What’s better then being in a boat, casting a line and waiting for a big fish to bite? Nothing really. It is so relaxing to be out on the water anticipating who will get the biggest fish and earning bragging rights for the day.

Sloan Blevins of St. Johns County knows how this feels and he found out last week a lot military personnel do not have the means to go fishing. From this realization a movement has started in North Florida and it is picking up a lot of momentum fast.

It all began with one Facebook post:

In that post Sloan offered to take active military and veterans out on his boat for free and provide them with beer, ice, gas, bait and gear.

Since that post Sloan has been getting a lot of attention and he told the Shark Tank a movement has started and other grateful citizens are also giving back to those who have already given so much.

Sloan has received over 3,000 emails after that post and his boat is booked through October 2016 with anywhere from 2-3 military personnel a time who took him up on his offer to fish for free.

Other generous residents along with Sloan are pitching in to help. If you go to Facebook page Setting Hooks With Heroes you will a lot of boat owners throughout Florida who are offering free fishing opportunities for active and retired military members.

When we asked Sloan how he came up with the idea he said:

I actually came up with the idea because I saw a post from a veteran on a popular fishing page that I follow on Facebook who was looking for a boat. He didn’t have much money, and said that he would ‘fish on a wooden pallet filled with styrofoam if he had to.’ And that really hit me . . . I immediately replied and told him that he was welcome on my boat anytime and the trip was 100% on me. Then I just kind of thought, why stop there? And so I made a post directed towards any veterans/active military personnel who wanted to fish but didn’t have the means and it quickly blew up!

Sloan said that is when they made the Facebook page and since last week he has seen over 40 other guys offer free fishing trips to vets as well.

He said they have been getting a lot of positive feedback and they are very honored and excited to help.

Sometimes all you need is a little ‘reel therapy’ to get you through a hard time, or help deal with PTSD and other things that our vets may suffer from.

From his own experience he has seen the joy in veterans eyes when he took them out on his boat and he noticed they started to relax and really enjoy themselves.

There is something about being there on the water, it really soothes you and helps you get through any rough times that you may be going through in your everyday life.

If you are an active military member or veteran and you are interested in joining Sloan or any of the other volunteers to go fishing feel free to message him directly on Facebook or go to the Facebook page Setting Hooks With Heroes to inquire.