Fishing tournament benefits club which exposes underprivileged youth to the outdoors.
There’s nothing like having a good time while raising money and awareness for a good cause.
Louisiana anglers will have that chance on June 15 when the Wild Spirit Hunting and Fishing Club will host its first benefit fishing tournament at Spicer’s Landing in Hackberry.
The tournament will be a “Speckled Trout Shootout” and the action will begin at safe light (approximately 6 a.m.) on the date of the event. The weigh-in will be held at 3 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to the top 10 teams and teams will consist of no more than four anglers.
Daniel Benoit, President of the Wild Spirit Hunting and Fishing Club, estimates that the first-place team could take home as much as $2,500.
That figure alone is enough to make anglers take note.
But what is Wild Spirit?
The club, which started at Duson Baptist Church four years ago, provides “fatherless” or “forgotten” young boys in the Lafayette and surrounding areas a “different outlook on life,” Benoit wrote in an email to Louisiana Sportsman. The aim is to teach them not only outdoors skills such as how to catch and clean a fish or how to hunt, but also to educate them in the ways of a loving God.
“The ministry has given these young men a reason and a purpose in life,” Benoit wrote. “They understand the value in everything that God has given and has not given to them. They have picked up their school grades, they have a better respect for themselves and others and they have something to share with their friends and family. Most important, they know what love is now.”
The benefits have been obvious since the group began, Benoit wrote. The boys are paired with a mentor who guides them in not only the building of outdoors skills, but also life skills. The club goes on fishing and hunting trips and attends a monthly supper during which members cook what they claimed from the water or land. They also attend regular Bible study sessions and perform community service.
Wild Spirit receives no governmental funds, and relies primarily on donors to fund the ministry. That’s why, Benoit points out, the fishing tournament is so important to the group’s end goal of helping the youngsters remain on a righteous path.
In addition to all the fishing action participants can expect, there will be free dinners served to all anglers. Door prizes will be awarded and a raffle will be held, as well. Prize winners will be determined by the heaviest five-fish stringer (with only one fish being over 25 inches.) There will be a separate entry for guides that work the Big Lake area.
Benoit said T-shirts, visors, koozies and fishing towels will be available for purchase and donations will be accepted. For anyone not fishing in the event, a meal ticket can be purchased for $7.
The entry fee is $50 per angler prior to the tournament and $75 on the day of the tournament.
For more information or to register, go online to www.wildspiritclub.com.
