10_2025_REELLIFE_digital - Flipbook - Page 33
Registration for next
year’s dock tournament
opens in the Summer of
2026. You will want to
register early because
this event sells out.
As for where to stay?
That’s easy…
MarDon Resort. You can
pitch a tent, hook up
an RV, or stay in a cabin
or cottage there. Food,
coffee, bait, and tackle
are available at the
resort’s store, and if you
want to eat out or have
a drink between periods
of fishing, look no
further than The Beach
House at the resort.
Find out more at:
mardonresort.com
And then there was Jaxon
Pech.
I met him last year when
he reeled in two huge
carp, earning him a $500+
paycheck. Jaxon, who is
13 years old, takes this
tournament seriously. He
lives in nearby Moses Lake,
and he told me he fished
twenty-nine times off the
dock this summer, preparing
for the tournament. Jaxon
was fishing a sizeable pile of
bait off the bottom, hoping
to catch carp again. However,
when his rod bent with a
fish, he found out after a
frantic 10-minute fight that
he had caught not a carp, but
instead, a 4.8-pound rainbow
trout. Since Jaxon caught the
only trout of the tournament,
he got $500 for that fish!
Over the course of the event,
the lead would change
multiple times for different
kinds of fish. For example, I
was briefly in second place
with a ½-pound bluegill on
Saturday morning but was
bumped within an hour by a
bigger fish.
At the end, both of the
winning bluegill weighed in
at over a pound. The final
second-place winner was
caught on Sunday morning.
At 10 AM, the event ends,
and the whiteboard with
the final results is brought
up to a grassy area above
the boat ramp and docks.
Co-owners Levi and Annie
Meseberg prepare checks for
the winners as well as raffle
prizes. Raffle tickets are sold
for a dollar each, and at 11
AM, all sorts of raffle prizes
are given away. The event
wraps up with awards and
checks being given out to the
winners.
Talking to anglers during the
event, I learned that everyone
hoped to come back again
next year. The mood on
the docks is light, anglers
are willing to share space,
and everybody catches a
whole bunch of fish over the
weekend. Put it all together,
and this unique dock
tournament is chock full of
fun!
