BELLEVUE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Some seniors took to the water’s edge Wednesday morning for a fishing trip at an area nature conservancy.
With bluegills swarming in the quarter-acre pond below, this weekly fishing outing caters to a special crowd.
“Every Wednesday during the summer, we bring a different group in from different senior centers, all over Brown County, Outagamie County. They come up. The group today is from Appleton,” said Pete Daanen, Izaak Walton League Fishing Instructor.
Pete Daanen says six senior anglers made the trip from Brewster Village long-term care community in Grand Chute, to Osprey Point Conservancy in Bellevue.
“We just get them out here, get them out on the deck, and do some fishing. There’s perch, and crappies and bluegills in the pond,” he said.
Some needed a little help casting, but it didn’t take long for the anglers to catch on, and catch some fish.
Betty Milhaupt is 101 years old.
How long has she been fishing?
“Since I was a little girl, my dad used to take me out to Lake Winnebago, and we used to fish out there,” said Betty Milhaupt, Senior Angler.
Decades later, she is still reeling them in.
“Oh I love it. I’d like it better if I catch fish,” she said.
And while the panfish are quickly put back in the pond, Pete Daanen says the outing was a success.
“You can see the look on their face, that they just enjoy it. It brings back memories that I’m sure from when they were in childhood, or their younger years. That when they used to go fishing. So their smiles on their faces and they’re kissing the fish when they catch them,” he said.
The Brown County Izaak Walton League Osprey Point Conservancy hosted the event.
Located off Brown County Highway GV in the Village of Bellevue, the grounds are open to the public from daylight to dusk.
