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By Stan Fagerstrom
You’ve heard it before, if you “talk the talk” you need to “walk the walk.” Some do and some don’t.
Let me tell you about a Michigan Mack’s Lure Pro who does both. He’s Jason Kerr, of the Michigan community of Holly.
Early in April Jason was participating in a walleye team tournament in his home state. His father was his fishing partner. Fishing had been slow and then the tip of his dad’s rod jerked down. Jason figured his father had hold of a dandy. As soon as the fish got up close to the boat he knew he was right. He estimates the walleye he finally got in his net weighed at least 12-pounds.
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| Jason Kerr is a Mack's Lure prize-winning pro from Holly, Michigan. He also leads the Fellowship of Christian Anglers get-togethers that are held at Michigan FLW walleye tournaments. |
But there was a major problem. That fish hadn’t grabbed his dad’s bait. It was foul hooked in the tail.
“That,” Jason says, “is against the tournament rules. Fish must be hooked in the mouth. They can’t be snagged.”
Just as soon as Jason and his dad got the hook out of that beautiful fish, they carefully slid it back into the water.
“We knew darn well that walleye would have been big fish for the day,” Jason says. “It probably would have been worth about $1800 had we been able to weigh it in. It would also have moved us way up on the leader board.”
There was no hesitation on the part of this father and son team. Both believe in following the dictates of their conscience. The fish went back in the water and that was that. But it’s not the end of the story.
One week later Jason again found himself in another walleye tournament. This one was the FLW Walleye Tournament on the Detroit River. If you follow the Michigan walleye trail you already know what happened in that one. Jason won it. And he won it going away.
Jason weighed in 31-pounds, 10-ounces of walleye to win the Detroit River FLW tournament. The second place angler wasn’t even close with 23-pounds, 5-ounces.
Ask Jason Kerr how come he won that Detroit River tournament by such a wide margin. I’ve a hunch he’ll tell you he received the Lord’s blessing because he and his father had done what was right a week earlier---when they released that big fish that was hooked in the tail.
If you attend one of the Fellowship of Christian Anglers meetings that are now being held at Michigan State walleye tournaments you’ll have opportunity to ask Jason about it yourself. Jason will lead these gatherings of Christian anglers.
“We’ll hold our FOCAS get together immediately following the rules meeting that’s conducted at each FLW tournament,” Jason says. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other and to share our faith.”
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| Jason Kerr, right, and his co-angler Brian Wallace, won a recent Michigan FLW walleye tournament on the Detroit River. Their winning weight of 31-pounds, 10-ounces was way out in front of all other competitors. |
Jason is a walleye pro who’ll tell you that Mack’s Lure Smile Blades and the Mack’s Lure Wally Pop are among his favorite walleye catchers.
We’re proud of Jason Kerr. And it pleases us to have a man like him on our pro staff. We think the chances are very good you’ll be hearing more about Jason as he competes in future Michigan walleye tournaments.
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