Mike Powers is no stranger to the Greater Niagara BassEye Celebrity Challenge auction. How else would he have accumulated three cases of Ithaca Wheat beer, a Florida fishing trip he never took and a boat he didn’t need?

His success in the catch-and-release fishing portion of the challenge, however, has been less pronounced.

“I stink,” he said. Luckily, winning the competition isn’t the reason Powers returns every year. And neither is bidding on items he doesn’t necessarily need. It is his support in the fight against cystic fibrosis.

The eighth annual BassEye Celebrity Challenge will kick off Thursday with a dinner and auction and will be followed by the catch-and-release tournament the next day at the NFTA Small Boat Harbor. The challenge is a part of the Redbone Celebrity Tournament series, which was founded in 1988 to raise funds to find a cure for the disease.

“To me, the competitive aspect of the tournament is irrelevant,” Powers said. “We’re just out there to raise money for the cause.”

Over the last 20 years, the Redbone events have brought the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation nearly $5 million closer to reaching its goal.

This year, more than 40 boats and 200 anglers are expected to descend upon Lake Erie. Boats are comprised of two or three anglers and one celebrity. Among the regular celebrity participants is Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, Powers’ fishing partner for the past five years.

Though the main aim is to raise money, Powers said he has his share of memories from the past seven years — especially those involving the former Bills quarterback, although he can’t disclose all of them.

“I fished with Jim Kelly almost every year,” he said. “But — I can’t tell that story. Some I can’t share.”

Kelly has occasionally outbid and regularly outfished his partner. Powers still hasn’t forgiven Kelly for outbidding him on a painting of two men fishing signed by former presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush.

That’s not to say he hasn’t enacted revenge against the former quarterback out on the lake.

“Kelly caught virtually every fish we caught that year,” he said. “It didn’t matter where in the boat he stood. He caught every single fish. At one point as he was moving from one point on the boat to another, we gave him the shoulder. Over he went.”

Besides being the co-conspirator in Kelly’s ambush, Powers has his own claims to fame. In fact, Powers, a partner at the Phillips Lytle law firm, enjoyed his own stint as celebrity angler in 2006.

“I’m actually a guy who brought down the toll booth on I-190,” he said. “People were pretty happy about that.”

Next Friday, Powers will join fellow anglers at 6 a. m. to bless the boats. By 3 p. m. boats will be returning to dock, though Powers’ group has been known to return earlier.

“Usually we’re out there until Jim and I decide we need a cold beer,” Powers said. “We always forget to take beer with us.”