‘Let’s Go Fishing’ provides access to free fishing trips for youth, elderly and veterans
A woman goes fishing on a "Let's Go Fishing" trip which takes the young, old and disabled on free fishing trips.
Courtesy of Let's Go Fishing
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Fishing season is officially here. Maybe you were one of the hundreds of people who got out on the water this past weekend for the fishing opener.
The opener is the start of a busy season for one local organization: Let’s Go Fishing makes sure that people who don’t always get the chance to sink a line can do so.
Since 2002, it has served 190,000 seniors, youth, veterans and disabled adults. Today, 18 chapters exist throughout Minnesota. Mark Rangistch is a board member with Let’s Go Fishing and joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Well, as you all know, fishing season is officially here. Maybe you were one of the thousands of Minnesotans who got out on the water this past weekend for the fishing opener.
Opener is the start of a very busy season for on local organization. Let's Go Fishing makes sure that folks who don't always get the chance to cast a line can do so. Since 2002, they've served 190,000 seniors, youth, veterans, and disabled adults. Today, 18 chapters exist throughout Minnesota.
Joining us right now is Mark Rangitsch who is a board member with Let's Go Fishing. Welcome, Mark.
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, thank you for having us today.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Hey, did you get out this weekend and do a little fishing?
MARK RANGITSCH: I did, and I didn't come up north till yesterday. I'm actually up north on Lake Alexander. And we caught a few bass this morning, and we'll go out tonight and go for some walleyes.
CATHY WURZER: Good luck on that one. So let's tell folks about a typical Let's Go Fishing trip. Now, you've been the captain for trips before. What can folks expect on a trip?
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, it's a great experience for people that don't get out. So we have boats on different lakes, local lakes. They're all supported by local businesses and the community. And we'll meet them at the public launch or we have them at a dock at a resort on a lake. And it's easy as they're handicapped-accessible pontoons. They're custom made for us. Our most recent vendor's been TMC.
And we'll meet them at the dock. We have dock planks for handicapped-accessible wheelchairs. People can come with their canes, and they'll have help getting on. They, a lot of times, come with their activity directors or caregivers, and it may be a mixed group.
And they get on the boat. We go out. We supply the poles, rods, bait, water, generally, and they have a great time having the opportunity to get out, which they may not have gone out for years. And it's just a great experience for someone that may be in a room somewhere and they don't get out.
We do a lot of trips for veterans. We do it for extended families, which is a great experience. So besides just grandma or grandpa want to go fishing, we encourage them, if they're interested, to bring the extended family. Have the opportunity to spend time with them, and it's just an enjoyable experience for everyone.
CATHY WURZER: I know you have sponsors, but what you're talking about, a lot going on there with the boat, the pontoons and bait and poles and that kind of thing. Can folks make a donation if they call and say, I'd like to get my loved one on the pontoon? Can they make a donation?
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, they sure can. The local chapters each have their own website that's part of the Let's Go Fishing one. So when it originally started out, it was called Let's Go Fishing With Seniors. So the initials of the website is lgfws.com. And they can go there, and they can look at individual chapters there or make a donation to that. Mail it in. Do it online. And it's just an opportunity to donate. They could volunteer also. So we have a great cross-section of volunteers.
CATHY WURZER: I remember my dad, who had dementia, had the opportunity to take a similar trip, and he was absolutely thrilled to get back on the water. He was just beaming the whole time.
I understand some of your favorite trips are what's called a last cast. Tell us about that.
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, so a lot of times there will be someone that enters hospice, for example. And they'll call us and go, hey, we want to go fishing. It might be the last time. So we'll encourage the friends and family to come take them out for a trip, and it's a really emotional experience.
CATHY WURZER: Now, what do you get out of doing this?
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, that's a great question. So I actually moved up north right before I retired, lived on a lake, and I saw a listing in a local paper that said Let's Go Fishing is looking for volunteers. So I volunteered, and it's just a great experience in terms of the people you take out. It was a great way for me to get connected with people in the local community somewhere that I hadn't lived before, didn't really know anyone. And it's among the best volunteer experience I've ever had.
And I think the general comment from people is, I didn't know this would be so much fun, whether it's the volunteer or the customers or clients we have. So it's just a very fulfilling experience.
And it's all sponsored by local businesses and the VFW, the legions, and it's a well-supported organization. And we're always looking to expand chapters and grow more. There's just a lot of opportunity or need out there, and there's a lot of communities that don't have anything like this.
CATHY WURZER: I can imagine the smiles no matter what kind of fish is hauled onto that pontoon. It could be a perch. Doesn't matter.
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, absolutely. So besides just fishing, some people just want to go for a boat ride. So there's groups or associations that will go, we just want to go for a boat ride. We want to spend an hour out there on the water. And the ones that are located at resorts or those kinds of places, that's a great opportunity for-- they're usually our sponsors, so they can go have lunch before or after a trip and enjoy even more time out.
CATHY WURZER: Now, if someone's listening and they want to book a trip, where do they go again?
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, it's called let's go fishing, and the website is lgfws.com.
CATHY WURZER: All right, Mark, really, thank you so much for telling us about this. I am familiar with your program, and thanks for what you and all the other volunteers do. It's fantastic.
MARK RANGITSCH: And thanks to you for having us on from our over 1,000 volunteers and over 14,000 people we took out last year.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Hey, by the way, when you go back out fishing, I hope you get your walleye.
MARK RANGITSCH: All right.
CATHY WURZER: Good luck with that.
MARK RANGITSCH: Thanks a lot.
CATHY WURZER: Mark Rangitsch has been with us. He's a board member with Let's Go Fishing.
Opener is the start of a very busy season for on local organization. Let's Go Fishing makes sure that folks who don't always get the chance to cast a line can do so. Since 2002, they've served 190,000 seniors, youth, veterans, and disabled adults. Today, 18 chapters exist throughout Minnesota.
Joining us right now is Mark Rangitsch who is a board member with Let's Go Fishing. Welcome, Mark.
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, thank you for having us today.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Hey, did you get out this weekend and do a little fishing?
MARK RANGITSCH: I did, and I didn't come up north till yesterday. I'm actually up north on Lake Alexander. And we caught a few bass this morning, and we'll go out tonight and go for some walleyes.
CATHY WURZER: Good luck on that one. So let's tell folks about a typical Let's Go Fishing trip. Now, you've been the captain for trips before. What can folks expect on a trip?
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, it's a great experience for people that don't get out. So we have boats on different lakes, local lakes. They're all supported by local businesses and the community. And we'll meet them at the public launch or we have them at a dock at a resort on a lake. And it's easy as they're handicapped-accessible pontoons. They're custom made for us. Our most recent vendor's been TMC.
And we'll meet them at the dock. We have dock planks for handicapped-accessible wheelchairs. People can come with their canes, and they'll have help getting on. They, a lot of times, come with their activity directors or caregivers, and it may be a mixed group.
And they get on the boat. We go out. We supply the poles, rods, bait, water, generally, and they have a great time having the opportunity to get out, which they may not have gone out for years. And it's just a great experience for someone that may be in a room somewhere and they don't get out.
We do a lot of trips for veterans. We do it for extended families, which is a great experience. So besides just grandma or grandpa want to go fishing, we encourage them, if they're interested, to bring the extended family. Have the opportunity to spend time with them, and it's just an enjoyable experience for everyone.
CATHY WURZER: I know you have sponsors, but what you're talking about, a lot going on there with the boat, the pontoons and bait and poles and that kind of thing. Can folks make a donation if they call and say, I'd like to get my loved one on the pontoon? Can they make a donation?
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, they sure can. The local chapters each have their own website that's part of the Let's Go Fishing one. So when it originally started out, it was called Let's Go Fishing With Seniors. So the initials of the website is lgfws.com. And they can go there, and they can look at individual chapters there or make a donation to that. Mail it in. Do it online. And it's just an opportunity to donate. They could volunteer also. So we have a great cross-section of volunteers.
CATHY WURZER: I remember my dad, who had dementia, had the opportunity to take a similar trip, and he was absolutely thrilled to get back on the water. He was just beaming the whole time.
I understand some of your favorite trips are what's called a last cast. Tell us about that.
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, so a lot of times there will be someone that enters hospice, for example. And they'll call us and go, hey, we want to go fishing. It might be the last time. So we'll encourage the friends and family to come take them out for a trip, and it's a really emotional experience.
CATHY WURZER: Now, what do you get out of doing this?
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, that's a great question. So I actually moved up north right before I retired, lived on a lake, and I saw a listing in a local paper that said Let's Go Fishing is looking for volunteers. So I volunteered, and it's just a great experience in terms of the people you take out. It was a great way for me to get connected with people in the local community somewhere that I hadn't lived before, didn't really know anyone. And it's among the best volunteer experience I've ever had.
And I think the general comment from people is, I didn't know this would be so much fun, whether it's the volunteer or the customers or clients we have. So it's just a very fulfilling experience.
And it's all sponsored by local businesses and the VFW, the legions, and it's a well-supported organization. And we're always looking to expand chapters and grow more. There's just a lot of opportunity or need out there, and there's a lot of communities that don't have anything like this.
CATHY WURZER: I can imagine the smiles no matter what kind of fish is hauled onto that pontoon. It could be a perch. Doesn't matter.
MARK RANGITSCH: Yeah, absolutely. So besides just fishing, some people just want to go for a boat ride. So there's groups or associations that will go, we just want to go for a boat ride. We want to spend an hour out there on the water. And the ones that are located at resorts or those kinds of places, that's a great opportunity for-- they're usually our sponsors, so they can go have lunch before or after a trip and enjoy even more time out.
CATHY WURZER: Now, if someone's listening and they want to book a trip, where do they go again?
MARK RANGITSCH: Well, it's called let's go fishing, and the website is lgfws.com.
CATHY WURZER: All right, Mark, really, thank you so much for telling us about this. I am familiar with your program, and thanks for what you and all the other volunteers do. It's fantastic.
MARK RANGITSCH: And thanks to you for having us on from our over 1,000 volunteers and over 14,000 people we took out last year.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Hey, by the way, when you go back out fishing, I hope you get your walleye.
MARK RANGITSCH: All right.
CATHY WURZER: Good luck with that.
MARK RANGITSCH: Thanks a lot.
CATHY WURZER: Mark Rangitsch has been with us. He's a board member with Let's Go Fishing.
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