Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-08-12
Champion Reef Fishing Club

Champion Reef FIShIng CluD
The Champion Reef Fishing
Club had 4 boats out in the
Canadian waters on Sunday Au-
gust 7th. On one of the boats,
the crew aboard knows just how
it feels to be>left out in the mid
die of the lake without gas and
dead battery and most of all
the way it happened-Bright and
iithout pair of oars. This is
arly, 400 am. to be exact, the
crew of seven happy fellows in
Guiding, John Conrad and Al
Brown from Champion, Skippy
Will, Surface Combustion, Marty
O'Keefe and Connell from To-
ledo Edison and Frances KurtZ,
Jr. and his dad all met at the
dock in Port Clinton were dis
cuSsing the swell day it was to
go out fishing because the SUN
was coming up so bright and the
sky was so clear. The crew went
aboard and started for the Cana
dian waters to have a grand
time, believing they had enough
gas.
Everything went swell as
they headed out to the reefs. The
fish were biting and Skippy
a5aught one of the largest pick
eral of the year, it weighed 812
pounds and was "a inches long.
Along with this one he caught
one weighing 512 pounds. The
rest of the men were catching
fish between 212 and 3R pounds
when it happened-First one of
the members lost his entire fish
ing outfit, rod reel and line;
second, the motor went dead and
so did the battery; third, they
put out SOS. and a cruiser
came out and toWed them back
to the other boats belonging to
the party.
They had to borrow a bat
terry from one of the other
boAts and everything looked
good for the time being, but the
good luck didn't last long for
they ran out of gas and had to
sit there for about 3 hours un-
ii friend came to the rescue.
'pet was none other than Fred
"Bozo' Hohenbrink of Dept. H.
electrician. He offered to go
after gas for them at Pelee
Island and they had to wait for
312 more hours. They hailed
another boat which towed them
almost back to shore when
friend "Bozo" showed up with
their gas, in SIS gallon drum
and no way to put it into their
gas tank. They finally found a 5
quart pail and started to trans
fer the gas from one boat to
another, spilling 3 quarts out of
5.
They started back to the dock
at 8 pm. and when they arrived
at the dock they discovered that
the Coast Guard was out looking
for the two boats with the tired
land hungry guys from the
Champion Reef Fishing Club.
They caught % nice pickeral and
4 large sheephead.
Who was the guy who became
sick or sea sick after they ran
out of gas? We wonder, Skippy,
if it was from the boat rocking
or were you scared a little?
Don't forget the Reef Fishing
Clubs picnic on August 9th at
Lady of Lourdes Grove on Hill
Avenue. The drawing will be
held at that time. also.
The top honors of the day,
with the Reef Fishing Club,
went to John Conrad when he
yelled out: Il got one!" He be-
came so excited, when he saw
sit" jump out of the water about
200 feet from the boat, he told
Everybody to move over so it
wouldn't get away. After reel
ing in for the next Is minutes,
he finally got it up by the side
of the boat and to his great sur
prise, he had a tree limb on his
hook and three of the other fell
lows lines tangled up with his.
That was all Johnny caught the
rest of the day. (Anyone wish !
ing to enjoy French Fries and
an old tree limb, go to Conrad's