Freshman fisherman cultivates appreciation for nature, life skill

Dylan Stetzko shares passion for fishing, future goals

Christi Norris, Executive Editor and Chief Operating Officer and Editor of Multimedia|January 25, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Luke Wyatt

Catfish in hand, freshman Dylan Stetzko shows off his latest catch. Stetzko began fishing frequently during the widespread COVID-19 pandemic quarantine in 2020. “I love the sheer thrill of fishing,” Stetzko said. “Everyone always tells me, ‘Hey it’s boring.’ And, it can be. But, to me, it’s just a thrill.”

Birds chirp. Water gently laps onto the banks of a pond. Freshman Dylan Stetzko casts his line with a plop into the water, and begins strategizing how to catch his next fish. 

Stetzko’s interest in fishing began at a young age.

“I’ve always wanted to do fishing my entire life,” Stetzko said. “But, I’ve never been able to do it. Ever since I was a little kid, and I won a tournament when I was three or four. That was like the first time I really went fishing.”

Stetzko said his love for fishing continued, but he only got seriously into the sport in 2020, when his boredom – during quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic – gave him the chance to fish again. 

“One day a spark went off in me,” Stetzko said. “And I was like, ‘Hey, Dad, can we buy a fishing pole for me? See if I can try it out somewhere in my neighborhood lakes?’ So, he bought me my first fishing pole, and we went out and that’s when it started.”

At first, Stetzko’s dad went fishing with him. But, as he began to fish more frequently, Stetzko started to go alone or with friends more often.

“I used to go fishing with him a lot,” Stetzko’s friend Luke Wyatt said. “But I have had a busy schedule due to band, and I am planning on fishing with him more now. We both have a lot of fun when we fish together.”

Stetzko‘s passion for fishing has gone beyond the banks of lakes, and it has helped him in the classroom when he used it as a topic for one of his digital media assignments.

“Dylan usually just sits quietly and sometimes even seems disinterested in class, but then we started our you-choose-the-topic photo essay projects,” Stetzko‘s teacher Lisa Roskens said. “Dylan covered fishing, and his passion for his favorite pastime did shine through his captions and photos.”

Stetzko fishes so often in local lakes and ponds that his parents even use grounding him from the sport as a punishment.

“He loves the outdoors,” Wyatt said. “One of his very favorite things to do is go to a local pond – or maybe not so local sometimes – and cast his rod into the water and fish. I feel like fishing is important to my friend because it is a way he can relax and be in nature, while still having fun and interacting with aquatic animals.”

Going forward, Stetzko said he plans to continue fishing, expand his skills as a fisherman, and try things like deep-sea or fly fishing.

“I want to expand my plate a bit more as a fisherman,” Stetzko said. “I want to fish the world. That’s what I plan to do – travel everywhere, and fish everywhere. I want to go places like Panama or Hawaii and catch things like mahi-mahi and big-game fish.” 

In addition to being a fisherman, Wyatt said his “favorite” thing about Stetzko is his sense of humor.

“I like his sense of humor,” Wyatt said. “He has a rare sense of respect for fish and the sport itself. Dylan is a very optimistic person and loves to make others laugh. Dylan is the one who got me back into fishing myself and has taught me a lot. I ought to thank him for that.”

Despite differing opinions on the sport than some of his friends, Stetzko said he believes that fishing does more for him than video games or other hobbies, would.

“I love the sheer thrill of fishing,” Stetzko said. “Everyone always tells me, ‘Hey it’s boring.’ And, it can be. But, to me, it’s just a thrill. It gets you excited, especially when you first catch a fish. It’s like, ‘Wow, this is better than being on a video game all day.’ You’re catching living things, and say you gut it, and eat it. You actually have a life skill. If something were to happen, video games wouldn’t help you — fishing could.”