Happy Holidays! And A Special Day On The Water With A Veteran

Merry Christmas! Here’s an inspiring story from our December issue about fishing and honoring a veteran. Enjoy!

By Mark Fong

Over the last 15 years or so, I have fished quite often with my friend Mike Barton. We have fished for river salmon, wild rainbow trout, striped bass and halibut, among other species, but oddly enough, we had never spent a day on the water bass fishing – until recently, at least.

Mike is a retired Marine Corps veteran, so it made perfect sense that we should fish together on Veterans Day, which just happened to be one day after the 250th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

Lake Berryessa in the fall is one of my all-time favorite fisheries. During this time of year, the bass feed heavily on schools of shad in preparation for the winter. This typically means offshore video game fishing, with jigging spoons and a variety of different soft plastic offerings enticing bites. I had been into some really good schools of fish and really wanted to show Mike a good day of fishing. But in the end it was Mike who taught me a thing or two.

WHEN WE ARRIVED AT Markley Cove Resort, there were many more boat trailers than usual for a Tuesday morning. After launching my boat, Mike and I made our way towards the main body of the lake. I pulled up on a long point and began graphing around with my electronics. As I idled back and forth over the area, I did not see any signs of shad or bass, so it was on to the next spot to repeat this process.

Our third stop was definitely the charm. I began to graph pods of fish and decided it was worth a try. I dropped the trolling motor and quickly scanned the area using my forward-facing sonar. When I found what I was looking for, I pitched a 2-ounce Blade Runner jigging spoon in the morning dawn color pattern toward the target. With my eyes fixed on my graph, I watched my spoon fall in real time. Before it reached the bottom, a large fish zeroed in on it and engulfed it. I felt a thump and set the hook hard.
It was a good fish, but something wasn’t right. The fish was not behaving like a bass. It began to sulk and

I knew immediately what was going on. When the fish got within range of the surface, my suspicions were confirmed; it was a big channel catfish weighing close to 10 pounds. After releasing the whiskerfish, Mike and I continued to work on the same group of fish. Our next hookup was a nice largemouth, followed by a big spotted bass and then a trout. Some hardcore spoon anglers will only fish a spoon, but I like to mix it up and try to get every bite I can from a group of fish. We alternated between a jigging spoon, a drop-shot worm and a jighead minnow. And so it continued throughout the day: I would locate a group of biting fish, we would catch them for a while and then the fish would turn off. Once this happened it was off to find more active fish.

DURING LULLS IN THE action, our conversations got really interesting. Perhaps it was because it was Veterans Day, but I found myself wanting to learn more about Mike’s experiences in the armed forces. I discovered that he came from a military family; that he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves out of high school; and that he served in the Persian Gulf War as part of the 1st Marine Division in Saudi Arabia.

When he returned stateside, Mike continued to serve in the Marine Corps Reserves for a total of 14 years of service while working full time for the City of Roseville. Even as his Marine Corps career has ended, his dedication to service continues to this day.

According to Mike, one of his favorite activities is volunteering with Recreation 4 Veterans (Rec4Vets) to take and teach veterans about fishing and other outdoor activities. In addition to those duties, Mike is the director of operations for Placer Veterans Stand Down, a nonprofit dedicated to giving back to veterans and their families. Their motto is “A hand up, not a hand out.” Finally, Mike is also involved with PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere), an organization whose mission is to change and save veterans and active- duty military members through the power of golf.

BY DAY’S END, I had enjoyed a great day on the water with Mike. The fishing was good, but what I learned about service and commitment far outweighed all that we’d brought to the boat. It was great to be able to give a little to someone who has given so much. CS

Editor’s note: Check out the websites for these great organizations: Recreation 4 Veterans (rec4vets.com); Placer Veterans Stand Down: (placerveteransstanddown org); PGA HOPE: Helping Our Patriots Everywhere (pgareach.org/pgahope).