- February 5, 2025
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Ryan Gardner walks into his bedroom and proudly points at the shelves, where sport fishing trophies of different sizes are lined up in a row.
“I have more in my closet,” he says after a moment.
It’s an impressive collection that has taken the 35-year-old years to achieve.
Gardner has Down syndrome and is one of the many participants of the Halifax Sport Fishing Club Special Needs Tournament, where he won his trophies.
For about the past 28 years, 70 to 100 participants compete for prizes for the largest fish to most colorful catch. Gardner has been participating in the event with his father, Ed Gardner, for about the last 20 years. But the father and son have been fishing together for much longer.
When Ed Gardner, whose father was also a fisherman, was in the Army and stationed with his family in Fort Dix, New Jersey, he would take Ryan Gardner, only a few years old at the time, fishing at the nearby lake.
“When we moved down here, my mother lived in St. Pete, and I've always fished there, and he would fish there,” Ed Gardner said. “We've just done it all our lives.”
So it was only natural that Ryan Gardner has continued the family tradition of fishing.
One of Ryan Gardner's most memorable moments was catching a bass off the shores of Boca Raton.
“I’m a good catch because I’m a strong guy,” Ryan Gardner said. “I love when I win.”
For this year’s tournament, which takes place on Saturday, May 5, Ryan Gardner is expecting to not only catch more fish but take home a few prizes.
But according to Helen Klenk, the event’s coordinator, the competition is friendly. For Ryan Gardner, the tournament allows him to meet up with peers from Atlantic High, where he graduated from in 2003.
To make the tournament fun for the participants and stress-free for parents, the club provides all the gear, from rods to bait, and relies on donations and volunteers for a smooth day. Every year Ed Gardner has attended the event with his son, he has helped out by baking cookies. It's usually a three-day process to bake enough cookies for everyone at the tournament.
But it's worth it in the end if his son, and the other participants, are having a fun day.
“It’s enjoyable … It’s their day to go out and enjoy themselves,” Ed Gardner said. “It’s just amazing to go.”
