Yesterday, (May 13th/2009) I took a bunch of youth at risk from a local “last chance” school to the Fraser Valley fish hatchery for a day of education and flyfishing on the hatchery’s ponds.
The day started with the kids getting a course from the hatchery staff on regulations and fish ID.
From there, they got to go on a tour of the facility and have a look at the fish in the tanks and got to see them being fed. From here, they got the chance to have a look at a few of the natural food items that the trout feed on, THE BUGS.
From this point, the kids got a small 15 minute break for a quick lunch of hot dogs and chips, and then it was on to the fun stuff.
After lunch, we taught the kids how to rig up a spinning rod as well as a fly rod. We taught them a few basic knots and the staff taught them about proper catch and release techniques.
After this was complete, we headed off to the ponds for some fishing.
Some kids started off with the spinning rods, while others wanted to jump straight into flyfishing. We all spread out on the two ponds and started fishing. I gave the kids a VERY QUICK, intro to fly casting, and off they went.
The kids caught tons of fish, but because of their limited experience, I was busy getting lines untangled and new flies tied on, because of this only got a few pictures.
The kids had a BLAST, and are stoked to try it again, so in the near future, I will be taking them to a nearby lake to give it another shot.
After we left the ponds to go back to the main building, we got the chance to stop and see the clipping process as they were in the middle of clipping fish. This batch of trout were having their left maxillary and their adapose fin clipped.
All in all, we had a great day, and I LOVED working with this group. I look forward to helping them more in the future as I believe that fishing will help to calm their minds and give them something constructive to do when the are feeling frustrated.
Rick Passek “The FlyFish Fanatic”™
Good on you. A positive role model for the future leaders. It is what the world needs more of.
Tight lines