Team Faber

[Driftless]

The family moved in across the street about two months ago. They were local by way of Florida. There were three boys and they were hungry for the outdoors. David is the oldest (15) and he was bitten by the turkey hunting bug right away. Rylee (13) is the next oldest and he was a fishing nut. Jordan is the youngest at age 11. All three of them were driven. The outdoors called them and the urge was "strong".

David came across the street one morning dragging a 25 pound turkey. He was as proud as a peacock. His brother Rylee was in tow and was really excited for his brother. Rylee wanted to go hunting with David but he didn't have any camouflage. I dug in my old clothing and found some camouflage for Rylee.

The next season for turkey hunting both of the two brothers came across the street dragging a 22 pounder to show me. The youngest Jordan was in tow. Jordan was way jealous of his brothers because he was too young to go with them turkey hunting.

The three were attracted to my house due to my license plate on my SUV. It is a personalized plate. It is hard to miss. FISHING is what it says. I get lots of people asking where I got the plate and how I scored such a "sweet" plate . The three were attracted to my house like a moth to the flame. Turkey hunting was over and they wanted to trout fish. I agreed to take them.

The day before we were going to fish, Rylee and David came over to my house to show me their gear they wanted to fish with. It was not adequate for trout and I had a couple extra rods and reels. I gave both of the two each a decent open faced rig. The youngest Jordan asked if i had an extra rod for him. He had a decent closed face rod that looked adequate. All three had rods and were ready.

I took them trout fishing. They lost about 25 of my spinners. The trees and grass were more often their ultimate targets than the stream. Four hours later we kicked some serious trout tail. All of them caught numerous trout and took some home to do on the grill. They brought over a sample of the trout for me to taste. It was only 40 minutes after we got done fishing and they were already begging to go out again. I gave them my "tangled mess". This where I throw all my lures after i feel they are too beat up to use or the hooks are dull. It typically is a huge ball of lures and line. All three were looking at the "treasure" they were just given. I heard them arguing about which lures were theirs as they left. It was comical.

We were scheduled to go out again trout fishing the next day and Jordan showed up at my door. He showed me the "new" rod and reel his mother bought him. He didn't want to fish with a closed face rod and reel. He wanted an open faced rod like his brothers. Jordan was really fired up about going this time. Jordan felt guilty from the last outing. Jordan was the angler that lost the most spinners during our last outing. The closed face rod and reel he used during our first outing was a low gear ratio and the spinners were dragging bottom and this was not going to happen any more. Jordan was ready to "dance".

Ten minutes after I spoke to Jordan his brother Rylee appeared at my door. Rylee was way excited. He showed me the sauger he caught with one of the lures from the "tangled mess'. It was a 21 inch sauger. Rylee was walking on air. His brothers were all looking at the sauger and congratulating him. They all left to go fishing after they showed me Rylee's monster. Two hours later the three knocked on my door and told me that they lost all 43 lures I had given them from the "tangled mess". They wanted more lures. I had none. I pointed the three at other neighbors in the area that fished and told them to go collect a few from them. It worked!

The outdoors was my teacher when I was young. It showed me the way. It kept me out of trouble and busy. These three were wanting the same thing I found as a kid. I needed to help them go down the right path. I took them out fishing the next day. The youngest of the three felt kind of left out because of not measuring up to his two older brothers. I paid a little more attention to him after that and even gave him a nickname like I had as a child. Jordan from that date forward was dubbed as "W.D." It stands for worm dog. The first day I met Jordan he was assigned carrying the worms by his brother. I decided every good angler needs a nick name. W.D caught the biggest trout of the outing when he and his brother went out that second trip I took them on. The pride was oozing from W.D. He hated his nickname when I first gave it to him. It is his nickname now and he tells all with pride.

The trio came over to my house often the next three weeks and showed me the spoils of their outing. The oldest angler had a really sore throat one day. His mom took him to the doctor to have it checked out. David had many problems as a young kid and his tonsillitis needed to be taken out. The whole trio were out of commission for a few days.

Today I went fishing alone and returned to check my face book area. David had surgery and and got out after the procedure and begged to go fish shortly after his release. His mom and dad and brothers accompanied David to the stream to trout fish. They were all watching David fish and the family was amazed at David's drive to fish. David's mom told him it was time to go home. David wanted just one more cast. The rest will be told over a camp fire or at every family gathering for decades. David's last cast resulted in a HUGE walleye. I contacted David and he ran across the street to tell me the "battle" story. He could barely speak due to the surgery.

Team FABER are "Hard Core" anglers!!

Rylee with his near record sauger he caught on a rapala husky jerk he extracted from the "tangled mess".

David caught this "HUGE" walleye on a silver spoon in a local trout stream two hours after his release from the hospital after tonsillitis surgery . You can still see the hospital bracelet in the photo.

W.D. Faber caught this large trout on a panther martin spinner he retrieved from the "tangled mess" I gave the brothers.

[DonBo]

Wow, good job Len! Memories for a lifetime for those boys.

[GatorBait]

WOW, that's a very touching story. You've blessed those kids for life. Thanks for doing your part as a Sportsman!!!