MOOSEHEART, IL - It only seemed as though Jacob Ranum pulled a fish out of Mooseheart Lake every time his line hit the water in a fishing clinic conducted this past Saturday, Aug. 18.

But by the time the clinic, which was sponsored by Lockport, IL Lodge 1557, was finished, Ranum caught 28 fish. And no, despite the catch-and-release practice observed at Mooseheart, Ranum was not catching the same fish over and over again.

Ranum's exploits were just one of roughly 120 happy stories in the fishing clinic, which saw Lockport Lodge members work with Mooseheart students to learn and perfect their fishing skills. Every Mooseheart student who attended the clinic received a bamboo fishing pole, complete with line and a bobber.

But the day was about the fishing, and Ranum was very happy when he took time out between his nearly non-stop stream of caught fish.

"It feels good because you can have fun with other people while catching fish," Ranum said. "We've had a lot of fun."

Ranum said he's been fishing at Mooseheart Lake before and he's caught fish. But his success at the fishing clinic had everyone talking.

"I can feel it when they're nibbling," Ranum said. "I start moving it around and then they start biting." Ranum said most of the fish he caught were bluegill. Other fish caught in the clinic were smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and sunfish.

Although Ranum and the other Mooseheart fishermen and fisherwomen liked to briefly show off their catch, the fish were swiftly returned to the lake as part of the catch-and-release policy.

"That way they can still live and we'll still have fish in the lake the next time we come out," Ranum said. Roughly 20 members of Lodge 1557 and Lockport, IL Women of the Moose Chapter 557 attended the event. Some helped prepare food. Others helped the clinic attendees.

"This is the kind of thing that makes your day," said Frank "Catfish" Erklin, who was making his first visit to Mooseheart. "This reminds me of the fun times I had fishing with my kids and now my grandkids."

Erklin was certainly impressed with Ranum's fishing prowess.

"He's catching some with bait, some with no bait," Erklin said. "He's got the magic hook on there." But Erklin said the day was for all those who wanted to fish, and he was helping everyone who asked, whether that meant untangling lines, unhooking and releasing a fish or baiting a hook.

"I'm having a ball," Erklin said.

Saturday's clinic was filmed for the Fishing Line and Outdoor Show, hosted by Lodge 1557 members Don Dziedzina and Ray Ludkevicz. Dziedzina said the show will air on the Comcast Cable in mid-September. The show has a potential viewing audience of 6.5 million viewers in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

"We talked about this a year ago and it just didn't gel," Dziedzina said. "We've done this before and there's a lot of work in terms of getting sponsors and everything. We targeted August of this year and it all came together so well."

Dziedzina and Ludkevicz interviewed a number of people for the show, which will focus not just on the clinic but on the Child City itself.

If the clinic couldn't have taken place without Mooseheart's children taking part, it equally would not have occurred without the help of a number of gracious sponsors. Cubby Lures provided lures for every rod; Bass Pro Shops provided the rods which the clinic participants were able to keep; B & B Bait in Ottawa provided all the live bait while Paul and Mary's Raceway Campground in Manhattan donated all the food which Lodge 557 and Chapter 557 served; Joe Roberto from R-Trapp Baits in Lockport took photos of every clinic participant, then printed it so the children could take the photos home and the Herald News and the Lincoln-Way Sun made donations for the goodie bags each clinic participant took home.