CAMP RIPLEY, MINN.
"There's one!" Nate Foster said as his rod bent under the weight of a broad-shouldered, 17-inch feisty smallmouth bass.
The first fish of the day brought bragging rights.
"This is what they look like," said Foster, 35, of St. Cloud, teasing his grandfather, Swede Anderson, 82, of Rochester, who had yet to hook a fish.
"I can catch a bigger one than that," Anderson replied dryly after Foster released the smallie back into the swollen Mississippi River.
There was plenty of good-natured ribbing Friday as 86 military veterans fished with guides or pro anglers at the fourth annual Trolling for the Troops event at Camp Ripley. Some veterans trekked to Lake Mille Lacs for a day on big water; others, like Foster and Anderson, fished the more intimate Mississippi River, which borders the Minnesota National Guard's training facility.
The gathering brought different generations together under a brilliant blue sky.
Foster is an Army helicopter pilot who served recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. Anderson is a Navy veteran of the Korean War who, after his ship hit a mine and sunk, survived a night in North Korean waters clinging to a buoy. Five sailors died. "I'm not a hero, I'm a survivor," Anderson said.