Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505240036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That hasn't been an easy task, because Lake Spring, more affectionately known as the Duck Pond, hardly is wilderness. It is a postage stamp-size piece of nature wedged between a business section and a residential area, with heavy stop-and-go traffic and a fast-food restaurant across the lane.
But every May, for as long as most people can remember, the annual Ernest ``Pig'' Robertson Trout Fishing Rodeos have worked their special magic by filling the water with trout and embodying the spirit of wild places and long-ago times.
The rodeos began in 1951 under the guidance of Robertson's husband, a member of the General Assembly who was widely know as ``Pig.'' The idea came, Martha Robertson said, when her husband overheard a couple of children complaining they had nowhere to fish.
When ``Pig'' died in 1984, the rodeos might have faded into the sunset, but Robertson took over and expanded them to include handicapped children and nursing home patients. She also increased the number of trout stocked and the prizes awarded. Some of the youngsters who fished those early rodeos now bring their grandchildren.
Robertson quietly has said Saturday was her last time serving as the rodeo's coordinator. It was a disconcerting statement, like hearing Thoreau say he would be selling Walden Pond to a shopping mall developer.
Some of her friends say Robertson made a similar statement last year, and maybe the year before, but this time she says the decision will stick. She is in ill health.
What will happen to the rodeos?
``I'm hoping they will keep it up,'' Robertson said last week, while watching handicapped children fish. ``I think the Salem Department of Parks and Recreation should do it.''
Salem has sponsored the rodeos and has no plans to discontinue them, said Charlie Hammersley, the recreation department's director.
``For a lot of kids, it is the first time they ever caught a trout,'' said Hammersley, who fished the rodeos as a youngster in the mid-1970s.
The city will appropriate money for trout, but it might fall short of all the prizes Robertson has carted to the rodeos.
``That is going to be the toughest part to fill,'' Hammersley said.
Robertson has had a knack for making certain nearly every youngster who shows up wins a prize. If not for the first fish, the biggest fish, the next-to-the-biggest fish, the heaviest limit, the smallest fish, the largest gold-colored fish, then just for being there.
How many hours did she spend on the rodeos?
``It doesn't matter,'' she said. Her friends say she has been known to work on the project for 41/2 months, putting 3,000 miles on her car and spending money out of her own pocket when necessary.
One thing is certain: she's never been shy about asking for help, be it prizes or publicity. Many have learned the best way to deal with Robertson's tenacity is simply to give her what she wants. About the only person ever to turn her down was the President of the United States, who declined her invitation to attend.
``I know what has to be done,'' she said. ``I am good at it. Even if I just stop off to buy a hot dog, I start talking about the rodeo and everybody gives me gift certificates or prizes or candy. I don't give up. I keep pushing.''
The payoff for Robertson? ``It is in the faces of the children,'' she said. ``I try to make it like Christmas.''
Maybe next year, the 45th, the name should be changed to the Ernest ``Pig'' and Martha Robertson Trout Fishing Rodeos.
by CNB