Just in case you forgot, the Bruce Memorial is this Saturday.
Should be good timing this year, the fish have been going pretty good as of late.
Hope to see you all at Charlton Park at 7:00 am on Saturday for registration.
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A reminder why we do this and why we make a charitable donation each year to Wolf Lake visitor center to benefit their youth fishing programs. Jeff Bruce is one of the founding and original members of MMA.
Monday,
August 28, 2006
By Rick Wilson
The Grand Rapids Press
BARRY COUNTY — A pair of shoes and a fishing hat floating across the lake from where an empty bass boat was found adrift early Sunday are the only clues as to what happened to a 40-year-old Charlotte man and his 3-year-old son.
The pair are presumed drowned after failing to return from a daylong fishing trip to Thornapple Lake in Barry County's Castleton Township. Family members identified the missing man as Jeff Bruce, 40, of Charlotte and his son, Grant, 3.
"The only thing I can think of is that Grant fell in the water and my brother went in after him," said Johanna Bruce, the elder victim's sister. "We just don't know. It's like a bad dream, losing your brother and nephew."
Johanna Bruce said Thornapple Lake was a favorite fishing hole for her brother, and he "knew it like the back of his hand."
Barry County Sheriff's Sgt. Bill Johnson said a family member called police at about 1 a.m. Sunday to report the father and son pair had not returned home. Deputies found Bruce's 17-foot Bass Master on the north side of the lake, across from where a fishing hat and shoes belonging to Bruce were found Sunday morning.
When the boat was found, shortly after deputies were called, its running lights were off and its stern light pole was not up, leaving Johnson to speculate whatever sent the pair into the water occurred before dark. The boat's fish finder and trolling motor were running and deputies found a fishing line still in the water.
"We just don't know what happened," Johnson said.
The lack of a specific search location has hampered the recovery effort, officials said.
Pairs of sheriff's department divers tried to find victims while being dragged on a tow bar along the lake's bottom where officials said visibility was about six inches.
Family members said Jeff Bruce was a fanatic about safety, insisting that his son always wear a life jacket, although officials say they likely would have found the child had he been wearing one.
The search is expected to continue today.
This thread has its content blanked out when I view it for some reason. So I don't see what else it shows but in case it's not yet reported:
Another great Bruce Memorial including one of our new guys (sorry I forgot his name) catching a nice 42 as the best fish, and his first ever musky! Very memorable. Tory and his partner Matt each catching a musky for the second Bruce in a row is outstanding, they've caught 4 of the 6 total muskies caught across the past two Bruce events (I think it was 3 last year and 3 this year, with others on suckers also caught but not reported for the events). This year Matt caught an excellent pike of 39 to top the pike category, I was more jealous of that fish than the muskies!
I caught some nice lures in the raffle and some nice pike, as did others, and we enjoyed a good feed to top off the day. Thanks to Will, Doc, Trevor and all others involved who as always did a great job with this event.
Great time and the best weather we have had for a Bruce in several years. Couldn't ask for better conditions. Congrats to the winner who won with his first ever muskie. A 42" tourney winning Thorn fish is quite a fish for your first muskie. And congrats to Tory and Matt for placing 2 straight years now. That's pretty impressive.
Thanks to all who helped put it together.
Definitely a fun event and yes, awesome to have nice weather for a change. Great seeing and talking to everyone. Thanks for the kind words Joe and Matt; we definitely didn't stick any monsters, but we'll take em. One of these years I am going to win! Got a 42" one year and Will had to roll in with something like a 44". I was jealous of the big pike as well, nice to see so many big pike in that system….made me think of why it is so healthy, obviously lots of food, but they are avoiding the dinner table some how…tip-ups banned on Thorn too, right? Thanks to Will and whoever else helped out!
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