My New Beginnings
Ladyfisher,Originally Posted by rtidd
A great article and I really like the idea of paying back. I have vowed to try to teach or introduce at least one person to fishing each year, I think every fisherman owes it to the sport. Whether or not it will be fly fishing is dependant upon location and the person. During my recent deployment to Afghanistan I was asked by two of my Soldiers to teach them and their sons (one each) how to fish which I gladly accepted. One of those children is a four-year-old autistic boy, which made me re-look the safety aspect of fishing. I started purchasing a fly vest with built in flotation, new cold weather gear and basic survival gear (Fort Drum New York where it really snows) and a water activated beacon, hand held radios, whistles, etc. I have always carried a first aid kit in each of my tackle boxes and a larger one in the trunk of my car.
This year the Army has implemented a Warrior Adventure Training program designed to help Soldiers conduct team building and high adrenaline adventures to keep them seeking adrenaline through activities such as drinking and fighting and racing cars. There are numerous opportunities and everything from guided hunting and fishing to bowling, sky diving, skiing and paintball are all options. My 23 Soldiers will be introduced to Steelhead fishing on the Salmon River in Pulaski and Altmar, New York through spinning, spin casting and an opportunity to receive lessons and even use my equipment for Fly Fishing and Centerpin. Later we will conduct some ice fishing as well and should I manage to find a charter service that can take twenty plus Soldiers either on one boat or multiple boats, we will do that on the Armies dime.
Our Warrior adventure training will begin a few days before the actual fishing events so they can learn about fishing, conservation, basic knot tying, cold weather injuries, required clothing, safety and first aid and our rescue plan should something go wrong. These classes will have practical exercises, using the safety gear and rehearsing a rescue, tying knots and some casting practice.
We will begin the day by having breakfast together prior to moving out to fish and will end the fishing day by cleaning up the area we fished and leaving it a little better than we found it. I realize Steel head fishing probably isn?t the best fishing for beginners but it?s the one type of fishing we can do on a few days notice where the ice fishing requires there to be ice thick enough (The Salmon river doesn?t freeze over). As the weather gets better we will explore Bass, Crappie and Pike. Once we have done this I will submit an article to you, hopefully it will be worthwhile despite the fact there will likely only be a few of us actually fly fishing in the group.
Introducing Soldiers and children into the sport of Angling and instilling a respect for conservation and safety are my new beginnings for 2011.
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