“How do we get people to take their kids to city lakes and farm ponds or small streams to get exposed to the idea of fishing? I am not sure that I have an answer for this, but I am sure that what the kids are being exposed to is not going to help with the growth of the fishing population”
While I don’t have all the answers, I have one…get involved with Scouting. There’s no better way to see the smiles (both yours and theirs) that come with teaching boys how to fish (unfortunately I don’t know what the Girl Scouts offer). Both Cub Scouts (belt loop) and Boy Scouts (2 merit badges - fishing and fly fishing) have ways for you to help expose kids to the joys of fishing. You don’t have to have a child in scouting to get involved. Call your local troop or council and tell them you want to volunteer as a fishing and/or fly fishing merit badge counselor. It takes just a few minutes to fill out the merit badge counsellors form. I have found it very rewarding teaching kids, other than my own, how to fish and to appreciation the resources of our local fishery. Since I got involved with the troop they now offer both fishing and fly fishing merit badges, along with an annual trout fishing trip.
I was never a scout, nor was my son (his choice, but he does fish). I filled out one of those forms and today I’m a Fly Fishing Merit badge Counselor. You’ll get as much from the experience as the boys will.
Cleaning fish is part of the FF Badge. It was a hoot!
All I can add to what PAangler and Joe have written is get involved with them as early as you can. The Cub Scouts and younger Boy Scouts are generally more interested than the older Scouts and just need a little time and encouragement. As an Assistant Scoutmaster with our troop I find the younger boys are the ones asking to go fishing. The older ones have so many other things pulling at their free time. The older boys in our troop that are interested usually have already been exposed and fish regularly.
I don’t have the time to get directly involved but I feel like the BSA have recieved some harsh press in recent years and my old council recently got kicked out of their Philadelphia HQ by the Philadelphia City Council!
How’s that for brotherly love! :mad:
I usually make a donation to the “Send a Needy Scout to Camp” program through my local council, give all of my old or unused camping and fishing stuff to the scouts at a nearby camp and thanks to a heads-up from Joe V I believe; I have a few Shakespeare Fly Fishing Outfits to donate as well.
They are high on my list of organizations worthy of my money.
