Bass tournament is attractive lure to castaway youth

BOISE — Judge John Vehlow didn’t know what he was starting when he offered to take a juvenile offender bass fishing.

“He was in trouble time and again,” Vehlow said. “While sentencing him, I told him that if he could get himself off probation I’d take him on a fishing trip.” That was in 1999.

Recently, the judge and fellow anglers took 36 juvenile offenders fishing in 36 bass boats at C.J. Strike Reservoir.

Now in its third year, the program that began with an offer from Vehlow to a boy has exceeded expectations. With support from the Idaho Supreme Court, Ada County, the Idaho Bass Federation and others, the Scales of Justice Bass Tournament has given more than 100 troubled youths a chance to experience the outdoor lifestyle as an alternative to one of crime.

“Kids get there looking sleepy, disinterested or hung over,” Vehlow said. “Then they get out there in a boat going 70 mph and suddenly they’re wide-eyed and excited. The fishermen who mentor them are great role models. The kids learn there’s another way to live their lives.”

A retired senior judge and former presiding judge with the Ada County Juvenile Drug Court, Vehlow said the program appears to be having a positive effect: “It doesn’t take with every kid, but if it turns even one around it’s worth it. And I know we’re doing better than that. “

The idea has caught the interest of the International Game Fish Association, which had a representative at a recent tournament.

“He told the people at their Florida headquarters, and they’re looking at a goal of replicating it across the country and internationally,” Vehlow said.

The big winner of the tournament was a 14-year-old Boisean named Amanda. She caught the biggest fish, a bass weighing 3.4 pounds.

Al Jonas, who works for the Ada County Juvenile Court and helped organize the trip, added that “we all had a good time, it was a beautiful day and I hope we planted some seeds that will grow.”

The fish were released after being weighed. But every kid went home with a new fishing pole, reel, tackle and tackle box, courtesy of sponsors.

Vehlow says he’ll never forget a boy named Tommy, who helped start it all by getting himself off probation and taking the judge up on his offer.

“On the way back from Lake Lowell that day, we stopped in Nampa and got a hamburger,” Vehlow said. “We were at the restaurant when he looked up at me and said, ‘Judge, I want you to know that this was the best day of my life.’ I can hardly tell the story without getting choked up.”

Editor’s note: The Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club has sponsored an annual fishing day with youths from Morning Star Boys Ranch since 1968.