A Rootin’ Tootin’ good time
October 20th, 2007, 12:04 pm · Post a Comment · posted by williamh
Dillon Martinez was angling for the big one on Saturday.
“I want to catch a shark,” the 8-year-old Crestview boy said during the third annual Rootin’ Tootin’ Rodeo Round-Up at the Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier.
As for if he hooked a fish like the giant 844.4-pound mako shark that was hauled in last Saturday at the docks?
“I’d scream,” said his mother, Flossie.
“I’d get it up on the pier and jump off,” Dillon said.
Dillon was one of about 50 kids ages 1 through 12 to turn out for the event, a part of Destin’s 59th annualFishing Rodeo. For $10, kids got a rod and reel, bait, a shirt and lunch.
Butterflies flitted around the children and their families on a beautiful clear day with no sign of storm clouds or red tide. Those two plagues have made life on the Emerald Coast pretty uncomfortable over the last few days.
While the fish weren’t biting just then for Dillon, Cody Howard, a 9-year-old from Navarre, pulled up what looked like a 1-pound pompano. Like all the little anglers, he posed for a picture with his catch
“Hold him out, son,” coached Dave Urie, who operates the pier. “The farther out you hold him, the bigger he looks.”
Even Miss Destin Emily Kaltz was on hand, fishing with Riley Santos of Mary Esther.
She helped Santos unhook her little catch, something Miss Destin has become a near expert at in the
three weeks since the Rodeo began.
“I’ve gotten better at it. I’ll say that,” Kaltz admitted.
Chairman of the Rodeo Tim Broom aims to expand the event next year. In an age of Nintendo Wiis and PSPs, it is all the more critical to get kids outside and fishing, said the vice president of Half Hitch Tackle.
“We have to keep exposing them to the industry because these kids are our future.” Broom said.
— William Hatfield
