Proposed class aims to hook kids on fishing (Chilkat Valley News)

February 02, 2009 at 10:53 pm

Proposed class aims to hook kids on fishing

By Tom Morphet

You might think teaching children in Haines to fish would be as necessary as teaching fish to swim.

Not so, say supporters of a grant proposal that would secure $2,500 to “promote a lifetime of physical and mental health through sport fishing.” The grant would be secured with the help of Takshanuk Watershed Council and be administered through the Haines Borough School District.

Although students in Haines have one of the finest sport fishing back yards in the world, many students have never caught a fish on rod and reel, said Emily Seward, development director for the watershed council, in a grant proposal to the school. The school board endorsed the plan.

“I’ve talked to them in the school… There are kids who come here from Outside who have moved here, and they’ve never caught a salmon, or a Dolly,” Seward said.

Activities would be held during physical education classes and include canoe and boating safety skills. The grant amount would go toward teacher training, pool rental fees and fishing equipment. Equipment would include spin-cast and fly rods, and the class would be taught at the middle school and high school.

The classes must involve at least two other subjects, such as creative writing or science, for example, Seward said. “The kids could journal their fishing experience. Or they could do art, creative writing or statistics, like how long did it take to catch a fish.”

Funded by the Future Fishermen Foundation, the grant is aimed at getting schools teaching fishing, biology and related subjects regularly, Seward said. After instructor training and gear purchase, the program could continue in future years, she said.

Sporting goods store manager Doug Olerud, who has expressed interest in helping the class land inexpensive or free fishing gear, thinks the program is a good idea. Olerud, who grew up in Haines, said as a youth he spent days with friends reeling in Dolly Varden at the mouth of Sawmill Creek.

“We’d fish all day long. We must have caught some of the same fish about thirty times,” he said.

But not all children have that experience, he said. “If both your parents are working, the opportunity to get somewhere to go fishing isn’t so good. Parents don’t want their kids riding their bikes ten miles to Chilkoot (River). And now there’s bears there.”

The school will know in April if the grant has been approved.

Source: http://chilkatvalleynews.com/story-5.html

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