Learn to ice fish with master Mo
There are at least two good reasons to go to Walloper Lake on Sunday, Jan. 20.
One: Learn how to ice fish with the legend himself, Mo Bradley.
Two: Get a chance to talk the legend himself, Mo Bradley.
The local fishing master was in fine form during a phone interview with KTW on Wednesday, Jan. 16.
“A family came up and they brought their six-month old baby and a little five-year old,” Bradley recalled of a cold January day on Walloper a few years back.
“He was dressed immaculately in the most beautiful, warm, knitted clothing you’ve seen. The first fish he caught, he grabbed it and he wiped it all over. His mom went ballistic.
“I told her, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll wash off. It’s water soluble.’ I don’t know if it actually did. I just told her that to calm her down.”
What Bradley remembers most about that day was the look on the child’s face when he pulled his first fish out of the lake.
“That little bugger didn’t want to leave that hole,” Bradley said.
“We had to drag him off it. I thought, look at the face on him.”
The event, put on by the Kamloops and District Fish and Game Association (KDFGA), runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bradley, vice-president of the KDFGA and member of the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame, has crafted by hand all the rods set to be used on Sunday.
The sport, Bradley admits, is a little bit unusual.
“Let’s face it — it’s bloody crazy. You’ve got a 400-acre lake and you dig an eight-inch hole and expect to catch a fish through it. If that’s not a committable offence, I don’t know what should be.”
When the fishing is over, the club is hosting a barbecue, featuring 300 hot dogs and 300 hamburgers.
Hot chocolate and coffee will also be on offer at Walloper throughout the day.
“It’s one hell of a lot of fun for everybody,” Bradley said.
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