Big fish, huge fun the goal at tourney

Special Olympians head out to the Chesapeake Bay for annual angling contest

The father-and-son team caught and tossed back half a dozen catfish before they hooked the bullhead that snapped their rod in half.

“He was a fighter,” Kevin Atkinson, 54, said as he grabbed the line to help his son.

Marcus Atkinson, 26, jumped up and down and clapped his hands as the dark-green whiskered fish squirmed around in a bucket almost too small for it.

This was the seventh year that Marcus, a Special Olympics athlete, has participated in Mac’s Memorial Fishing Tournament, a fundraiser organized by Special Olympics Maryland.

“Marcus loves it,” Kevin said, an arm around his son. “It’s a tradition at this point. Last year he caught a 13-inch yellow perch and got the big trophy. But that doesn’t matter. It’s all about him having fun.”

While the tournament is not an official Special Olympics competition, the event gave 34 athletes the opportunity to see who could catch the biggest rockfish, white perch or catfish.

Neither the athletes nor their families pay to participate in the event, which is in its 27th year.

The event raised nearly $10,000 for Special Olympics Maryland this year, said Sue Jacobs, vice president of donor relations.

The athletes were taken out to the Chesapeake Bay by 20 volunteer boaters from Goose Harbor Marina in Middle River.

“The boaters volunteer their time, their gas and, many times, their fishing bait,” Jacobs said.

Adam Casper, 69, took the Atkinsons out on the water. Casper said he’s participated in this event for 26 years.

“It’s really all about the athletes,” Casper said. “We love seeing the joy it brings to them. It’s just fun to them and it brings a smile to my face.”

Sue Casper, Adam’s wife of 47 years, has also gone on many of these fishing trips with the athletes. On Saturday, she was baiting hooks with worms for Marcus Atkinson.

She said she didn’t like fishing but enjoyed participating in the tournament.

Randy Dietrich, 59, has been involved with the event for 20 years. He started out as a volunteer boater, but for the past five years he has been the tournament organizer.

“It is amazing to see the joy it brings the athletes,” Dietrich said. “The chance to put a smile on their faces. Having done this for as long as I have, you get to see a lot of the athletes grow up.”

After three hours of fishing, the anglers brought their catch to the harbor to be weighed and released.

Marcus’ catfish turned out to be too small to take first place, but he did place first for the nearly 1-pound white perch he caught.

Billy Church, 54, brought back a 5-pound catfish.

“Billy said he wanted to catch a big fish,” said Josh Devore, 21, who took Church onto the water.

Church lost his rod in the bay, but managed to hook it with another fishing pole. Devore said he noticed the hook seemed to be stuck on something.

“I handed it over to Billy and he starts reeling it up.” Devore said. “Lo and behold, there was a big catfish at the end of it.”