Help starting a fly-tying / fishing club...

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

Hi All,

Over the years, many of my grade eight students have asked me to show them how to tie flies, or take them fishing. I have, in the past, been able to teach a few how to tie a wooly bugger, but rarely have we gotten past that (due to a lack of equipment and materials).

This year, a friend and I have decided to start a fly-tying and fly-fishing club for kids 12 - 18. I can use my classroom to teach fly tying, and the gym to teach students how to cast. When spring comes, we can take kids to the local river and creeks to fish for trout and bass (once the season opens)and to Ontario’s Grand River to fish for browns. I also have a contact at the Ministry of Natural Resources who will set up stream projects in which the students may participate.

Has anyone out there had experience with setting up such a program. If so, any adivce would be appreciated. I’d like to make this a free service, but have also thought of charging participants enough money so that each student could recieve his/her own vise, tying tools, materials to make 10 of each fly (12 flies learned in total), and a rod and reel combo complete with line, leader, and backing (local service clubs might be able to sponsor a child who otherwise could not afford to participate). Let me make this clear, this is a non-profit endeavour.

As always, your help and advice is appreciated.

Andrew

2

I suggest you start here:
[url=http://www.fedflyfishers.org/begin.php:09ec8]http://www.fedflyfishers.org/begin.php[/url:09ec8]

Check out the “Education” tab and the “About” tab under Charters

Joe

3

Andrew;
Now I know where to send 2 of my “Store Bought” rods as I intend to fish only the ones I’ve built.
Scientific Anglers is a great supporter of this type of activity, give them a heads up.
Kathy Scott has also done this in her high school in Maine. If I remember right she got support from Orvis with demo rods.
If you check my “Eagle Village Fish-In”
in “Readers Casts” you’ll understand how I feel about what you are trying to do. You’ve got my full support!
P.S. You should make the 2006 Fish-In on the AuSable!!

[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 12 October 2005).]

4

Jack,

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I truly hope that there will be some corporate and community support for this program. We need our kids to get active, to get outdoors, and to enjoy the beauty that abounds in nature. And what better way for kids to enjoy nature than standing mid-stream with a fly rod?

Thanks again.

5

Andrew… we have one here in Arkansas in a high school that was started by a gentleman from this board before he passed away. You can’t imagine the support that the companies will give you. They know that the youth are the future of this sport and they have no problems taking care of them. The faculty advisor of the Arkansas club is the school band director and one of his practice rooms are stacked full of goodies. There are donated rods and reel combos, supplies, vises and on and on. The kids elected their own officers and decided on a GPA that must be maintained or they are out of the club. Unfortunately, there were 2 or 3 of them that found out the hard way on the GPA. I wish you all the luck in the world with this most worthwhile project.

Mike

There is no greater fan of flyfishing than the worm.

Patrick McManus

6

Andrew check your email. I think I can help—

Bill

7

Andrew - you’ve got mail.

8

Andrew,

The one person who I can point you too is on another board. You can get hold of him at [url=http://www.flyfishingarkansas.com.:824be]www.flyfishingarkansas.com.[/url:824be] His forum name is fish. Marc Oakes is his name and he and another fellow started a fly fishing club at Cotter High School in Cotter, Arkansas about a year ago. It has been a great success. He has some support from his local club, and a lot of support from the folks on the arkansas fly fishing board. I’m sure he would have some great tips for you and advice to help you get off on the right foot.

These are the idle thoughts that posses a man’s mind when he’s not able to fish.

9

You may also want to get in touch with Family Tyes. They have a program to do the same things you are talking about.

10

I have sent you an email with a specific email address for Frank Kuhn who has had a very successful high school club in Southern California for quite a number of years. For viewers wishing to learn more they can send an email to:arroyoflyfishers@yahoo.com. There are so many local clubs willing to support such an effort, the limitation as always is to find someone to spearhead the effort. Best wishes for your success.

11

Andrew… The club Satchel mentioned is the one I work with. I work with Marc Oakes and the kids in the Cotter school. Gary Murphy… aka Tanfly… started the club before he passed away last year. I am fortunate enough to help Marc with the club. Marc is on the road for the next couple weeks, but the board Satchel mentioned is the best way to contact him. The Cotter band director that is the faculty advisor to the club posts on the board and gives us updates. Come check us out.

Mike

There is no greater fan of flyfishing than the worm.

Patrick McManus

[This message has been edited by maddog48 (edited 16 October 2005).]

12

Andrew,

Can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing. It’s the future of not only fly fishing but outdoor sports in general. I’m working on a program here that lends itself to the same purpose and have recieved help from some members of this board. I’ll be thanking them formally in a later thread.

Best of luck…g

13

Great idea! And there are a lot of people on this board doing similar things - you’ve come to one of the right places :slight_smile:

Jack is right, Orvis did help with equipment for my kids. I started with nothing but an idea, though, and that’s plenty. My 8th grade group met as a school activity club drawing on volunteers from my TU for support… in fact, they did almost everything and I only supplied kids and supervision (and did the admin stuff/legal end). But when scheduling interupted all that, we moved it into high school phys ed, and after a year, I’ve integrated into 8th grade phys ed as well (and I teach that one alone… learned from my volunteers!).

There’s a guy in Minnesota who does his as a week of mornings the week after school gets out as a camp (they pay, I think, not sure), and a woman in Michigan who meets with the kids on Saturdays as, I think, their own TU Chapter. Lots of variations.

All of our 18 rods are donated, some from Orvis (but because of a post on FAOL, actually), some from anglers like these. and others are borrowed as needed from TU, as well as all of the tying gear (borrowed from TU).

If you (or anyone) would like, I’d be glad to send along all of my handouts, such as permission forms, permissions to check gear out of the library (this works well for me), and media permission, among other things. Also, there are a couple of things, like safety glasses and never reaching around a student to show him/her how to cast things that have come up through LL Bean Instructors’ Instruction.

I’d also be interested in any and all of the scoop from the rest of you and from these great programs mentioned already.

The more minds put together, the better.

Kat

14

Thanks to all who have replied so far. This board is amazing…you’ve all been very helpful.

Please check your personal mail boxes. I’ve sent along a few messages to follow up on these posts.

I’m so excited about getting started! This is going to be so much fun (and hard work!).
I just hope that my school board gives me permission to run this club (we live in such a litigious society, the school board makes us fill out field trip forms to take our classes across the street to use the high school’s track!)

Thanks again, all.

P.S. - J.C. - I’d love to involve FAOLs sponsors in this program - any adivce? names of contacts?

15

Andrew,
I have 2 vices available. One is a “cheapy” from a tying kit & the other is a simple rotary with an odd shaft (metric,I think) that you would need to work with. Send your address & I’ll see what else I can dig up.
HOORAY FOR KIDS!!!
Mike

This site’s about sharing!

16

Mike and Jack,

You’ve got mail.

17

Andrew, You’ve got mail.

LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

18

Got hold of the sponsor of the Tanflies. Their webserver went down and took their old site with it. They ahve a new temp site up.http://cotter.oursc.k12.ar.us/tanflies/index.htm is the address. Check it out. They’ve done a great job with the club in their second year.

These are the idle thoughts that posses a man’s mind when he’s not able to fish.