DOWAGIAC — Though he was far from water Thursday afternoon, Edwardsburg native Bo Thomas pulled his hands close to his shoulder as though he was holding a fishing pole, mimicking the motion of casting the line out into water.

“I could hit any mark in this room, and hit the same place twice,” the 19-year-old said, standing in front of a captive audience. “I love to fish.”

Thomas visited the Dowagiac Rotary Club Thursday to present during the club’s regular meeting at the Dowagiac Elks Lodge. Thomas is a graduate of Edwardsburg High School and is currently attending Western Michigan University as a member of the fishing team. The teen became locally famous earlier this year after he caught an 11-pound Koi fish on Harwood Lake in near Jones, Michigan, a story which was covered by multiple media outlets. Thomas is also a nationally ranked bass fisherman.

Thomas was invited to speak to the Dowagiac Rotary Club after Rotary member Barb Groner saw an article about him in a local newspaper.

“It has been my pleasure to get to know this young man,” Groner said, introducing Thomas to the club. “I’m happy to introduce him and listen to him speak.”

A large portion of Thomas’ presentation focused on the fateful day he caught the wild Koi.

“It was kind of crazy. … I had never been on Harwood Lake before,” he recalled. “At first, I thought I had caught an old bouy or a boot that was really water logged. … But then I saw it start to swim away. I was like, ‘you have got to be kidding me.’”

The best he can guess, Thomas believes the Koi, which are not native to the U.S., entered the lake from a nearby private pond while the water was high. Because he could not release the fish back into the water, he took the fish home to live in his mother’s pond. Though the fish eventually died, Thomas is preserving the fish to eventually stuff and display his catch.

“I want to display it with all the articles that were written about me and the fish,” he said. “The way I figure it, this was a once in a lifetime thing.”

For Thomas, the experience was a validation for all his years of passion for fishing. Thomas said he came across his love of fishing young, and it has had a profound impact on his life. It even played a factor in where he chose to go to college, as the fact that WMU has a good fishing team was a reason he chose to go there.

Though he said he doesn’t expect to have as unique catch as the Koi anytime soon, Thomas said he does plan to continue to fish both competitively and recreationally.

“I’ve always loved to fish, and I like knowing that I have skill in this,” he said. “It’s something that I look forward to doing.”