Some might call Kids Fishing Day a blessing for Leelanau County.
Jim Kacin counts every day a blessing — especially Kids Fishing Day.
“After the cancer, it gave him an incentive to be well and do things,” said Jim’s wife, Cindy.
Kacin is the guy at Kids Fishing Day surrounded by water tanks holding with a roster of amphibians native to Leelanau County. You’ll find snakes, frogs, crawfish and other creatures that might startle parents but serve as attractions for young people who likely have never encountered such an assembly.
His corner of the circus-sized tent at Kids Fishing Day is one busy place with kids peering into everything from desktop aquariums to 275-gallon pallet tanks. Jim and his extended family — including seven grandchildren and what have become annual yet steadfast friends — capture for display a cache of Leelanau’s finest crawling, swimming and slithering animals. For amazed youngsters, they provide an opportunity to bond with nature first hand rather than through the restriction of a phone, computer or TV screen.
“It gives me purpose,” Jim Kacin said. “I was involved in the first one, I think, when Pete Taylor was running it. And the kids love it. I’m always teaching about the balance of nature.”
Loving nature has always been easy for Kacin. Balance has been a challenge for about the last eight years, since shortly after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Compared to the usual outcome of that particularly deadly cancer, Kacin is doing just fine.
“The cool thing was (that) I told God, ‘I got two choices here, faith or fear.’ And I chose faith, so I never worried about it. His plan was simple, and we tend to complicate it. He’s my best friend by far, and I’m treasuring life,” said the retired Rouge Steel plant worker.
The Kacins are members of Lake Leelanau Community Church.
His path to recovery is inspirational. After rounds of chemo, he underwent what is called the Whipple procedure to remove tumors in the head of his pancreas. Post-surgery chemo and radiation is considered optional — but not for Kacin. He asked for the most potent treatments available.
The result was his body’s rejection of cancer but also a loss of feeling in his extremities, the cause of his balance issues. He falls forward more than walks, but his six-month tests kept coming back negative until 1 1/2 years ago when a few cancer cells were detected. He opted to have his pancreas removed — making him a diabetic — and kept moving through life.
His journey took him last week to Veronica Valley County Park in Bingham Township with his grandsons George and Jimmy, who are nearing their teenage years. They spent the day capturing critters to entertain on Kids Fishing Day, after which they’ll be released unharmed back to their homes. Kacin has a license issued by the MDNR to possess amphibians.
“George caught a baby water snake that was the size of a nightcrawler. We were pumped. There’s nothing cuter than a baby snake,” Kacin said.
Turtles were lured close by a hooked worm and netted without damage.
The crew, which had T-shirts made with the words “Jim’s Kritters,” had earlier captured their biggest snapping turtle to date.
The gathering mission and Kids Fishing Day are made all the more rewarding for Kacin through the use of an all-terrain wheelchair lent by Tails-AWaggin’ Acres pheasant hunt preserve near Marion. In 2024, a tracked chair was provided by the Passing Along The Heritage (PATH) Foundation.
Having use of a mobile chair has opened the countryside for Kacin, who now critter hunts on his own near his home located south of Suttons Bay.
“Last year for the first time since my cancer I was able to go around (Kids Fishing) pond and talk to all the kids. It goes anywhere and has so much power. I can go around and talk to people now,” he said.
Kacin lets his faith lead his journey day by day.
“When you’re living in the future or the past, that’s not God’s plan. I’m so happy right now, and it’s joy with the lord. It’s different. It’s not all the things that you get in life. He shows me so much in nature, and that amazes me,” he said.
