kids

David Sikes/Caller-Times

Kerre Garrett had some difficulty reeling in her fish, but still managed to do it unassisted, as she wished.

Fishing is refuge.
   While this desired escape from something less pleasing is universal in sportsmen, the difference lies in that which each of us is fleeing from.
   Done right, a day on the water can calm nerves, rejuvenate the spirit and produce a general feeling of wellbeing, at least until we return to whatever tied us in knots in the first place.
   Simply put, fishing can make us forget our troubles.
   That was the idea behind the first Chemo Kids Fish-off, 10 years ago and still is today. Can you think of a medicine as sweet or recipients more worthy of respite?
   Most of our problems are petty against the weight of cancer placed on a child. This surely occurred to pharmacist Dale Lindeburg, then with Driscoll Children's Hospital, when he spearheaded the first fishing trip for young patients suffering or recovering from cancer or blood disorders.

David Sikes/Caller-Times

Carlos Solis, 17, broke the slump by catching this 5-pound-plus black drum, thanks to Aransas Pass guide Art Weiss.

   Lindberg teamed up that first summer with Rockport fishing guide Gary Clouse to touch a handful of young Driscoll patients. The next year, the help of another veteran Rockport guide, James Fox, was enlisted to reach even more children.
   "It was tough to take these kids fishing one year and then wonder why some of them couldn't make it the next," Fox said. "We knew why, but nobody wanted to say. Sometimes we think we have it hard. But these kids are a lot tougher than we are."
   Fox believed the event could be bigger and better with the help of a fledgling group of fishing guides, who called themselves the Coastal Bend Guides Association.
   The group's leader at the time and for years thereafter was Don Hand, who embraced the idea as a way for fishing guides to share their time and knowledge of fishing with anglers who otherwise might not have such opportunity.
   As it turns out, the therapeutic benefits flowed both ways, Hand believes. Current CBGA president Mark Lyons said this reciprocal arrangement will continue during his watch and beyond.

David Sikes/Caller-Times

   Between the Chemo Kids Fish-off and providing fishing trips to kids who live at the South Texas Children's Home, area guides get a double dose of relief annually from the periodic stress of broken down boats and the everyday pressure of trying to locate fish for paying customers.
   These events are good for what ails outdoor writers too.
   This year's anglers ranged in age from about 6 to twentysomething. As always, I saw familiar faces and noticed some were missing.
   In past years, I've been paired with young anglers with wide ranging fascinations for everything that swims, crawls, flies or jumps in, out of or around water, with the possible exception of those creatures that bite on baited hook. Consuming soft drinks, eating snacks and playing with bait seem high on Chemo Kids' lists of things to do while guides attempt to find or hook fish for them.
   Ingleside guide Don Miller took a cue from his young passengers and relaxed this year. Along with their cares, Miller's kids shed their shoes and dangled their feet in the water, collected shells and generally showed limited interest in hard-core fishing.
   "Whatever they wanted to do was fine with me," Miller said. "It was their day."

David Sikes/Caller-Times

Klelious "Klay" Davis, 16, (left) found a fish and a friend in Port Aransas guide Mark Jones.

   It was a little different on our boat, with guide Art Weiss and two older kids, Kerre Garrett, 14, and Carlos Solis, 17. Weiss brought along his niece, Vivian Weiss, who shared the deckhand duties. As chaperon, Driscoll's director of corporate services Tim Hanners, traded his tie and desk for a T-shirt and a day on the water.
   The only thing missing was fish. And Weiss was determined to change that.
   Fishing has been tough all over the Coastal Bend this summer and this day would be no exception. It's funny how this fact tends to visit pressure on guides, regardless of their passengers.
   Weiss first tried one of his staple trout holes, anchoring within casting distance of a seagrass bed near the Terminal Islands. We also tried for redfish near the L Reef north of Hog Island. We couldn't loose a single bait at either spot.
   Careful not to promote boredom by lingering, Weiss lifted anchor about every 20 minutes.

David Sikes/Caller-Times

Justin Dale, 11, thought his redfish wasn't red enough. So he enhanced its color for his flag.

   The next three stops produced few bent rods and even fewer keeper fish for the former tennis coach, who wanted badly to produce smiles on his boat. The cutoff time for fishing was very near when the veteran guide told us to "reel 'em up" for the umpteenth time.
   "I know where a school of drum has been," he said. "But it's a ways from here. I hope they're still there. And I hope there's enough time."
   We sped off in a southwesterly direction.
   After a 15-minute boat ride, Weiss cut the motor and trained his gaze on the surface of Redfish Bay. The shallow clear water revealed dark seagrass fingers against patches of lighter sand beneath the boat.
   It also revealed black drum, undulating in and out of sight.
   "They're here," Weiss said, scrambling to anchor the boat.
   We each grabbed rods, baited hooks with dead shrimp, and then stood on the bow ready to cast. Sightcasting for drum isn't something I practice often. But it's enjoyable enough to make me feel a little guilty for stealing fun from the kids. But time was short.
   So the plan was for Weiss and I to hook fish quickly, then hand off the rods to Carlos and Kerre. That is if we could entice a strike.
   It didn't happen immediately. But it happened soon enough.
   I hooked the first one. Carlos, eager and alert, was ready for the hand off.
   Smile one; accomplished.
   At some point, Kerre joined Carlos on the deck, helping him turn the reel crank. I rarely see team fishing taken to this extreme. Maybe Kerre doubted she'd get her own turn.

Chemo Kids Fish-off sponsors Coastal Bend Guides Association Palm Harbor Marina Evelyn Clark - The Piggy Lady CITGO Recreational Fishing Alliance South Texas National Productions Hunting & Fishing Show DoLittle Ranch Cook-off Team Sparkling City Charter Co. Texas Parks and Wildlife - Coastal Fisheries and Game Wardens Driscoll Children’s Hospital Credit Union Corpus Christi Ice Rays Watermark Inc. Waterstreet Inc. Equistar Crab Man Marina Linda’s Bait Stand Whataburger Ingleside Ingleside Chamber of Commerce

   She also shared the grimacing duties.
   With much ado, Carlos boated the 5-pound fish a few minutes later.
   Then it was Kerre's turn to go it alone.
   She grabbed the next live rod with relish and positioned herself on the bow deck for the fight. Straining against the powerful fish, she held on and retrieved with obvious difficulty.
   I wanted to help, but instead only coaxed. As if in pain, her face contorted with each run as the experience drained fish and angler.
   "Reel, reel, reel," we urged as both appeared to be nearing exhaustion.
   "I'm trying, but it's hard," Kerre said. "I don't have a bone in this arm."
   No one spoke.
   Moments later, smiles and cheers replaced the awkward silence, as the webbing of Weiss' net enveloped Kerre's prize.
   And I saw the face of achievement, as I never had before while fishing.
  
  

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