Missouri member gets special-needs children outdoors

A member of the Missouri B.A.S.S. Nation takes disabled children fishing and hunting to show them that they can do things they never thought possible.

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. — A member of the Missouri B.A.S.S. Nation takes disabled children fishing and hunting to show them that they can do things they never thought possible.

“My theory is that the doctors tell the kids what they are going to be able to do and then the kids get stuck in a rut,” said JP Sell, a member of the Lost Creek Bass Club and founder of Fish-4-Tales. “I try to help them step outside that box in order for them to believe that they can do other things.”

Sell had worked with disabled children for eight years when the local National Wild Turkey Federation chapter asked him to organize a benefit bass tournament to raise funds for a shooting apparatus for handicapped kids.

The success of the tournament spurred Sell into founding Fish-4-Tales in 2011.

The Fish-4-Tales volunteers take kids fishing each summer at Camp Barnabas, a Christian camp dedicated to providing camping experiences to people with special needs. To buy Ken’s Power Casters — a fully automated, push-button-controlled fishing apparatus for disabled children — Fish-4-Tales holds an annual benefit tournament and his club, Lost Creek, donates proceeds from its annual Take A Kid Fishing Tournament.

Sell rebuilds the Power Casters with stouter material and upgraded rods and reels. He attaches the caster to a special chair designed for quadriplegics with a plate that mounts to his bass boat.

“The caster can cast anywhere from 20 to 112 feet,” Sell said. “It can slow roll a Wiggle Wart or burn a buzzbait.”

The apparatus also has a sip-and-puff mechanism so children can “suck and blow” into three straws that allows the caster to move forward and backward for casts and to reel in line.

Fish-4-Tales has received two community awards for its special work with disabled children. OzarkFirst.com awarded its Home Town Hero Award to Fish-4-Tales in 2012, and Fox KBRK television station honored the organization with its Discover the Ozarks Award in 2013.

To learn more, follow the Fish-4-Tales Facebook page.