Porter County Parks and Recreation has introduced a new fishing program this fall for children and their families. The free program, called Go FishIN, gives kids the chance to learn the basics of fishing, such as tying knots, preparing a hook, casting properly and practicing fishing safety.
All equipment is provided due to a sponsorship by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, through a grant from the National Recreation and Park Association. The funding has allowed Porter County Parks and Recreation to acquire an array of equipment such as reels, rods and instructional literature.
Porter County Parks and Recreation Educator Shirley Massey leads the program. Below is her first blog entry discussing the program as it gets going.
Shirley's Blog
We had a great time on Saturday, Sept. 29, at our first GoFishIN program at Brookdale County Park. We started with some basic education about fish biology, habitat, conservation, and angling sportsmanship. We had a some fun with a question and answer session. By this time the group was getting anxious to go fishing. We loaded up the wagon and enjoyed the scenery along the way, which included rows and rows and rows of corn waiting to be harvested. The air was filled with excitement as well as Canada geese, turkey vultures, the great blue heron, and lots of laughter.
At the pond, all ages learned to prepare fishing equipment provided for use by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. After we tried a couple kinds of knots for tying our lines, we actually practiced casting our lines into the water. Some of us still need a little more practice (That’s a great excuse to go fishing).
After some “ick”, “ugh” and “disgusting”, we baited up with wiggler worms and bee moths. It was only a few minutes of waiting and the first fish caught was a nice bright bluegill. Then another, and another, and another, and so on.
Not everyone caught a fish, but most did. Of course, if you caught fish every time, it wouldn’t be called fishing, it would be called catching.
We will have several more fishing programs coming up through the fall, winter and spring. To learn more, call 219-465-3586 or e-mail smassey@porterco.org.
