Hepler's success no fish story
WEST SUNBURY — Unable to succeed on land, Josh Hepler turned to sea.
So to speak.
Hepler, 14, lost out on his summer baseball season when he broke his foot May 14 while running around in the yard with friends.
“I stepped on some uneven ground, twisted my ankle and broke a metatarsal (bone),” he said. “It was two days before our season opener. It was crushing.
“All I kept thinking about was all the baseball and golf I was gonna miss.”
Hepler, of West Sunbury, plays second base for the Moniteau Warriors — coached by his father, David “Dutch” Hepler — in the Butler Prep League. He also takes part in a Wednesday youth golf league at Aubrey's Dubb's Dred during the summer.
While he will return to golf later this summer, Hepler's baseball season is done.
“I get my cast off July 3 and our season ends July 2,” he said.
But all has not been lost. Hepler is also a fisherman — and he's been quite busy catching plenty of species out of various bodies of water.
“We've always gone fishing, but this is the most fishing I've done in a long time,” Hepler's father said of the past few weeks.
During that time, Josh has caught a dogfish shark and stingray at Myrtle Beach, northern pike, pickeral and smallmouth bass in Canada, muskie, bass, walleye and stripers in more local streams and lakes.
Have cast, will travel.
“We went on the Cherry Grove fishing pier (at Myrtle Beach),” Josh said. “We rented a couple of rods, used shrimp for bait ... I felt something strong on my rod and started reeling it in.
“It was really fighting. Then I saw it was a dogfish shark, about 22-25 inches long. I got the stingray about 10 minutes later. It was about the size of a frisbee.”
Josh is not a first-year angler.
“My dad took me out as soon as I was old enough to hold a rod,” he said. “We've been fishing ever since.
“All I have to do is sit in a boat or by a pond. I can still do that.”
While he's not catching a baseball, running bases or hitting a golf ball, Josh is making a point of keeping his summer busy.
“I've never seen him on a roll like this,” his father said.”Every time he goes out, he's catching fish. It doesn't matter where.
“He rides my lawnmower over to the pond at the end of our street and fishes there.”
Josh said he takes that ride “every day I'm home. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to ride out there.”
While he figures to return to the golf course by mid-July, Josh still has goals in mind concerning his fishing career.
“I'd like to catch a tarpin in salt water and a rainbow trout in fresh water,” he said.
And though he can't play baseball this summer, he hasn't forgotten about his team.
“He's at every game, sitting on a bucket, keeping score and rooting his teammates on,” his father said. “We've got a bunch of scrappy kids ... only nine or 10 guys, but we've only lost two games.”
Josh's mother, Ann Marie Hepler, is grateful he's had the fishing to fall back on.
“He was so down when he broke that foot, but he's used fishing to pull himself up mentally,” she said. “He was pretty depressed that first week, but that was all.
“He's worked hard to make sure his summer wouldn't be wasted. I'm hoping he's learned he can do anything if he puts his mind to it. I think he has.”
