Ice Fishing

by John Reblin

Here it is a Sunday late in the afternoon with the temperatures tickling the double nickel outside and the sun shining. The week looks promising for the next 10 days or so for me to hit another pastime, making some maple syrup using sap from a few of my trees.

I get to attend a lot of fun events put on by our members across this state. Recently I went to a brat fry and a chili cookoff. That along with the Officer Training weekend and a couple of other meetings, makes the time fly and we usually have a great time doing it. But today I am here to talk about another event that took place a few weeks ago out on a sheet of ice, with the snow falling and the temps a lot colder outside. I am going to spend some time on the Randy and Janine Memorial Fisheree that takes place on Wallace Lake in West Bend.

Just some background on this annual event. It was 9-10 years ago, and I had heard of a crash in West Bend on HWY 33 and 144 that I wanted to get some information about. It was a crash where a person driving a Miata pulled out in front of Randy and Janine, causing the crash taking Randy and Janine’s life. I did do some work with the Sheriff at the time, to make sure that ACT 466 was being used.

One of Randy’s other loves, besides riding his motorcycle, was ice fishing and getting kids involved in the sport. I was told that he loved to share his knowledge of fishing with kids, showing them how to catch fish and how to use fishing equipment.

Sometime after the crash, Ralph Schneider and Tim Sutter were at Pier 144 (now Eddie’s Lake House) and were trying to think of way to keep the memory of their friends, Randy and Janine, alive. They came up with the idea of a Randy and Janine Ice Fisheree and of donating the money raised to ABATE of Wisconsin to be used to increase motorcycle awareness within the state. This year was the 9th year this event was held, and it was again a success.

A few years after the Fisheree got going, the bar was sold to Eddie Danial who offered to continue hosting the Fisheree at his bar, Eddie’s Lake House, so he and his staff could stay home base for the Fisheree yearly event. People participating in the ice fishing sport love to get an early start and Eddie and the crew, Kim Tuttle and Angela Trisko, were open and busy at 5:30 am. Breakfast was being served at this early hour and the people were offered a delicious breakfast created by Sandy Schmidt of Sandy’s Barton Café. After a hearty breakfast and maybe some coffee or another beverage, the people hit the ice and the fish were biting that day.

Kevin Meanor brought in and donated a supply of brats for grilling, along with “Ernie” Goratowski donating quite a few cases of fresh frozen hamburger patties. “Ernie” also donated his time during the day to grill everything up for lunch and for snacking. Sandy made chili to warm your insides along with, my favorite because it reminds me of my mother, homemade freshly baked rolls for the burgers, and biscuits for biscuits and gravy. Besides all the cooking and hard work, Sandy donated the money raised by selling these treats.

We were also surprised by the donation of a supply of gift cards from the area Fleet Farm along with many other items from area business’ like pizza restaurants, oil change locations, towing services, to name a few. One of the larger donations we received was a large generator donated by the Kohler Company that was raffled off separately. Helping out to soliciting door prizes was Ralph Schneider, Michelle Schommer and Luke Bostwick, and they did a great job!!

One of the chores throughout the day is selling the raffle tickets for meat raffles and 50/50’s. Roman Draheim is the champ at selling these items. He was anxious to get out around the bar and on the ice to sell what needed to be sold raising much needed income to buy an awareness billboard. I honestly never saw any one sell raffle tickets like this young man. He was also willing to help out where he could in between selling different rounds of raffle tickets.

Thanks to Boyd and Sally, Hoggie and Laura, Michelle and Steve along with Paul and Dog from 1H for helping out during the day. Also, thanks to everyone that sold all those raffle tickets leading up to the event.

About 90% of the money raised is from the general public (non-ABATE members). What did this event raise this year? Well if I could get a drum roll for this announcement, the total for this year came to $4,523.00. The 9 year total this event has raised $28,354.00 which was used to increase motorcycle awareness on Wisconsin roads. My thanks to the unselfish efforts of this group of people that have worked tirelessly in raising this amount of money, selling tickets, getting door prizes, working the event, donating all the food and labor and personal time to donate this much money to ABATE of Wisconsin. I am sure Randy and Janine are looking down and smiling, maybe having a beer and in their way joining everyone on the ice and at Eddie’s Lakehouse. I am honored to help out at this event, words cannot express my gratitude. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart so I can ride safer on the road and thank you from ABATE of Wisconsin.

One last thing, elections are coming up!! Please consider running for a board position. Seats are opening up, and of course competition is good. Give it some thought, and if you have any questions about what is involved in sitting on the board of ABATE of Wisconsin, drop a line to me or your district director. We will be happy to explain.

John