Having lost family members to cancer, Shane Lineberger is dedicated to help the battle any way he can.
The Bassmaster Elite Series pro recently offered himself to take a pediatric cancer survivor for a day fishing in a benefit tournament on North Carolina’s Lake Norman.
“I do it because I support the American Cancer Society,” Lineberger said. “We’ve all unfortunately been touched by cancer in our lives. It’s just one little bit I try to do to give back.”
Lineberger took out a surprised Carson Kale for the Fishing for Cures tournament, complete with band, barbecue, silent auction and drawings. The 16-year-old had surgery eight years ago to remove Astrocytoma, a type of cancer in the brain and spinal cord. Kale’s first question after surgery was if he could still play football, and Lineberger said he noticed the youth’s zest for life.
“He’s your typical 16-year-old boy,” he said. “He doesn’t sit around, woe is me. He loves to fish and loves to race cars. He’s real big into drag racing.
“His thing the other day was all he wanted to do is catch every fish in the lake. That was fine by me. I had a really great time with him. When you have somebody energetic like that, they’re very easy to have a good time with.”
Fishing, including being a fan of Lineberger, is high among Kale’s interests. He’s fished about every day since his parents purchased him a john boat a couple of years ago. He was thrilled to spend the day seeing how a pro does it, and he left with a mess of gear gifted to him. Although the pursuit to catch fish became intense, Lineberger was thrilled to have a day of mostly fun fishing and help the cause in the process.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win the tournament this year,” he said. “But it’s just something I enjoy doing.”
Lineberger, who had two grandparents succumb to cancer and his father lost a kidney to the disease, had won an early version of the American Cancer Society fundraising event. In years past, the ACS event was the largest benefit event on Lake Norman, drawing around 250 boats. Lineberger and Hank Cherry, who fished together for years, won a boat in that event.
Lake Norman guide Craig Price, a volunteer for the ACS Relay for Life, began this tournament six years ago and has been working to return it to its heyday. Lineberger said he will be there to offer his services, including reaching out to his contacts for help.
“I’m going to try to help them build the tournament back to where it was,” Lineberger said. “They’re just trying to raise money for the Cancer Society, and I would love to see it get back to where it was.”
DeMarion team goes large on Erie
Elite pro Destin DeMarion had one of those days he’ll long remember. He and teammate Andy Full scored what might just be a smallmouth record on Lake Erie in the Douglas Rods Big Money Open in late October.
DeMarion, of Grove City, Penn., and Full won the event out of Buffalo, N.Y., with a five-fish limit of smallmouth weighing 29.28 pounds.
“We were so surprised,” DeMarion said. “I knew we had at least 27 1/2, 28, but I could not believe we topped 29.”
DeMarion, who made the jump to the Elite Series in 2020 after eight years competing on the Basspro.com Opens, said talk afterward from all the guides and competitors centered on if the total might be the highest weight taken from Erie.
“Not anyone had heard of anything over 28 pounds,” he said. “It’s just such a treat.”
Jumping from spot to spot, the pair had around 27 pounds by 9:30 in the morning and continued moving to upgrade. DeMarion said they never caught more than two fish off of one spot, believing the bigger bass were off on their own and not in schools.
“We bounced a lot and would catch one 5-plus here, go to a spot, catch a bunch of 4s not do any good,” he said. “Then we’d go to another spot and catch a 6 1/2-pounder.”
The team had two fish in the 5-pound class, one close to 6, a 6 1/2 and DeMarion’s last fish was the largest, a 6.88. Even so, the big fish of the event was a 7.2.
“It’s something you have to cherish because days like that don’t come around that often,” DeMarion said. “I’m really grateful for it. It was just an awesome day where everything went right.”
Kennedy catches PB at Ray Roberts
Like a number of Elites after the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest, Steve Kennedy figured since he was only two hours away, so he’d do some early scouting for next year’s Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.
Kennedy had finished 30th on Lake Fork, which put him 14th in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year points to easily qualify for his 10th Classic. So he went northwest a bit to Lake Ray Roberts, site of the March 19-21 championship.
Wishing it was a week earlier when a 9-9 won Seth Feider a new Tundra, Kennedy landed a 10-10, which he reported was a personal best.
“They said this place had big ones, just WOW,” Kennedy wrote, including hashtags #biggerintexas and #PleaseBiteForMeInMarch.