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Kids Fishing

Make a difference Take a Child Fishing!

I believe that this just may be one of the most important sections of Angling B.C. because without well informed children neither us, steelhead, sturgeon, trout or the salmon have much hope for the future.

If you have a picture of your kids fishing send it in (with a short explanation) and we'll put it up at the Kid's Fishing Gallery! Email us
Send to:
Angling B.C.
c/o GetSet Communications Inc. #203 20475 Lougheed Hwy
V2X 9B6 B.C

Here is a good site to learn about Fly Fishing.

Learn about the Family Fishing Weekend

Also a new kids book, “Billy Goes Hunting” is the story of a young boy whose hunting beliefs have been challenged by his peers. His grandfather teaches him all the reasons why he can be proud of his hunting heritage.

Fishing for Fun

It is a great feeling when a program takes off. Fishing for Fun is a great example of this. The involvement with young people, Brownies, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, provided a very rewarding experience for us. Particularly as most of us, Golden Rods and Reels, are Grandparents and can relate perfectly with this age group.

How did it all start? Our group had participated with the “Go Fish” Program. The Golden Rods and Reels were the assistants in a session at Elk Lake. The event was hosted by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. At this point in time, they had a subsidiary location in Duncan at the Fresh Water Hatchery. A group of our Members attended a training session quickly followed by the Go Fish Project sponsored by the Victoria Police Benevolent Association. I hope I have the sponsors name correct. From this session, we were quite confident in our abilities to host other “like” events. The Duncan Hatchery did not have the resources to continue the “Go Fish” Program on Vancouver Island and it was transferred back to its Head Office in Abbotsford.

For any program to become successful requires funding. Our funding source became the Thrifty Food “Smile Card”. Golden Rods and Reels must like to eat as we soon met our Budgeted Target. Up until we had funds, we were borrowing equipment, Rods and Reels, from the Duncan Hatchery. Verna Cameron and Tony Massey were most cooperative in ensuring the Golden Rods and Reels had all of the tools required to provide a professional program. This included informing our group when the stocking of Ida Ann Lake was scheduled. The Duncan Hatchery still support our needs supplying us with various props. It would be unthinkable to not thank the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC in providing the most professional booklet on how to fish. This is our text book and each participant in our fishing sessions is able to keep this for future reference. Thanks also to the generosity of Island Outfitters, we were able to purchase all the fishing equipment required to outfit fifteen people.

Now we required a plan. We contacted the Go Fish Coordinators in Abbotsford to see if we could host an event for them. We requested a budget and they provided one for us. It turned out not to be a “Turn Key” Project. We had to fund the program paying expenses such as Ferry Fares, Hotels etc.., and also find the participants. A light went on and we asked why not try it ourselves. We also required a lake to fish. Our use of the Fishing Pier at Elk Lake was not too successful. Picture a lot of energetic Cubs and Scouts in a restricted area. Add an additional group of serious fishers to the mix, yes, you get the picture.

A new venue came from an unlikely source. The Haig Brown Fly Fishing Club was looking for a project to celebrate the Roderick Haig Brown Centennial. Mike Hay was in charge of this committee and discovered a gem of a lake in Langford. This Lake is called Ida Ann. It is a small lake in an urban setting. Not large, but perhaps a hectare in size and with the Fresh Water Fisheries Biologists in Nanaimo and also the Parks and Recreation Department in Langford reached concurrence in the future of the lake and started a stocking program. The initial stocking was a test of 150 cacheables. Further stocking has since taken place. In the meantime, Mike Hays arranged several work parties to clean out some of the weeds in the lake.

The Scouting Movement provided access to a large group of youth. The Golden Rods and Reels were asked if they would like to participate in a Jamboree. This Jamboree was based on a Star War theme. Over 250 Cubs were scheduled to our camp; our time was limited in order to accommodate these large numbers. We further broke our limited time into three distinctive sessions: Casting, Knot Tying and Fishing Knowledge. From this initial project, Alan Creech, sent an e-mail to all Scouting Leaders in Victoria and recommended our program as being excellent. The response to this e-mail has resulted in sessions with the 5th Juan de Fuca ( 20 Cubs), 5th Tsartlip ( 14 Cubs and 6 Scouts), 5th Cedar Hill( 9 Scouts) and the 5th Gary Oak Group (28 Cubs). We would host a session at the Cub Hall, generally on a Tuesday and on the next Sunday would be at Ida Ann Lake. Fishing has been OK, but not great. We have been experimenting with different types of bait and our success rate has been steadily improving. We have now concluded our session due to weather but will be up and running in April 2010.

Conclusion, we have scheduled training sessions for over 300 Cubs and not included was our participation in BC Rivers Day at Goldstream Park. At Goldstream we restricted our training sessions to casting only. We had over 100 kids attend this session. That makes over 400 kids, in 2009, we have had the opportunity to pass on our interest in fishing. It is important to recognize our committee; Dennis Gedney, Robert McConnell, Barry Proud, Art Raven, Gordon Riddell, Larry Repp and Ray Wallis. Thanks for a job well done.

Jim Macdonald

Kids Fishing

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Kids Fishing

Kids

May 2004

Make a Difference

Kids

Apr 2004

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