Brothers From Mason Take Residents FishingTwice a year, brothers Tyler and Shane Wallen like to take Mason Health & Rehabilitation Center residents and rehabbed home patients fishing on the pond just off Country Club Drive in Warsaw.
Tyler works in occupational therapy and is the rehabilitation director, and Shane works in physical therapy at Mason. Monday offered perfect weather conditions for seven of Mason’s residents to try to catch and release mostly big mouth blue gill, bass and channel catfish, though the turtles also were biting.
“We do a biannual resident fishing trip and I think we’ve been doing it for eight years. A lot of trips. We like to get six to eight residents out a couple times a year and do some fishing on a local lake, Kelly Lake,” Tyler said.
He said they alternate residents so everybody gets a chance to go out and fish if they want to.
“It’s definitely a fan favorite to get out and be able to get rods in hands and have a little fun and the weather is good and all is good,” Tyler said.
Shane has a pretty good collection of rods and reels to provide the residents with to fish. “Even when we go eight deep, pretty much everyone who wants a rod in hand has them,” Tyler said.
Shane and his family conveniently live on the pond - a lake according to online mapping - and Tyler used to live in the neighborhood.
“It’s nice. All the banks are pretty level. It’s safe. You can get out and get shade. It’s a pretty good little spot, really,” Tyler said.
Shane said they’ve fished the body of water twice a year for the last eight years, once in the spring and once in the fall. They used to fish 5 to 7 p.m., but Tyler said it works out better to do 3 to 5 p.m. and then get the residents back for dinner.
Along with the Wallen brothers, Mason’s activity director and building administrator were on hand to help the residents and patients fish.
“It’s pretty close to one on one when we do it. It’s better that way when we kind of get one on one that way no one is sitting with an empty hook or anything. It’s fun. It’s always fun,” Tyler said.
Every resident who has been in the Mason facility has gone fishing, he said, but they try to bring out different people each time. “It’s pretty cool,” he said.
Fishing is always catch and release. Shane said every time a resident asks why they don’t keep the fish, he tells them he would then have to filet them.
Shane said he and Tyler have been fishing their whole lives.
“A lot of activities they do, you don’t hear other buildings in the area doing these type of activities - Dixie rides and fishing. So I think we’re always glad to volunteer,” he said. “They talk about it for weeks.”
The residents wouldn’t be able to fish otherwise. “They love it. We have a few avid fishermen that can’t get out and do it themselves anymore so it’s nice to really be able to get them out now,” Shane said.
While they don’t keep track of the number or size of the fish that are caught, on Monday resident Connie Long caught a big catfish by herself.
Before she caught “the big one” of the day, Long said she loved the fishing trips.
“I love it. I love being outdoors. I was raised a fisherman. My mom and dad used to fish all the time and it’s exhilarating,” she said.
Monday was her fifth fishing trip with the brothers and she said she never gets tired of it.
“Fishing is in my blood,” she stated.
Dwayne Stumpner enjoys the quietness of fishing and how it helps his nerves.
“You can forget about your troubles and you just sit there and fish away. It’s wonderful. It’s nice and quiet. It’s all good, and that’s what I really enjoy about fishing,” he said.
