When COVID hit and most kids went stir crazy, a few Bedford Middle School students went (socially distanced) fishing.
With YouTube videos, Google Earth and language arts teacher/avid fisherman Steve Rexford as guides, the 8th graders learned all they could about many kinds of fishing. Fly, saltwater, freshwater, night, ice fishing — they did it all.
At a private pond in Norwalk, they met Stamford firefighter Dave Bocchetta. Rather than kicking them out, he became their mentor.
Dave told the boys — by then, they were Staples High School freshmen — about a high school bass fishing competition.
To enter, they formed Staples’ first bass fishing team.
(From left): Dave Bocchetta, Josh Ginsburg, Preston Siroka and friends.
Throughout the spring, Josh Ginsburg and Preston Siroka have gotten up on Saturday mornings at — are you sitting down? — 4 a.m. They meet Dave, and competed in tournaments.
After the first 3 meets, Staples is in 7th place, out of 19 teams. Not bad for a bunch of rookies.
Also not bad: their name.
Josh and Preston call themselves the Wranglers — a combination of “Wreckers” and “anglers.”
With that persistence and creativity, this group will go places.
Like, wherever the bass are biting.
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The Y had the Kenneth J Montgomery fishing contest. Does that still exist?
I wonder if Preston is related to Stuart Siroka, who’d be 75 now.
No relation.