Naperville teen pays tribute to late mentor by stocking lake

Standing ankle-deep in water near the shore, Quinn Draz was all smiles Thursday as he released bucketfuls of bluegills into Herrick Lake near Wheaton.

Between the jokes and posing for pictures, however, the 17-year-old Naperville resident admitted to feeling "a big relief" at seeing the lake stocked with roughly 3,000 hybrid bluegill.

That's because he raised about $5,600 to buy the fish to honor Don LaBrose - a DuPage County Forest Preserve fisheries biologist who died in 2012.

"I'm glad that I can do this for him," said Draz, as he watched the newly released fish dash toward deeper water. "It's one of those things where I'm just happy that I can finally see this day come. Because I never thought it was going to come at one point in time."

Draz first got to know LaBrose several years ago when he reached out to the forest preserve district for help with his Eagle Scout project.

LaBrose, who was responsible for the district's fishing programs and oversaw the health of its many lakes and ponds, became a mentor to Draz.

Together, the outdoor enthusiasts planned an Eagle Scout project for Draz to build 30 submersible fish habitats and 18 fishing-line collection stations for the preserves.

But LaBrose never got to see the completion of the project.

The 56-year-old Downers Grove resident died in April 2012 after suffering a heart attack while working in one of the preserves.

Now an Eagle Scout, Draz wanted to do something to honor LaBrose.

"I realized that since he did so much for me," Draz said, "the best thing I could do was give back to him."

He started Funds for Fish, a campaign to raise money to introduce a new species of hybrid bluegill to forest preserve waters to attract younger anglers.

Since March, the campaign has raised about $5,600, officials said. Thursday's event was the culmination of that effort.

In addition to stocking roughly 3,000 hybrid bluegill at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve near Wheaton, about 800 of the fish were added to the catch-and-release pond at Blackwell Forest Preserve near Warrenville.

LaBrose's sister, Karen Schaeflein, said it's a fitting tribute to her late brother.

"He would have a smile from ear to ear," Schaeflein said.

District ecologist Dan Thompson, who knew LaBrose, agreed that his friend would have been pleased by what Draz accomplished.

"This Eagle Scout, even though he's already accomplished his Eagle, didn't need to do this," Thompson said. "He did this out of respect for the man that he knew that kind of mentored him."

Thompson said LaBrose was passionate about his job as a fisheries biologist and promoted his love of fishing.

"Thankfully, a lot of the work he's done is going to live beyond him," Thompson said.

District ecologist Dan Grigas said Draz and LaBrose actually came up with the idea of stocking a lake with large bluegill. He said hybrid bluegill - which is a cross of a male bluegill and a female green sunfish - was chosen because it grows quickly.

"Quinn and Don wanted to provide kind of this unique experience to catch really large bluegill, and we thought the best way to do that would be to use hybrid bluegill," Grigas said.