Mentored Youth Fishing!

[maxima12]

I like it. too bad it's only 1 day. A lot of people work. March, cold day. I would hope it could be done, several times in nicer weather.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

The great thing is you do not need a "special" day to take your kid fishing. I do think it's great to try and provide a unique opportunity for young anglers, but mentorship and developing an interest in fishing goes far beyond one day.

 

[mute]

One day is one day too many for dads to try to get first pickins at big fish in the barrel.

 

[jifigz]

lycoflyfisher wrote:
The great thing is you do not need a "special" day to take your kid fishing. I do think it's great to try and provide a unique opportunity for young anglers, but mentorship and developing an interest in fishing goes far beyond one day.

BINGO. I hope to share that experience with my kids, if I ever have any. No one in my family does anything outdoors. I never had my father take me fishing or spend time dunking worms with me. Somehow I still got addicted when I was very young. I still have the book I read incessantly about fishing. It taught me a lot.

But yeah, one day is enough.

 

[Bruno]

I think the should create a few more Children's Sections on our streams. Kids under 15 can fish them if you are not familiar. I taught both my kids to fly fish on one of them. There are 20 or so places where it is always a mentored youth day. My kids have always fly fished from a very young age and these places made it work. I have had some incredulous looks from other parents over the years.



https://pfbc.pa.gov/fishpub/summaryad/children.html

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Good for you Bruno. That time you invested is worth more than any thing that you could have given them monetary or otherwise. GG

 

[larkmark]

I took my grandson to a fly fishing section one time. Caddis were hatching and flyfishermen were lined up fairly close together. We made our way down the bank looking for a spot to get in. Several adults motioned for my grandson and I to jump in between them. Really decent thing to do. That is what real mentoring looks like. Courtesy and sportsmanship are the lessons I want for youth. My experiences on PA opening days have not always been positive learning experiences. I imagine the youth mentor day also has mixed results. I am still all for it. Fishing should be about having fun outside and who better than today's kids should be doing it.

 

[rrt]

I think the mentored days are good things. It gives parents a time to be with their kids with the chance of having the kids catch fish under less-crowded conditions than on the opener.

Though not technically a youth mentored day, the opening day on a not-too-distant sportsmen's pond is basically a mentored day. The adults generally do not fish. The pond is surrounded by families. At 8:00 when the horn to start goes off, a hundred lines plop into the water. Most years, there are hook-ups for hours, and some of the trout are big ones. I am waiting to see the first little kid pulled into the pond by one of the big trout. Some families keep the fish; others release them. An artificial situation? Sure, it is. But, with all the laughter and excitement among the kids -- and their parents -- it is a great way for them to participate in trout fishing and spend time together. And, who knows -- maybe it just spurs some of the kids into becoming life-long, season-long fishermen and -women.

 

[JimKennedy]

WE WHO LOVE ANGLING, in order that it may enjoy practice and reward in the later generations, mutually move together towards a common goal – the conservation and restoration of American game fishes.

TOWARDS THIS END we pledge that our creel limits shall always be less than the legal restrictions and always well within the bounty of Nature herself.

ENJOYING, AS WE DO, only a life estate in the out of doors, and morally charged in our time with the responsibility of handing it down unspoiled to tomorrow’s inheritors, we individually undertake annually to take at least one boy a-fishing, instructing him, as best we know, in the responsibilities that are soon to be wholly his.

HOLDING THAT MORAL LAW transcends the legal statutes, always beyond the needs of any one man, and holding that example alone is the one certain teacher, we pledge always to conduct ourselves in such a fashion on the stream as to make safe for others the heritage which is ours and theirs.

--Brotherhood of the Jungle **** Creed

Youth angling instruction weekends, complete with fish stories and a chance for even the most experienced anglers to learn new tricks, at five locations across the U.S: Thurmont, Md.; suburban Philly, Pa.; Roscoe, N.Y.; Harrisonburg, Va.; Canter's Cave, Ohio; and Newaygo, Michigan.

It's not the only way to teach a kid to fly fish, but it sure is a lot of fun. Kids fish, adults instruct and help out to the best of their varied abilities. Plus, when the kids see that fly fishing isn't just some weird thing their fathers and grandfathers do, they're all in.

Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio gearing up for spring campfire weekends. Michigan planning spring steelhead fundraiser for adults, with kids campfire in the autumn. Virginia planning autumn campfire. All presuming an easing of covid restrictions.

More info at https://bojcmd.wordpress.com

or send me a pm.

 

[Lkyboots]

I've been lucky enough to take my son and his buddies Trout fishing for the first time. I also know that taking a kid Fly Fishing for Trout is pretty frustrating to young fisherman. They enjoyed dunking worms and spin fishing way more than when they tried fly fishing.

Small to medium sized streams are the best. The best way to teach beginners to fly fish is catching Sun Fish in a small pond with plenty of room for them to cast.