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Our Alaskan Fishing Adventure

We saw a sweepstakes on television which was being offered
by, well known television fishing personality, Babe
Winkelman. Chevrolet Trailblazer and Rayovac Batteries were
the sponsors for the sweepstakes. There were 2 grand

prizes up for grabs and you could choose the one you wanted
to enter. One was a 2 Week African Safari, hunting with
Babe. The second was a five day saltwater Alaskan fishing
trip, fishing with Babe, at Waterfall Resort just outside of
Ketchican, Alaska. The second part of the fishing adventure
was that the trip would be filmed and shown on Babe's
television show. We talked it over and decided a gazillion
people would enter the sweepstakes. We knew if we weren't
in it we could not win it so we optioned to enter the
sweepstakes despite the odds.

Since both of us are IGFA members Cody choose the Alaskan
fishing adventure of a lifetime when he mailed in his entry
form! Indeed, there were a gazillion entries sent in to
Winkelman Productions in Brainerd, Minnesota. About 9
weeks later a man called on the phone and asked to speak to
Cody. He identified himself as Babe Winkelman and the
conversation began. Babe advised us that Cody's name had
been drawn out of all the entries as the winner of the fishing
trip and personally invited us to fish with him in Alaska for 4
days. He had never had a child win his yearly sweepstakes
and he was apprehensive at best. When we told Babe that
Cody was an IGFA Junior angler and a Junior world record
holder he was as excited as we were about having chosen
Cody as the winner. In fact, Babe asked us if he could put us

on his speaker so his entire production company could hear
about the boy that had just won their fishing sweepstakes
contest.

It seemed as though the next few weeks would never pass.
Soon enough though, we would be on our way to fish with
Babe Winkelman and his wife, Kris, in Alaska. Many of you
reading this story may think Cody is one incredibly lucky kid.
That may be but he is really just like all teenagers. He loves

skateboarding, BMX bikes, ATV's and video games besides his
number one love

of fishing.

Just a couple of days before we were leaving for Alaska Cody
had the unfortunate experience of breaking his right hand in
two places. We discussed our plight with the doctors and
they decided that Cody could remove his bandaging and use
his hand to fish. If it became too uncomfortable, the doctors
said Cody would know it and he would have to stop fishing.
That was not going to happen though, especially not on a trip
like this!

Upon arriving in Alaska it rained every day we were there and
probably averaged 50 degrees for the entire time we spent on
the ocean fishing. We all fished in the rain and one day the
skies did clear and we were able to fish in the beautiful clear
sunshine. When that happened we got into the fish big time!
During our trip between Babes crew, Babe and Kris
Winkelman and us, we must have caught over 2,000 lbs. of
fish in 4 days. About a third were released, the remaining
bounty was split between the 10 of us and we took home 100
lbs. of salmon, rock fish, halibut and cod. Out of all three

Winkelman boats only one fish was large enough to qualify
for a Jr. world record, the entire 4 days we were fishing. This
is how that event transpired.

The boats had stopped and our guide, Scott McKelvey,
advised us to drop our lines to the bottom. It was 175 deep
at that particular spot. Almost as soon as Cody's jig reached
the bottom and he jigged one time he had hooked up

with an enormous yelloweye rock fish. We had all taken turns
catching several of this particular species of fish but none
were even close to the one Cody had hooked up with. It took
Cody, with a broken hand, about 5 minutes to reel in the
giant fish. In front of 3 cameras filming for Babe's television
show Cody caught and landed a 22.00 lb. yelloweye rockfish,

A.K.A., incorrectly on the west coast of America as a red
snapper. It was weighed on the boat when Scott told us it
was not a red snapper, as many call them, but a yelloweye
rockfish. I told them immediately that Cody's fish was a new
IGFA Junior world record, even before I looked it up. It had

beaten Koby Huntington's record of 18 lbs. 12 oz. by 3 lbs. 4
oz. And I pulled out the IGFA 2001 record book to show
everyone.

Cody's fish measured 31.5 inches in length and had a 30 inch
girth! It looks like it had eaten a volleyball or basketball!
Even the state of Alaska recognizes such an incredible catch
and is sending Cody an award certificate for his outstanding
angling feat. They estimate the fish could be about 80-100
years old! We want to invite all to share in our Alaskan
Fishing Adventure when the show airs on television in a few
months. We will keep you informed of the airing date(s)
and/or you can visit Babe's web site for his television

schedule and programming.

Best fishes to all,

Danny & Cody Pierce