Kelly MacDonald mentioned Tyler Heavey recently catching his personal best northern pike.
That’s not unusual for vacationers in northern Wisconsin after school.
But the 38-inch pike came on a crappie rod that Heavey built in MacDonald’s rod-building class, an offshoot of his role as coach of the bass fishing team at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake.
Rod-building class Tyler Heavey works hard on his crappie rod during rod-building class at Prairie Ridge High School.
Then there’s Carter Haese and his dad, who have built at least two other rods since the class.
“Dad was great,” MacDonald said. “Carter showed him some imperfections in the rod and his father said, “That’s how you know it’s homemade. You will pass that on to your children.’ That’s the best part.”
MacDonald is an influencer of the right kind.
“I had an amazing time with the kids in my classes who didn’t really like school but loved bass fishing,” MacDonald said.
The longtime cross-country and track coach takes over coaching the bass team from John Pellikan, who coached Prairie Ridge to its only state appearance in 2017.
“I love fishing and catching just about anything, but most of all I love teaching kids how to fish,” emailed MacDonald, a physical education teacher who used to teach science. “The smile and excitement they have when they catch their first fish is priceless!”
MacDonald is an anomaly. Bass fishing is an activity open to any student, but the fishermen, coaches and boat drivers are overwhelmingly male.
But fishing turned MacDonald, who “grew up on Griswold Lake and loved fishing [her] whole life.”
During the solar eclipse, he played with their daughter Kylie (who hates fishing) and went to Downstate Marshall in southeastern Illinois. In a small lake where they watched the eclipse, MacDonald caught a memorable fish.
“On the seventh cast, a 7- pounder [largemouth] bass, 22 inches, by far the biggest bass I’ve caught,” she said.
Kelly MacDonald holds the 6-pound largemouth bass he caught in Downstate Marshall while there to view the solar eclipse.
Then he said, “I caught a 31-inch walleye while muskie fishing, I was pretty excited because I thought I caught a little muskie.”
The guide at Eagle Lake in Canada is even more excited because for most a 31-inch walleye is the fish of a lifetime.
To give a glimpse of how MacDonald thinks, he says, “The most exciting thing is the 53-inch muskie that’s my son. [Cade] caught [on Eagle Lake], just jumbo. We hid in a storm and the third cast he caught it.”
I learned of the shaft building class from her proud husband John MacDonald.
![KellyMacDonaldrodbuildinggroup.jpg](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7370f8a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/840x630!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F1f%2F50%2F06c5497e4cc19d798c9aca2949d7%2Fkellymacdonaldrodbuildinggroup.jpg)
The rod-building class at Prairie Ridge High School, which includes the bass fishing team and others, organized by coach Kelly MacDonald.
“So I like to make things, I built a [cedar-strip] canoe and [tortured ply] kayak at home,” he said. “I heard about the Mud Hole and called the man.”
Mud Hole Rod Building and Tackle Crafting is offering 50-percent off kits. He sent a note in the school paper for anyone to help. Darrell Cook, a lieutenant with the Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department, offered to help.
“Oh my God, the rods look awesome,” MacDonald said. “I am hoping to do this with maybe some other schools, it was so much fun. Some girls choose colors. It was really a great experience, the best thing I ever did.
“Best thing in his career,” his wife chimed in from the background.
“It was a lot of work, it took about three times longer than expected,” he said.
![KellyMacDonaldfourworkingonrods.jpg](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b027ddb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3024x4032+0+0/resize/840x1120!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F1a%2F8a%2Faa65053e4f7ab5126bf15f65502a%2Fkellymacdonaldfourworkingonrods.jpg)
Matt Moritz, Jacob Lutton, Jonah Wolfgram and Carter Haese of the rod-building class at Prairie Ridge High School.
For $40, rod makers receive a kit and help pay for the tools to make the rods. Cook bought the dryer for the canes.
The children produced the equivalent of a mid-level St. Croix rod around $150.
“If they take the time, it’s almost as good as a rod when you go out and buy it,” he said.
![KellyMacDonaldtwomeasuring.jpg](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c2205fc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3024x4032+0+0/resize/840x1120!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F46%2F8a%2F16c9b0934cc4b6e30776806bc577%2Fkellymacdonaldtwomeasuring.jpg)
Barrett Roberts and Trevor Sebastian work with a tape measure during rod-building class at Prairie Ridge High School.
MacDonald also gave a glimpse into building a team for the love of fishing.
“The biggest problem is that many kids are in other sports, they are required to be there,” he said.
Not to mention, as children get older they also get jobs.
“A lot of freshmen, they don’t know anything, catch their first fish and get really excited, then they get a job or in a sport and can’t go,” he said.
He tried to have classes before or after school on things like knot tying, different types of rigging and what bass are and how to fish for them.
“This year I have 12 kids showing up regularly: a senior, a junior, a couple of sophomores and the other freshmen,” he said. “That’s pretty much how it breaks down every year.”
He wrote, “So my goal is that I want them to learn to fish and have the confidence to go out on their own.”
![KellyMacDonaldAnnaBorgsmallmouth.jpg](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bfbb9ac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3024x4032+0+0/resize/840x1120!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd0%2Ffd%2Feffa4c0044e48bf1641a9c1af19c%2Fkellymacdonaldannaborgsmallmouth.jpg)
Anna Borg, a recent Prairie Ridge graduate, caught a 3.6-pound smallmouth bass on a senior XC/Track fishing trip to Geneva Lake with coach Kelly MacDonald.