September 1, 2022 at 11:34 a.m.
Anglers fish through the rain at Rod Gaskill Memorial Bass Tournament
Anglers fish through the rain at Rod Gaskill Memorial Bass Tournament
By Beckie Gaskill-bjoki@lakelandtimes.com
Gaskill lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in 2018 after a 2 1/2 year fight. That same year, tournament organizers created a memorial bass tournament in his honor. Partnering with other area organizations, the tournament has become a place for families and friends to get together and have some fun. Each year teams consist of fathers and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers, husbands and wives and any other family combination one could think of. Children as young as seven years old have fished the event.
The tournament is accompanied by others which hold raffles to benefit different non-profit organizations. This year, the scholastic book drive in Tomahawk, Little Lakes Memories in Merrill and the GO Program were all benefactors of the raffles. Each of these organizations do something to help kids, with Little Lakes Memories getting kids out hunting who would normally not have the chance and the GO Program providing fishing gear to foster kids who have been through some rough times, allowing them to simply be a kid for a while.
Let's Go Fishing Hodag Chapter also kicked in for the event. For the last four years the group has sold food and beverages to the anglers, their families and members of the public who have stopped by to chat or watch the weigh-in. Let's Go Fishing has a pontoon boat they keep on Boom Lake. They take various groups fishing and boating throughout the summer. They provide nature's healing to those who may not otherwise have the opportunity to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Gaskill was very involved in the organization as a a boat captain and volunteer until he could not longer perform those services.
This year, 27 teams took part in the event, launching out of Hodag Park just before 7 a.m. on Saturday. Many of the teams had fished the event since its inception and most had fished the Boom Lake Open, which was run by Hodag Bassmasters for many years. Gaskill served as the tournament director for that tournament until 2014.
Many teams reported the fishing was tough for a while and the morning rain all but shut down the smallmouth for a while. However, there are always teams that are able to grind out great weights, even in the toughest of conditions. In all, twice as many smallmouth, just over 60, were caught versus largemouth, but big fish of both varieties crossed the scale.
The largest smallmouth was 4.81 pounds, brought in by the father and son team of Steve and Hunter Radtke. It was one of four smallmouth brought it over four pounds.
The biggest largemouth of the day was 4.41 pounds. That bucketmouth was brought in by the team of Rex Hilgart and Dave Dearhammer. It was the only largemouth weighing in at over four pounds, but there were several others well over three pounds.
In the end, local favorites Kyle Martinson and Brendan Garrigan won the day with five smallmouth for 19.99 pounds, just shy of that elusive 20-pound bag. Their biggest smallmouth was 4.58 pounds.
Second place went to Steve Radtke and his son Hunter, with 18.15 pounds. Third and fourth place needed the tiebreaker of big bass to be determined. Both teams had 17.04 pounds, but the big bass of Rex Hilgart and Dave Dearhammer, at 4.40 pounds gave them third place, leaving Robin Pester and Kacey Meyer, with a big bass of 4.38 pounds, in fourth place. The top five was rounded out by another team who has done well historically on Boom Lake. Greg Klug and Jake Minch's 15.58 pound limit of smallmouth was good enough for fifth place this year.
It would take over 13 pounds to reach the top 10 for the tournament.
In all, 16 teams were able to bring a five fish limit to the scales at the end of the day. Four of those limits were all largemouth, with the heaviest being the bag of Hilgart and Dearhammer. Five of the top 10 teams weighed all smallmouth Two of the top 10 teams weighed all largemouth. The remaining teams brought in a mix, but predominately smallmouth. Only three teams did not weigh any fish.
There were also three "Dash 4 Cash" hours in the tournament.
During the nine o'clock, ten o'clock and noon hours, any team believing they had the biggest fish of the hour could come back and weigh that fish in.
The biggest fish for each hour netted $100.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at bgaskill@lakelandtimes.com.
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