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[cool] [#0000ff]TubeBabe and I got started on the Youth Fishing Program last night on Bountiful Pond. We got our pretty red instructor shirts and watched as the kids arrived to get their grey shirts, small tackle box and loaner poles if needed. Pretty good mix of boys and girls, from about six to 12 years old.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had a few minutes of instruction for the whole group, on knot tying, casting and safety. Then we broke up into groups of five kids per each adult instructor. TubeBabe and I signed up as a duo...working together as one instructor, because she will be out of town a couple of times over the six week course.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our kids had all brought their own tackle. All but one of the girls had spinning gear. She had a spincast. None had ever made a cast before. Took a while but we had them all chucking it out there after a few minutes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On this trip, it was mostly getting familiar with the tackle. We had them fishing a piece of worm under a bobber. The cross breeze made it necessary to keep winding in and recasting. The low sun angle in the face made it tough to watch the bobber. At least the mosquitoes were held at bay by the breeze. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was a prize for each of the first few fish caught. Fishing was slow. One of our young lads (Parker) appeared to be a challenge. A quiet, nerdy looking kid, with glasses and never a  , he acted like he would rather be in front of a computer than fishing. To make matters worse, the spinning reel his dad had provided was overfilled with heavy stiff mono and it kept boiling off and getting stuck under the spool by his unpracticed reeling motions. We had to constantly keep taking off extra line and digging coils out from under the spool.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, he did pick up on the casting routine and on one of his unaided casts he had barely clicked the bail on the reel when his bobber took off straight out away from him. Before I could instruct him to take out the slack and set the hook, the fish took care of it for him. When he felt the weight of the struggling trout his eyes popped open and he actually looked excited.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was the first fish he had ever caught. I helped him lift it out of the water and asked if he would like me to release it for him. He said "Sure"...his standard response to all questions. His trout turned out to be the only fish taken by our kids last night.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When his dad showed up at 8 to pick him up, Parker was a bit more excited about his accomplishment. He had caught the second fish of the night and won a small box full of lures. Not the rod and reel combo that went to the first fish, but a prize of recognition nevertheless. His dad was happy.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of a pair of young girls from one family, the one with the cheap spincast outfit, really started to get into the casting. She would not leave her rig out long enough to do any good, but was doing great with her casts. I know she will be a fisherperson. Her words as she was dragged away at closing time? "Hey, I want to keep fishing."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Next week we are going to bring a treasure chest of "secret baits" and other goodies to help our young anglers try to hook into a kitty or two. I can't wait to see the look on those young faces when they do hand to fin combat with a tough whiskerfish.[/#0000ff]
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Isn't life grand when a kid catches his first fish and you were with him when it happened? The Orem Fishing Club is drawing to a close, the last meeting happening next week. I had a similar experience on the first day of the fishing club. Quiet kid, very patient in learning how to cast, ten minutes before closing time, he hooked into his first fish, a nice planter, couldn't get the of his face after that. Thanks for volunteering your time and your talent, there's more to come.
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service is lifes greatist reward dude. to freeley give ones time for the greater good of all is how to heal the world!!!!!!!! i honor you all!!!!!!
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Yes, it is a great time seeing those kids progress each week. They will definelty benefit from having TD and TB there as mentors. Even though I have never met you I know from this board that you have a vast amount of fishing knowledge to bestow on those youngsters.
I have had a great time at the Midas Pond Club this year. Seeing the big s on a kids face when they get a fish on is such an awesome reward. One boy last week landed a cat fish that was about 16 inches long, his first fish ever, was he ever excited!
Good job everyone for making sure we pass it on to the next generation!
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Great job Pat!
Lloyd
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Very nice of you and the missus to volunteer your time. It may be a good thing that the DWR doesn't publish who their volunteers are, or anxious, fish groupie parents would be trucking their kids in from all over the state just to get them some personal fishing time with THE DUDE and THE BABE.
If the word gets out, I'm sure the DWR will need to erect barriers around you two and your small group of fishing proteges, much like city officials contain the crowds each time Brad and Angelina or Tom and Katie show up for a big Hollywood movie premier. Such is the life of Utah's celebrity "It"-couple, in terms of fishing that is.
Too bad my 37-year-old self can't pass as a youngster anymore, or I might sneak down and try to get some much-needed instruction from the masters.
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I just wanted to thank all of the volunteers who took time out of their busy lives to help out the Community Fisheries Program as mentors for the many kids clubs. This year we will graduate close to 2500 kids and presently have 250 mentors working every week with the clubs, communities and myself and my staff. Every year the quality of the Youth Fishing Program gets better and better. This is due to the great volunteers.
Thanks for all of your help!!
Drew Cushing.
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Shawn, let's not get carried away here. I have never once been mistaken for Angelina. Good thing too. I may have a bit of a gut but I don't look pregnant.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As for being young enough to get into that program, we are all young at heart. Right. No matter how long I have been a fisherman I still get excited the night before a trip. I think that the more I fish the younger I feel.[/#0000ff]
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It truely was a great experience ... the only regret I have is that we didn't know how much latitude they were going to give us and that I didn't have my camera with to get a picture of Parker! You can be sure that both issues have been addressed.
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[cool][#0000ff]And thanks to you, Drew. Thanks on behalf of the kids and parents and thanks for the opportunity to work with them. It is a great way to reopen our minds to the original joys we discovered in fishing. To see our favorite sport through the eyes of young people just getting started is a great reawakening.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You have to be one of the two busiest people in Utah...and we don't know who the other one is. You ARE appreciated.[/#0000ff]
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TD and TB you two are what this world needs more of.
you two ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Moments like that are once in a lifetime, but you remember them for a lifetime. [  ]
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Great job you did with the kids. There is no greater legacy to leave than knowing that you helped the young ones learn skills that in many cases will last a lifetime. Well done!!
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[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]Great work TD and TB!!! Now the question is where do I sign up to be one of the little ones that gets you two as mentors????[][/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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Pat, I'm tickled to see how well you took to the fishing club.
The P.R. that the 2 of you will give to the program will be priceless.
Things will only get better as more of the kids learn what it feels like to have a fish pulling on their line.
There are also some frustrations that will come as some of the kids will go several weeks before catching a fish during the club outings. Some may never catch a fish on club night.
You will want to be prepared to have some answers if it happens to you.
I'm sure that you will know the right thing to say to if it happens.
There just isn't many things in this world that is as satisfying as helping put a big on a kids face!
I would also like to thank all of you good people that are helping with the Youth Fishing Clubs.
You folks ROCK!!![ ]
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It is truly the best thing to see a kids catch that first fish, and catch the fishing fever.
As you know I teach my grandkis to fish. The 2 older ones 11 and 7 are getting better than myself. I have 2 younger ones, 4 and 2. The 4 year old is at the point where you set the hook and he will reel it in. He is getting pretty good at casting.You don't have to be 6 feet away when he cast just 5 feet away.The 2 year old wants to sit on my lap and just reel the pole in. she doesn't grasp the concept that you need a fish on it first. But with the blueegill starting to hit, I think she will get the fever soon. I have a pole waiting for her.
I am glad you guys are enjoying the youth. Please teach them some fishing ettiquette, also to clean up after themselves.
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Gotta share this....
I signed up to help out at the fishing day for handicapped kids at Salem Pond a couple of years ago. I was assigned to "help" a kid from the A.F. Training School who was about 30 years-old but very developmentally dalayed. He probably had about an 8 or 9 year-old mentality.
Everything went well until I tried to help him untangle his line while he had a fish on. Man, that kid called me everything but a gentleman. Never heard such profanity. He let me know in no uncertain terms that I was not to touch his pole while he had a fish on. Bait and un-hook -- OK, but do not touch the pole!!
It was a great day and I had a lot of fun but my friends still razz me about the little guy I got paired up with.
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Reading these posts brought a to my face. It reminded me of taking my 5 year old grandson, Tyler, fishing to a small private pond recently. He has his own Scooby Doo fishing pole. He casts quite well, but kept getting into the moss and he thought he had on a monster fish as he drug the glob of moss in. I finally had a chance to catch several trout on my pole and had him reel them in. I got a thrill out of seeing him so excited. Some of my best memories of my childhood are the fishing trips made with my Dad, Grandpa, uncles and cousins to the lakes around Beaver. I have five grandkids now and I am trying to take them fishing every chance I get to pass it on. Acey
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I too have a story about helping developmentally challenged kids fish.
I have a good friend with 2 kids, one is about 12 and the other is probably 15. The 12 year old has downs and the 15 year old is autistic. It doesn't sound like that much of a challenge, but put them together and tell me that.
Anyway, my friend, his wife, myself, and his 3 kids( they also have a young daughter that is not challenged) went to Kaysville Ponds about 5 years ago for an afternoon of fishing.
We set up the poles and started to help the kids fish. I began catching planter bows as fast as i could reel them in while no one else had caught one. I said ok this is not fun for me anymore because the kids weren't having alot of fun. I gave my pole the the older boy and tried as best i could to explain it to him and he proceded to tear them up. Never seen a bigger ! Meanwhile, his younger brother had his own pole(one of the character kids poles) and i rerigged it with what i was using. Low and behold in the next 2 hours, they(all three) had landed around 50 rainbows. It was amazing to see there eyes light up each and every time they caught another one. I hope everyone has an oppertunity to experience this type of satisfaction.
Now, i have a 3 1/2 year old boy that would rather play with a fishing pole than any toy Walmart sells! He caught his first fish, a small bluegill, on my fly rod a little less than a year old. Since then, he has caught over 50 gills, many catfish, a 24" rainbow, many LM bass and all kinds of other fish. Now he has a little sister that i hope will follow in his footsteps and enjoy fishing. I know i shouldn't expect another obsessive like myself, but i think she will like it enough to not be bored.
Needless to say, there is nothing else i have found that puts a bigger on my face than watching a kid(young or old) catch a fish and ecperience all of the different emotions that accompany it. Please take a kid fishing. You will be forever appreciated.
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