Honoring a friend is what The Northern Angler Fly Fishing Outfitters in Traverse City is aiming to do. Their yearly Cheese Cup fly fishing tournament honors the life of one of their dear friends and former employees, Alex Hawke. Hawke had the nickname “Cheese” during his first summer working at The Northern Angler.
In 2017, Hawke took his life, and now his memory lives on through the fly fishing tournament, which has a mission of raising awareness of depression and suicide prevention.
“We thought that you know, we should do something, you know to honor that and to create you know the awareness and it’s okay to talk about suicide, you know it’s okay to not be okay,” says owner of The Northern Angler, Brian Pitser.
The Northern Angler is partnering with Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan so that funds from the tournament will go toward suicide prevention programs.
This year’s tournament is called, “A Socially Distant 2020 Cheese Cup” still has the same goal of bringing depression and suicide awareness to the forefront, but with a different approach. This year people can chase bass, bluegill, pike, and carp in a one-day catch and release tournament. Teams are also able to compete in the grand slam and super slam categories.
Teams can include one to two anglers and can fish anywhere in Michigan. To enable social distancing guidelines there won’t be a mandatory morning meeting like in years past. Anglers can also get out on the water at 6 a.m. Following the tournament, a virtual awards ceremony will happen live on Facebook and Instagram.
“It’s really cool to see this, this community come together and work for something positive, especially in these kind of trying times,” says manager of The Northern Angler, Matt Hartman.
In just the past few years, the tournament has raised over $30,000 toward suicide prevention programs for Child & Family Services of Northwestern Michigan.
For more information about A Socially Distant 2020 Cheese Cup and registration
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
