Portrait of a young fisherman

Niklis Goebel, 14, of West Milford, N.J., pulls a sunny from the ice on Greenwood Lake on Sunday, Feb. 24. The fish is too small, so Niklis throws it back. The young man has been fishing since he was very young. When he was 12 years old, he joined a club called Next Generation Junior Bass Masters and participated in five tournaments that year, including ones at Lake Apalcon, Wawayanda and Greenwood Lake. He’s won a number of those events, and then finished seventh in a national tournament in Arkansas. The exposure has allowed him to meet with a number of older professionals, such as Dave Fritz, Jimmy Houston and Hank Parker. (Photos by Ed Bailey)