Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Friday January 17th, 2025.
Have your host James here with you and welcoming into the studio.
Our good friends, Jim and Dave, we have from the Port Edwards Lions Club.
We are here to talk about their fishery coming up on January 25th.
Gentlemen, like you introduced yourselves and then we'll get into the Quake Q&A here.
Go ahead and introduce yourselves down the line here.
I'm Jim Campon from the Port Edwards Lions Club.
Jim good to see you again.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
I'm Dave Thiel.
Thanks for being here.
Good to meet you sir.
Appreciate the time.
Great vest by the way.
You look good sir.
That's a great vest.
I will talk more about that maybe, but I want to get into the event, the details of it,
how people can attend, but before we do myself, the audience, we love to talk the origin
and the history of events, and especially one like this that has been so celebrated in
our area.
Loves this event so much.
What can we tell people about the history of the Port Edwards Lions Club fishery?
Well, our club got chartered in 1965.
Wow, 65.
I didn't realize that.
This year it will be 60 years.
Congratulations.
And shortly after that, we started holding a fishery, and it began out at Ross Lake, south
of Nacusa, where the campground is there now, and a lot of people came and then that
Ross Lake kind of dried up, so you would drill a hole and get mud, that's all you'd get.
So we switched to Mt. Colake, and we've been doing that ever since then, and the people
have really been supported of it.
Yeah, the area loves this event, and you know, to be fair, fishing is just a hugely popular
thing in Central Wisconsin.
It's a really in Wisconsin in general, but especially here in Central Wisconsin, is one
of the first things I learned when I moved here, was picking up a fishing pole and getting
out there on the deck and casting a line, and the enjoyment and the love of that that
you can have.
One of the things I love about fishing, and I think that stands out a little bit more
about it than other sports or other hobbies, if you will, you can go out there and have
a great time, even if you don't catch anything.
I don't think there's a lot of things like that in life, you know, usually, even with hunting,
I don't hunt, but I know most of my friends and family do, and they'll tell you that if
I go, they go out there all morning, they don't catch anything, just not a great day for
them.
But you can go out on the lake, or you can go out on the ice and fish and have a great
time, even if you do or don't catch anything.
That's right.
It's one of the, I think, the best parts of this, and I think any fisherman will tell
you, in an angler, will tell you that that's a big part of fishing, and a big part of
this event is the camaraderie.
The ability to come together, maybe see some people you haven't seen in a while, have
some conversations with people who make new friends, who knows.
That is one of the beauties of fishing.
Is that one of the purposes of the event to you all?
Maybe even not just to the lion's club, but just individually as people.
One of the things you guys look forward to is running into people, the conversations
that you have.
Sure.
We have a good time in the shelter house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I believe it.
Yeah.
Jim, do you have some?
Yeah.
And a lot of people, they come, they don't even fish.
Yeah.
They come there, they have food, we have burgers and chili dump and stuff, and to meet
their friends.
Yeah.
We have a lot of tickets because the merchants in town here really support us.
We have a lot of prizes for the people to buy a raffle tickets, and they'll sit there
for a couple of three hours and just talk with each other and have a good time.
That's what it's all about.
A lot of families come out, which is good.
Yeah.
And piggybacking off of that, a couple of the listeners that I talked to that we're looking
forward to the event.
We're talking about when the individual was talking about bringing his son down, and
it'll be his first, and getting a chance to, you know, get out there and check out
what that, what ice fishing is like and everything because they haven't experienced ice fishing
before.
That is pretty cool to see that for the first time and see somebody experiencing that
for the first time.
But that, that was a big part of what they talked about, too, was, and one of the things
that I noticed, too, and we're seeing a lot more and more of this, especially coming
out of the holidays.
What people are looking for out of a gift or out of, out of, their, their experiences
is an experience.
They, they really want to experience something.
They want to go out there and they want to just have a time, again, whether they catch
a fish or not, they want to go out there and talk to people, interact with others.
Having something to look forward to in the winter months, you know, as much as we're
all Midwesterners and we know what the winter is like, we still be reminded of it on weekends
like this one coming up and everything of how important it is to have this stuff to look
forward to and how fun these events can be.
When it comes to your involvement in the, in the Lions Club, or in the fishery, can
give me either answer or both, if you'd like.
I'm curious of how you guys got involved with this and Jim, I'll start with you.
How did you get involved with the Lions Club?
How did you get involved with the fishery?
Well, I've been a member of the Lions Club since 1985.
Okay.
Yeah.
By, at that time, it was someone had a sponsor you to join it, so a good friend of mine
sponsored me and, and it's been, it's been a great experience.
We do a lot of good things and we have fun doing it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
We'll talk more about that before we wrap up and everything, but I do think that's
no worthy.
You know, not only having fun, but the feeling that you get putting into your community.
There's, there's just, there's no way to put it in the words.
There's no way you could really word something like that other than it just, it feels good.
It feels good for the soul, it feels good overall.
For you, Dave, how did you get involved?
Well, I moved into town in 74 and a Lions Club member came to my door to sell, uh,
challenges.
Oh.
Okay.
Hey.
Hey, however it happens, you know, that's great.
And I told them I wanted to get involved in the community and, uh, he sponsored me.
Hmm.
Very cool.
Very cool.
How, uh, have you since then pretty much been involved with the fishery as well?
Oh, yes.
Drill, I was drilling holes forever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, I drilled holes down at Ross Lake, where, uh, we had a, we had a long shank, long shaft
drill.
We had a lift up here, and, uh, we, uh, it was difficult.
Yeah.
We, uh, we didn't need that for the ice we had there.
So we, so we shortened it up.
Sure.
But I, I've been drilling holes until the last couple of years I can't go anymore.
But I've, uh, drilled holes for a number of people that was their first time.
Sure.
Oh, that's, that's got to be a great feeling.
Okay.
And, and, and, you know, just hearing in your voice, sir, uh, the, the, the, how much you
love this and how much you've enjoyed it over the years.
I, I, I appreciate that you're sharing that with us for a number of reasons.
One, it's just great to hear, uh, and I think it's relatable for a lot of us to attend the
fishery and enjoy it ourselves.
But we're always looking to get new people involved with this.
And nobody listening that hasn't done this, that heard you is not going to show up on
the next Saturday for this, uh, you, you sold this event very well just now and appreciate
that and appreciate the, the, uh, the walk down memory lane with you.
Thank you for that.
What is it meant to you to be a lion's club member, uh, if you don't mind me asking
day?
Oh, I think it, uh, it makes me feel good.
We do, we do a lot of good, good things for the community.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Same question.
What is it?
You touch on this a little bit, but just to give you the actual, like, uh, chance to really
answer this, what it means for you to be a part of the lion's club.
Well, the camaraderie is, is great.
We've got a good club.
In fact, in the last couple of years, we got eight new members, young people, which we
needed in the club.
They really brought up a lot of new ideas and, and everything.
And, and all the, all the events we have to support, we have from the local people is
just phenomenal.
Oh, whether it is our lion's club or Elk's lodge, whatever they might be, these organizations,
they've got such a wonderful history to them.
And they, uh, that the history is just, uh, littered with great events and great putting
into their communities and it's such a great opportunity to be able to do that.
I, I hear from people all the time more and more.
They want to do, they want to put into their community.
They want to make a mark.
They want to leave, uh, a legacy.
They want to make sure that they're, they were noted that they did some good in their
community.
I cannot stress enough that this is a great opportunity that, to being a part of, uh,
any of these organizations gives you that opening, gives you that chance to do that.
If there are people listening out there and they would like to be a part of the lion's
club, they would like to be a member.
Is there ways to find that out?
Is it, you, you touched on before, uh, being needing, uh, to be sponsored if, is that
still the case?
Uh, they can talk to me.
I'm the membership term.
All right.
Well, we got, that works out perfectly.
I've been you and Dave, that's just like we planned to guys, just like, but, uh, so they
would just reach out to you Dave.
Yes.
Okay.
Uh, and, uh, we'll, we'll find out how to do that before we wrap up today.
We'll get that information out there.
Thank you for that thing.
And again, that worked out really good.
That's awesome.
Have a day here for them.
I want to talk a little bit about the details of the Port Edward's Lion Club fishery
coming up January 25th, uh, over at Nepgo Lake County Park, one of our favorite lakes,
one of our favorite spots here in Central Wisconsin.
This is going to go from 10 to three.
Guys, how much will, uh, tickets be for this, uh, or additional tickets for this?
Well, we have, uh, tickets, they're two dollars a piece or three for five dollars or seven
for ten or fifteen for twenty.
Mm-hmm.
And then for every one of those you buy, you get another ticket free to go into the basket
for all the door prizes that the local merchants donate to us.
That's, uh, first off, that's a really good deal.
That's, that's very cool.
That, that is, um, hopefully, uh, able to help you guys raise some funds for the great work
that you guys are doing while also making a very affordable for families.
Uh, we want families, we want kids to be able to attend these events and everything,
and you make it very accessible for that.
Uh, that is cheaper than going to a movie.
That, that's the, you can't beat that.
And, and for what you get for that too, uh, not only
again knowing that you're putting into your community, because that's what that money is
going to do.
That's what money does.
It's helps, the community helps the Lions Club continue to do the work that they're
doing.
Um, but you're also having a great time, and you're getting your bang for your buck
on that.
That, that is a really cool thing to be able to offer to the community, uh, especially
in these day and age, this day and age, um, so, and, and speaking of the, uh, big
ticket, uh, there's some big ticket prizes that I had to do a double take on.
These are deep, these are great prizes, people, like there's good prizes, and I, you
know, it's my job to sell this stuff.
You don't need me to sell this.
These are some great prizes right here.
Uh, can we go over those a little bit for the audience?
Sure.
Sure.
So the, I, I see on here that there's a, a, a trigger to kick things off.
You, you always catch people's eye with the word trigger.
Yes.
A trigger.
Tell it, grill.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can get that or, or $700 a gift card.
That's the first price.
Just write out the case, just a great price right away.
Yeah, it is.
Second price is an Eskimo two-man thermal shelter or a $500 gift card.
It's a great price as a chainsaw or a $200 gift card.
Fourth price is an otter sled or a $100 gift card.
Then the fifth price is a grill and a $50 roll meets gift card.
And, uh, soon, they got a chance to win some nice prizes.
Like you said, really nice prices, uh, really went all out.
I want to think, uh, that all the businesses and the people that help with these things
and, and, you know, are to get these prices together.
And, uh, as, as another note, I think it's really unique and cool to be able to offer people
the options in prizes.
You know, if somebody wins, they got, they got, I got two chainsaws at home.
I don't need a chainsaw.
You can get the gift card.
Right.
Very cool idea.
I, I don't know the last time I saw something like that.
I think that's a really unique idea.
Mm-hmm.
And then we also have prizes during the day for, for the fish, for the biggest fish.
Mm-hmm.
$10 for first prize or $20.
$10 for second, $5 for third.
And you get these eight 10-year-old boy or girl that comes up with a,
Yeah.
with a blue gill.
That's eight inches long that shouldn't be $10 for it.
You should see the smile on their faces.
Oh, I can't about it.
Yeah.
Um, and, well, uh, any, you know, being a fisherman myself a bit,
I don't do it nearly as much as I'd like to, but I will tell you, the, the prizes are nice.
And, and it's great to have those, uh, offer people.
You know, and, and it always feels good to win those things.
The bragging rights that you get from something like this.
Oh, that feels good.
And those, those bragging rights, man.
There's nothing like that.
There's more important than, uh, no, no money.
Yeah, you would, Dave, I feel the same thing.
Yes.
I feel exactly the same way.
There's nothing like that.
And, uh, this is all a competitive fun.
You know, it, it's a good time.
It's a great opportunity.
There's, uh, I, I think one of the fun things about fishing and one of the most unique things
about it is,
I have to, uh, known fishermen, including my papa, uh, my grandpa, who love fishing and,
you could tell you almost anything you wanted to know about it.
And one of the first things you tell me is, you can't pick the size.
You don't really get to pick the size of the fish.
They kind of decide that for you.
So that's, I think, a fun part of this competition that, uh, you know, you just don't know who's going to,
well, this guy's the best fisherman I know.
Doesn't mean he's going to win.
Doesn't, you know, doesn't always mean that.
And, uh, yeah, I'm glad you brought up the part about the kids too.
Um, this is a great event for anybody.
All ages can enjoy this.
If you're going down there with your buddies or you're going down there with your family,
you're going to have a good time.
I've done both, and I can speak to both.
Um, but one of the things that's important with this event too, I think is, uh,
something that we're seeing a lot, uh, we saw this last, uh, winter, uh,
with our friends up north and the, the lack of snow that they got.
Now, hard that was on so many of the industries up there.
And I think it was a real reminder to people that whether we're talking about
snowmobile driving, ATV, UTV, uh, fishing, hunting, any of these things,
we need young blood in, in these events.
We need younger people to pick these up and to keep these alive in our
communities in our areas, um, not only because they're fun, and they are,
they're a blast in their great way to pass the town, great way to hang out with
friends and family and stuff.
But the economic, uh, impact these events and these things have on our
communities, on our state are so vital.
Again, we saw this last year with the lack of them and how hard that hit our
northern, our northern friends and everything up there and stuff.
So, uh, when we're, we're talking about this event or encouraging people to
take in this event, I can't stress enough, bring the kids, bring younger people
to this event.
Uh, you just don't know what might spark in them and have them be the next
gym or Dave and, and want to continue to do this, whether it's with the
Lions club or just picking up a fishing pole every weekend and getting out
there and fishing.
Mm-hmm.
And it's nice with that he did shelter.
If they get cold, they'll chill or whatever they can come inside and warm up
it's, it's, it's really nice.
We work in church leaves inside, inside the shelter.
I'm glad you mentioned that there is going to be any, and you brought this up
before to Jim about people coming down and maybe if you're not interested in
the fishing part of it, but you're looking to come and you love the event.
You want to support the event and just come on down.
There is a warming house.
Uh, will there be any, uh, craft, any crafts or food or anything?
Yes, uh, my class is a known fellow in the area.
He, he'll be there selling his deer skin gloves and he, you'll have a
coon hat for sale and stuff.
And then a, a young lady's got a alpaca and she will be there to selling the
mittens and, uh, and the socks and the scarves and stuff.
And I'm not sure if we got anybody else coming this year or not.
I know that a lot of people ask, is, is Mike going to be there?
Yeah, yeah, so that's good.
That is good.
That's good to, to confirm that.
Um, and, and, and part of the reason I bring this up is it's a part of the
event and that's really cool.
But I also want to tip my hat to you guys with this too.
Because there is another opportunity for our vendors, for our ag industry,
for, uh, people that, to make sales that they may not be able to make otherwise.
It's another opening for that, which speaks to again, the work that the
Lions Club does in our communities, um, not only hosting and having these
great events, but giving, uh, so many of our other businesses and industries
an opportunity to do something they might not otherwise.
Uh, it's, it's so important for that industry.
It's a, it's a really cool thing to be able to offer.
And I tip my hat to you guys for that earlier.
I was asking about if people are listening and they wanted to become maybe a
member of the Lions Club.
So, uh, Dave, I was asking you about that.
How would they contact you for that information or to find out more?
Well, I could call, call me at, uh, seven, one, five, eight, eight,
seven, four, three, three, eight.
Okay.
Uh, I, I see that the Lions Club does have a Facebook page.
Uh, people reached out that way.
Is that another way that they could do it?
Uh, yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
There's information on there.
Yeah.
And, and, and pretty, and I believe your number, that number that you gave us
is on there as well.
So the going there will also give you that information again as well.
Um, and, uh, is there any age requirements or anything like that that
people should know, uh, before, uh, jump into this or are looking into this?
No, I don't, I don't believe so that we have an age requirement.
Okay.
Good.
God, that's great.
I mean, we're 80 years old if they want to join, we'll welcome them.
Right.
Right.
We encourage you to do that.
And, uh, and, and not only that, uh, for the camaraderie, the fun, the, uh,
the energy that these guys have, uh, I'll tell you, I wouldn't have guessed 80s
with you guys at all.
The energy and the, and the, uh, fun that you guys have with these events.
But certainly again, going back to, you know, there's a lot of individuals out
there.
I would, I would, I feel very comfortable saying almost everybody out there
listening is looking for ways to impact their community, to help their
community to make it better, to have more fun in the community, have more
events.
The Lions Club is going to help you do that.
The Lions Club is a great part of that and a great part of our communities.
And, um, another note I, I had a listener ask about too, you know,
this is the Port Edwards Lions Club.
If they are, are from a different area, I, I encourage you to look and see if your
area has a Lions Club.
But if not, um, encourage you to reach out and find out more.
Uh, there's, uh, nobody's going to bite your head off here.
You know, there, there's no harm in asking questions.
Yeah, there's, I haven't run across the city and all my travels as you're
going in.
Everyone's got their sponsorship signs.
There's a Lions Club there.
Yeah, yeah.
And, and I guarantee you that Lions Club is putting into its community.
Uh, it just like our Port Edwards one is.
I, I can't thank you guys enough for the time.
Thank you again.
This is before we wrap up, uh, in the last minute we have here, go over the
details one more time, doing our mind.
Everybody to go to Facebook, type into your search bar, Port Edwards Lions Club.
Like that page to keep up to date and all the great work that they are doing.
And you can find out more about find being a member or, uh, just future events.
And you can find out more about the Port Edwards Lions Club fishery coming up
January 25th at Nepgo Lake County Park from 10 to three.
You can get tickets and find out more about prizes and some of the other great
things that they have going on with that event.
Again, at their Facebook page, just go ahead and type that into your search bar.
Uh, Jim Dave, thank you again for the time which you put into our communities.
We appreciate you have a great time with the event.
I hope to see you down there.
Thank you and thank you to the radio station for the support we've been getting from you guys
over the years too.
We're going to keep it up throughout the week here building up to the event.
We'll be talking about it on our morning shows and everything.
We're going to make sure we got a great turnout for this.
Uh, thank you again for the time, guys.
Yeah, thank you.
Taking a look at our schedule for next week here on Midday magazine.
Be sure to join us from four to five.
Where on Monday and part one, we'll kick it off with our friends from the historic point
boss in part two, Lester Public Library of Rome will join us on Tuesday at four o'clock.
Assumption Catholic schools, Dan Minter will be here and in part two, we'll talk with our United
Way of Southwood and Ames counties Wednesday.
Wood County board chairman Lins Plymouth, Lance Plymouth will be with us along with Wisconsin
rapids community media and at 4 30 on Wednesday, we'll talk to the ODC Thursday.
The friends family, really from family, natural foods will be with us in part one in part two.
UW medicine extensions, Laura Huber will with us and we'll talk some 4 H and we'll wrap up the week on Friday
midday magazine at four o'clock, talking to ADRC's Peggy Curth and in part two, Wisconsin
Ravix Public Schools Superintendent Ron Rasmussen will be joining us.
All of that and then some coming up next week on Midday magazine.
Once again, a big shout out to our scheduler, the heart of WFHR Pam Hilke in the great work she does.
And thank you to all of our guests this week and to all of you for listening.
We'll have more in store for you coming up next week right here on 97 5 FM 13 20 AM WFHR.