I wanted to show some appreciation for some men who helped take fishing some at-risk kids from our facility at Lake Bob Sandlin on Good Friday. Pat Martin, James Hill and Heath Taylor took six kids fishing in their boats on a pretty tough day on the lake. These kids are some of the ones we reward with these types of campouts because they have shown good effort at changing their negative behaviors. I can't show pictures of them because of confidentiality rules, but all of them had smiling faces and all were able to catch a fish because of the hard work and generosity of those three men, and I'll thank Lane Carlisle as well. I asked Lane on short notice if he might be willing to help. He couldn't make it, but did suggest some areas to try.

Friday night around the campfire staff members held a little group meeting with the boys and asked them to talk about one positive experience they will remember from today. One said getting to hang out with normal people who have fun in good ways. One said James was as excited for the kid to catch a fish as the kid was. Those are two strong impacts on a kid, and most of these guys haven't had enough of that kind of thing in their lives.

The fishing was tough. The wind blew hard from the south. Then it blew hard from the north. In between, it rained. We all struggled to find fish and water much warmer than 60 degrees. Pat and I struggled for two days, because we also scouted around there Thursday. In the end, we cleaned 26 keepers Friday. About half came shallow (2-4 feet) in some bushes in 67 degree water. That was by far the warmest spot we found. Props to James on that one, and props to Pat for cleaning up in there with the minnows!

The rest were caught slow trolling jigs with one pole off the side in about 6-8 feet of water. Most of the time that was just catching scattered fish around docks or out from timber, but James did find one little stretch off a bank a ways where we caught four pretty quickly. Like the others, they weren't on or around timber. They were mostly in open areas between trees.

Anyway, thanks fellas for helping give these kids a memorable fishing trip and donating your valuable time with them. I know they appreciated it.

Carl,

a BIG atta boy to you and all involved. Next time, give me a holler, I'd like to help out if I can. Maybe something is coming up this summer.

Thanks Calvin! I'll keep that in mind, bud.

Well done men...

You're a great guy Carl and kudos to Pat and Heath. Awesome thing you guys do!

Awesome Post. It just don't get any better!

Thank all of you for your concern and the efforts you are making to provide guidance and positive experiences for these kids. Great post. Can you tell us about the organization doing this work?

Pegasus Schools, Inc., is the facility. It's near Austin. We work with CPS and juvenile probation departments across the state. The kids there are age 10-17 with a variety of behavioral problems. This was an older bunch of boys that we identified as trying hard to work the program and change their behaviors.

great post!!!!!!!

The rewards are many for great men like these.

thanks Guys!! I was a member of a Bass club in Metro Plex several years ago. Some 20 boats took some young men fishing at Tawakoni. Showed them how to fish, shared with each of them and then fed them a meal. No Picture were taken but all of the Guys had a great time, especially us boat drivers....
Congratulation to Each of you who were involved. Know that You were Blessed having been involved.

I teach at-risk kids in an alternative school in arlington. You may not know what kind of an impact you had on them but I can assure you it was very positive! Thank you for what you guys did for them. I know they do!

Great job guys!!!

My thoughts as well!

Great job!

Call on me if I can help out in the future!