About a year ago, Steve Peters got a call from a friend, alerting him to a dubious sign just outside of Morden, Man.
It said ‘Bubba sucks at fishing,’ he was told.
You see, Bubba is a childhood nickname bestowed upon Peters by his uncle in reference to Charles “Bubba’ Smith - the towering six-foot-seven, 283-pound NFL defensive end.
As Peters was always taller and stockier than his elementary school peers, the nickname stuck.
Still, Peters thought there was a chance the sign had nothing to do with him. Even though he was working in Morden at the time and had spent his whole life fishing, it seemed unlikely.
But a couple weeks later – another sign went up. This time, there was no mistake that he was the target.
“It said ‘There’s those who can’t fish and then there’s Steve Peters,’ so there was no doubt anymore as to who they were talking about,” he recalled, laughing.
Peters couldn’t figure out which one of his friends was pulling off the friendly troll, though he had his suspicions.
“There’s a long list of possible suspects.”
Months went by, and Peters assumed the prankster had lost interest.
But in May, a third sign went up. ‘Steve’s therapist told him to embrace his mistakes, so he went fishing. Bubba sucks at fishing,’ it read in big, neon yellow and green letters.
“I thought it was actually quite witty.”
To show his admiration, Peters decided to post the sign to Facebook. He pledged to donate a dollar for every like and share it received and use the proceeds to buy fishing gear for a Manitoba kid in need.
The plan was to accept nominations and draw a name. However, the community stepped up and pledged their own dollars, bringing the total to $1,500 - enough to give all eight nominees the gear they needed to reel in the catch of the day.
That fundraiser’s success inspired a line of ‘Bubba Sucks At Fishing’ T-shirts. Those raised hundreds of dollars more, with another $500 donated by an Alberta construction company.
That money will buy more rods and reels to be handed out at the Winkler Harvest Festival next month.
Thousands of dollars and countless lures purchased later, Peters was flooded with messages from grateful parents whose kids were on the receiving end of the generosity.
“The one that sticks with me the most was from a mom whose foster son is the one who received the fishing gear and she said ‘he barely slept. He slept last night with his tackle box,’” he said.
Above all, he is thrilled to give other kids a chance to cast a line and maybe fall in love with the hobby passed on to him from his grandfather and father – a tradition he continues with his own kids.
“It’s just being outdoors and the memories you create.”
While some would be unnerved by the signs and the still unmasked prankster taking great pains to erect them just to rip on his reel skills, the ever-easy-going Peters is not one of them.
“The easiest person to make fun of is yourself - that’s my philosophy,” he explained.
Still, when asked by CTV News whether he refutes the claim, whether he does, as the signs and now T-shirts indicate, suck at fishing, Peters’ response was neither fish nor fowl.
“I’m not as bad as the signs make it sound, but there are people who definitely catch a lot more than myself.”
