PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — John Soukup did not have a good fishing day on Lake Champlain. However, he had a great “good Samaritan” day, possibly a life-saving one.
“I think sometimes God puts you in the right place at the right time,” said Soukup, who weighed a 5-bass limit of 14 pounds, which left him in 99th place on Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite.
Soukup (pronounced “so-kup”) had only two bass in the boat when he decided to make a move around noon Thursday. The wind, which blew stronger as the day went on, was already up.
“I wasn’t fishing real good and decided to run,” he said. “I ran in a way I probably wouldn’t run typically, way on the inside. I was trying to stay out of the waves.
“All of a sudden, out in the middle, I see these kayak kids waving at me. I realized they weren’t waving waving, they were in distress.”
Soukup, who had a marshal with him, pulled up next to them and initially saw only two kayaks and two kids. Then he saw a third youngster in a submerged kayak.
“They were about 12-, 13-years-old, over-confident,” Soukup said. “One of them didn’t even have a life jacket on. The way the wind was blowing, it was blowing them out, not in (toward the shore).”
Soukup and his marshal loaded the three kayaks and three boys in his boat and headed toward the campground where the boys had entered the big waters of Lake Champlain.
“I couldn’t get the boat on plane,” laughed Soukup about all the extra weight.
“They said, how can we repay you? I said always wear your life jacket. Respect the water a little bit more. I tell my wife, almost everywhere we go you hear about somebody drowning. I’m not paranoid about it, I just respect the water so much. Enjoy it, but respect the water.”
