BRISTOL, Tenn. – Avid anglers and best friends Landon Teaster and Seth Blaylock had two surprises Saturday.
The first was that neither caught a single fish by late morning, during the Knights of Columbus Fishing Rodeo at Steele Creek Park. The second was learning a 5-year-old girl landed a 9 pound, 6-ounce carp off the shore near the park boat ramp.
“I think people are splashing too much and all the kids are making too much noise,” Landon said while gathering up his gear to leave the fishing pier.
“We started over at the dock, but there were so many people there, we came here,” Seth said. While he comes to the city-owned park, Seth prefers to fish for trout at Watauga Lake.
The two 12-year-olds were among hundreds of children and parents who lined the lake – some since 7:30 a.m. – during the civic club’s 19th annual rodeo.
Tyesha Richardson, the aforementioned 5-year-old from Kingsport, wasted no time reeling in a carp that was nearly as long as she is tall.
“It was this big,” a smiling Tyesha said while extending her arms widely.
Her father Michael Steffey said they fish often and she recently won a youth fishing tournament in Kingsport.
While baits ranged from corn to worms and night crawlers, Tyesha used her grandfather’s concoction of instant grits and corn pops cereal to also catch two small blue gill.
Word of her catch spread quickly among the contestants.
Young anglers stood on bridges and the lakeshore, sat on docks and some hid behind bushes to avoid detection by wily fish.
After not getting a bite along the water’s edge, Patrick Jung of Kingsport – who said he hoped to win the contest – moved to a wooden bridge near the pier to try his luck.
Christopher Hobbs of Bristol, Va., wasn’t having much luck fishing off the bridge Saturday, despite standing in a shady spot at his father’s direction. He later walked along toward the boat ramp in search of a better spot.
Contestant Ben Boardwine of Abingdon came away with a photo to document the carp he caught Saturday morning, but no fish. The carp slipped off the hook and back into the water seconds after the picture was taken.
The tournament, which awarded fishing rods and bicycles to the winners, is a service project of Council 6695 of the Knights, event Chairman Ron Davis said.
“This is just part of what the Knights of Columbus do to help the community,” Davis said. “Probably a good 75 percent of what we do is for the kids.”
Fun was the order of the day – even for those who didn’t catch any fish,
“We still had a great time,” Seth Blaylock said. “It’s just relaxing to come out here after working at school all week. It’s real peaceful. It’s fun just to sit out here and look at the water.”
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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