Fish on. And so is a wedding.
Collin Kacher and his girlfriend Ashley Mattern have been together nearly nine years, so any anticipation for an engagement proposal had long passed. Perhaps that’s why Ashley was caught off guard when Collin popped the question aboard the Mariah charter boat while both hands grappled with a 20-pound salmon.
She recalled the scene. “We went out early, it was 6 a.m., and we hooked one fish right away before seven. Then as he was bringing in a salmon, he said, ‘I can’t get down on one knee, but would you look in my pocket?’ I pulled out the ring and he said, ‘Will you marry me?’” The answer was yes. Without hesitation..
Collin has been plotting how best to pop the question for three months.
“I wasn’t sure how to do it right. We had a week-long vacation up here visiting friends and my uncle Graeme (Leask, owner of the Little Traverse Inn). I thought maybe at the dunes. I was looking around. I wanted to charter fish and Ashley insisted we go by ourselves rather than find other people to go with us. What a perfect opportunity,” he said.
Collin had a co-conspirator. “I reached out to captain Bob (Smith) and he said, ‘Hell ya. Let’s do it.’” While such proposal plan may seem unique, it isn’t. Turns out Smith is an old hat at shipdeck unions.
“I’ve done three now. The Mariah is just lucky. That’s where I put the ring on my girls’ finger,” he said.
Collin and Ashley met while students at Central Michigan University and started dating in 2016. She is a physician’s assistant in Dearborn; he resides in Detroit while working in orthopedic sales.
Given that Leelanau is renown as a wedding venue, might the wedding be held in the county?
“We could get married up here,” Ashley said.
Added Collin, “We have great friends who live in Maple City, and there’s my uncle Graeme.”
