LOW BLOW
Courtesy photos Fishing is a favorite activity of Max Solis, seen here with his little fishing pole when he was just 2 1/2. The Sandpoint 8-year-old was heartbroken when someone stole his treasured tackle box right out from under him when he was fishing around noon Thursday under the Cedar Street Bridge in Sandpoint.
Max Solis, 8, proudly displays a bass he caught about three weeks ago off the dock at Fat Bass Restaurant and Bar in Sandpoint. The young yet avid fisherman had his tackle box stolen when he had his back turned while fishing Thursday afternoon.
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
Whoever stole 8-year-old Max Solis' tackle box didn't just take a box filled with fishing gear.
They took a collection that Max, an avid angler, spent years building. He knew and loved every piece, some he even made by hand.
"It's an awful thing to take something so innocent and constructive away from him," Max's dad, Junior Solis of Sandpoint, said Friday. "I know it's not fancy, but it means a lot to him."
Max has been fishing his entire life. His dad said his son has had a pole in his hand since the moment he could walk. He even had a toy fishing pole that he'd play with during bath time.
"My son fishes five days a week," Junior said. "It's his big thing."
Young Max has a favorite fishing hole under the Cedar Street Bridge in Sandpoint. Since his dad has a shop only 50 feet away, Max gets to go fishing almost every day. He swims with the other kids whose parents work in the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market, so all the kids and parents know Max and are accustomed to seeing him fishing.
Around noon on Thursday, Max set his gear down and threw in a line, trying to catch some of the bass that gather under the ramp beneath the bridge. He walked about 12 feet to the other side of the ramp, turning his back on his tackle box for just a few minutes.
"Somebody must have walked by or rode by on their bike and snatched it while he was on the other side of the walkway," Junior said. "He came up really upset and crying about it. He’s like, 'I'm so hurt someone would steal my fishing box.'"
A few months ago, Max's bike was stolen. A friend in the community offered to buy him a new bike, but Max opted to give away any new bikes — because he had an old one he could still ride.
Even though Max was upset, Junior said Max had the sweetest response to someone filching his tackle box.
"'Maybe they just needed it to feed their family,'" Junior recounted his son as saying.
The tackle box contained about $600 in fishing equipment, including two years' worth of mystery lures and baits Max was delighted to discover through a monthly Lucky Tackle Box subscription.
But it's clearly not the money that troubles Junior.
"To steal from a child is an awful thing," the father said. "If you asked [Max] for anything, he'd give it to you."
The family is requesting the neon green and black tackle box be returned to any business in the Cedar Street Bridge Public Market, 334 N. First Ave., in Sandpoint.
The Press is offering a $100 reward for the tackle box’s safe return, with no questions asked. If it’s not found, the reward will go to Max to help replace it.
“It seems like the least we can do for a winsome kid like Max,” said Publisher Clint Schroeder.
Send new, unwrapped tackle or a donation to Max in care of the Coeur d'Alene Press, 215 N. Second St., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.