Willow pond fishin class thursday 4-19

[BADFISH]

Well it was the first of the 6 week course for the kiddies through Murray park n rec. I was harnessed to 6 kids, 2 of em had dad with em he took care of them, one more had dad show up..now I have 3.

fished the ole worm n bobber setup after the lesson on fishin safety (no one likes a worm hook ear ring) and casting practice. I was the one that taught (scary me teachin) them all how to tye the Improved Clinch Knot. that was fun.

I had the kids us the BFT Hooksafes TD sent me []for casting practice i just clipped em on ever the weights (thanks a ton TD, they were a big hit and i told the parents about the website when they need to answer the kids questions). after I was sure they could all hit the water, we went to the edge of the pond.

I cheated a bit here, i left work early and started fishin @ 4:30 till 5:30. I caught 4 Bows in the 1.5 to 2 pund range, and had 3 others unbutton themselves before i could lay hand on em i jsut tossed a acme lure silver with flo. green tape on it, kastmaster. I do this to scope where to take my kids...but sure nuff as soon as i put the rod in the jeep the "locals" moved in to the spots i was fishin and took over with no room for the kids [unsure]...so i went to plan B, pick a spot and pray the kids hook up.

It payed off, all 3 caught fish from a 8 inch dink[unimpressed], he though it was a whale, he said his first ever, to a decent pan size 1.5 pounder [cool] if i had to stick a weight to it. not a bad hour and a quarter fishn for the kidds, the ones with dad got skunked dad(s) said next week they would hang with the group and listen up to catch sumpin.

We started off with a little sun but it was chilly out probaly low 40's slight north wind and every kid complained about gettin cold at one point or another, i sent them to the rest rooms to blow the hand dryers on em for a few minutes to take the chill off, one kids mom dragged him to taco bell at 7:30 cause she was too cold after sittin in the ladies room air stream for 20 minutes. she said next week dad was coming.LOL.

next week lesson 2 will post when completed.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Sounds like the 2007 Youth Fishing Program is off to a good start. Thanks to all the BFTers who have volunteered. I guarantee that you will probably get more out of it than most of the kids. It really takes you back to your own first fishing experiences when you see those kids light up when they catch their first fish.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It really torgues me about the "locals" on the ponds. Fish are planted for the kids to enjoy and some people look at them as their own private fish market. Nothing goes back in the water and sportsmanship is nonexistent. If you catch a fish, forget it. You will have lots of company quickly.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Last year at Bountiful Lake, DWR planted fish two days before the kids night. For the next two days, groups of "anglers" would show up and set up a wall of rods around the better spots, yanking out all of the new plants and carrying them out by the netful. By the time the kids got to fish there were very few fish left to catch. And, there were sometimes when the"locals" crowded in and surrounded the small groups of kids, casting over our lines and trying to drive us off.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is tough to teach kids about C&R and sportsmanship when all they see is trashing, thrashing, crowding and harvesting. [/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Good job Bro. Keep us posted on progress.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[DKStroutfitter]

Meadow Creek Pond also started our fishing club this week.
We were very fortunate this year and had 22 volunteers for our 60 kids.
This is a great program that the DWR has established and thanks to the many voulnteers, it is working very well.
If you arn't a volunteer this year, please give it a try next year. You won't regret it.
[signature]

[hazmattr]

Well put dude of the tube it's fustrating. I was at bountiful with my nephew, when dwr planted the catfish. This family of ten took like fifty of them home. I'm sure you can picture it.
[signature]

[Flycasting]

Ah yes... the locals. There were a few of them last night as well. Andd for those of you that know Glassmans... there is little room to fish now.

They were also teaching the kids bad habits.... Like throwing a J-11 rapala. []
[signature]

[BADFISH]

oh the worst thing i noticed out at willow while i did my "pre fishing" was all the carcass' laying around the week line just as the water gets deep, i could not beleive there were that many fish dead. i know its from people ill handling fish and im properly un hooking them and probaly just dump em back in the pond...i even noticed a laker that hadnt been there too long maybe a week that was like pushing 4 pounds that had been discarded....and i dont know how many plastic shopping sacks i picked up..enough to fill the 4 pockets i had that i was willing to shove trash into and it looked like no one had done it in the spot i just picked up. kinda gets my blood hot...think i will go pour a beer on it.

I wonder if any scout troops or scout type groups would be willing to maybe do a walk around....better yet forget scouts...who on BFT will join me one afternoon and just walk around willow with me and pick up some trash???? if you want to shoot me a PM i have a pretty flex schedule and i can meet you there anytime, i work just over on 45th south and 9th west so i can get there in 10 minutes.

so any BFTers that wanna do that to just give something back send me a PM and ill meet you there. I plan on going about an hour early each thursday and just gathering some trash up as i walk around the pond now anyhow. so it you wanna join me, feel free thurs at 5 pm will be the set date i drive a jeep with BFT stickers on the rear window and one on the rear most driverside window its a red cherokee with mudd eater tires on it.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I suspect that a lot of the dead fish are the result of natural mortality, after stocking. That is most likely the cause of the lake trout death. Those who release the fish are usually C&R anglers who toss flies or lures, and handle the fish properly. It has been my observation that most of the bait fishermen keep most of what they catch...sometimes returning several times a day for another limit.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As far as the trash, don't overlook an opportunity to teach the kids a lesson. Bring some small trash bags and have them spend the last 10 minutes going around and picking up the worst of the mess. It is amazing the difference even a small effort can make. And, when they see what others leave, and learn to pick it up, they will be less likely to be a part of the problem in the future.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Flycasting]

That is a good opportunity for the kids.

We had bags for them last week, but there was very little trash for a change. They have been doing some contruction up there, so maybe when they cleaned up, they picked up the trash too. [cool]
[signature]