Gareden Lore presented his check for $2,445 to Chamber director Sarah Ferguson, and Giant Park and Playground committee members Shellie Poetter and Shelley Griemann.

A lot of kids like to fish.

But, one Blue Earth Area sixth grader doesn’t like to fish, he loves to fish.

And, because he not only loves to fish but he is pretty darn good at it, a group in Blue Earth is now a few thousand dollars closer to their goal of building an Inclusive Playground at Giant Park.

Gareden Lore, who lives between Blue Earth and Frost, is a member of the Future Anglers of Minnesota group.

Gareden, who is 11 and almost 12, is a sixth grader at BEA Elementary School.

“Our group has a Fish-a-thon fundraiser,” Gareden says. “And I was part of it.”

He went around to businesses and people in Blue Earth and the area to get donations towards his participation in the Fish-a-thon.

“People could pledge a dollar for every fish Gareden would catch, or give $100,” Gareden’s father, Jonathan Lore, explains. “The maximum amount would be $100 if Gareden caught 100 fish.”

A hundred fish in one day, that is.

“We went to Center Lake, by Spirit Lake, Iowa,” Jonathan Lore says. “We have ice fished in that area before.”

Gareden didn’t catch a lot of fish right away, so he and his father kept moving around the lake, looking for fish and drilling holes in the ice. They also used some holes others had drilled in the morning and were still open.

Gareden started to catch fish, then a lot of fish. They took a picture of each one and he kept catching more.

Right at sunset, he caught the last one, the 100th fish of the day.

What kind of fish did he catch? Well there were yellow bass, crappies, perch, bluegills, sunnies, largemouth bass and others.

He even caught a couple of pumpkinseed sunfish.

Gareden got some prizes for his hard work, but he also had raised $2,445 in cash and pledges because he successfully caught 100 fish in a day.

He needed a local non-profit to donate his funds to, and he chose the Giant Park & Playground Committee and their project to build a Green Giant-themed all-inclusive playground at the base of the Green Giant in Giant Park.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Gareden says. “Me and my friends bike around Blue Earth, and we all liked the idea of this playground by the Giant. It would be cool to play there. And it would be accessible to all kids.”

Committee members gratefully accepted the check from Gareden and had a lot of praise for the young man’s efforts.

“We are busy raising funds from many sources but this one is special,” said Shellie Poetter, the chairperson of the committee. “We hope to have the playground in place by the end of next year.”

Committee member Shelley Greimann said she was very impressed with Gareden and his fundraising efforts.

“I was very impressed with his knowledge of fishing and fish,” said Sarah Ferguson, the executive director of the Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce. “He knows a lot about all kinds of fish.”

Gareden has caught and identified 103 different species of fish, and plans to keep on fishing for more each year. He has fished in a lot of different places, from the midwest to Florida and Mexico.

Sometimes that is with his father, mother Merissa, sister Laikyn, 9, and brother Okin, 7.

“My brother likes to fish somewhat,” Gareden says. “But my sister gets bored after two seconds.”