Take a Soldier Fishing

Take a Soldier Fishing

Last year some of our Federation clubs (Salt City, Good Ole Boys, Camden and NNY II) hosted a small group of Soldiers from Fort Drum for a day’s fishing on Oneida Lake that included lunch and a few prizes.  The Soldiers all reported having a great time and this event allowed us to show a small measure of appreciation for the sacrifices they make for us a daily basis.

This year or goal is to host an even bigger and better event than last year. Our mission is getting 100 Soldiers on the water, and to do that we’re asking for your support. We need 50 boaters for the Soldiers (two per boat) and two additional boats for media. Boaters are asked to provide additional life vests and tackle for the day.

We also need clubs to help sponsor morning coffee and donuts and lunch. For lunch foods requested are traditional cookout items; grills, burgers, hotdogs, brats, chips, coleslaw, and potato salad. We also need three folding tables, plates, flatware, napkins, trash bags (trash can), cups, ice and soda / water.

General concept is the Soldiers arrive at 8 am to enjoy coffee & donuts and a meet and greet with our anglers. They’ll receive a safety briefing, get paired with a boater and then launch at 9 am.  They return to the ramp at 1 pm for the official weigh-in and prizes followed by a free lunch.

We’re asking for any and all donations for prizes.  Think of what you might like if you were single, between the ages of 18-26 years old and living in the barracks. Maybe a gift certificate to the mall or movies, dinner for two, an oil change for your car, perhaps a free game of bowling… just use your imagination. If you have contacts anywhere within an hour’s drive of Fort Drum (Watertown, NY) then odds are the prize winner would go there. Now keep in mind if I live in Watertown and you give me a gift certificate for a free oil change or tune up on Long Island odds are I probably won’t redeem that certificate. OK I’m sure you get the general idea, the point is a prize is a prize, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be fishing or outdoor related.

If you’re interested in supporting our Take A Soldier fishing event on April 24^th, 9 am – 1 pm on Oneida Lake, at Oneida Shores in Brewerton then contact Burnie Haney at (315) 786-8897, conservation@nybassfed.com or Mike Cusano at (315) 695-4969, president@nybassfed.com We need all boaters to sign up no later than March 15^th so we’ll know how many Soldiers we can get on the water.