Father-son team win ‘Castin’ for Cash’

    The “Castin’ for Cash” live release bass tournament went to father-and-son team LeRoy and Mike Wilson, who followed a 15-pound haul Friday with a second-day finish strong enough to hold first place.
    The Wilsons brought in 27.12 pounds between the two days—enough to hold off Pat Steele and Ralph Galusha’s 26.16-pound total.
    “We thought it was going to be close, for sure. We didn’t know it was going to be a pound difference,” Mike Wilson said.
    The pair said they had been at the top of the leaderboard before but not been able to translate that to a tournament win, and so they left nothing to chance.
    “[Friday] night I was in bed as soon as I got home, six o’clock,” Mike chuckled. “Today [Saturday], we were ready to rock.”
    LeRoy Wilson said he was proud of his son, and that it was “rewarding” for him to finally have hit the $5,000 first prize fishing with Mike.
    “I’ve been dragging him around since he was 10 years old to these tournaments,” he remarked. “He was the big cheese today.”
    For Mike, the experience of winning with his father was almost too emotional to verbalize.
    “I can’t even explain,” he said. “There’s no words to explain. I fished with my dad my whole life. . . .”
    Steele and Galusha, meanwhile, were on the outside looking in once again—settling for second place out of the field of 60 teams.
    Tournament organizer Bill Godin jokingly had issued them an ultimatum to win this year or volunteer in 2008, after placing high in the annual tournament held at Lake Despair Lodge year after year but always failing to take the top prize.
    “He didn’t set his alarm clock. He’s still dreaming,” Steele joked.
    Godin lightheartedly decided after the tournament to give them another shot. “Next year’s next year,” he said. “One of these year’s they’ll do it.”
    “Castin’ for Cash” also debuted a new event this year—a tournament for children who could take to the docks or paddleboats and see what they could reel in.
    “Overall I think it was a great success,” said Bob Allen, one of the organizers of the kids’ tournament. “We were really surprised that they even caught fish, and some of them were bringing in five fish in an hour.
    “It was unreal.”