Kids get their fill of fish
Trout Unlimited holds annual Youth Camp
By Greg Seubert
Casting lessons, habitat work and opportunities to catch fish.
It’s all part of the Trout Unlimited Youth Camp. Twenty-one campers from throughout Wisconsin and their mentors arrived Aug. 15 at Pine Lake Camp south of Waupaca and headed home three days later after a fishing trip to Waushara County’s Pine, Mecan and White rivers.
The sixth annual camp also included a trip to downtown Waupaca to fish the Waupaca River and habitat improvement work on a trout stream in Wautoma.
“Getting kids involved and helping the environment is really critical because a lot of kids are going to the cities or going away from these kinds of things,” said Bob Asam of Baraboo, one of the camp’s mentors. “This gets them away from their cell phones and computers.”
Asam returned to the camp for a fourth year.
“I like working with kids,” he said. “I’m retired, so I have time to do things like that.”
Wayne Parmley coordinated the camp with Linn Beck. Both are from Oshkosh and are members of Central Wisconsin Trout Unlimited, a TU chapter with about 300 members in Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, Waushara and Winnebago counties.
“They get bunch of new skills and fishing techniques and that’s sort of the draw,” Parmley said. “They all expressed yesterday that they love fishing, that’s why they’re here.
“Some kids come with little to none and some come with years of experience,” he said. “There’s always something new to learn. I feel that even the mentors are learning things from other mentors. They’re learning ethics, sportsmanship, conservation. They’re getting a better understanding of what TU does behind the scenes.”
Camp broadens fishing experience
Campers are paired with mentors like Asam.
“They get more of an overall view,” he said. “Most of them have only done one thing. They’ve only bait-fished or only used spinners. This way, they get more of a rounded idea and get other peoples’ opinions. They get to see what other people are doing. What they take away is that knowledge and experience.”
Michael Russ, 14, of Appleton learned about the camp at school.
“Through school, I met a guy who was a chapter member of Fox Valley Trout Unlimited,” he said. “He was talking about fly-fishing and that got me interested. This year is my first experience with fly-fishing. I got my first rod a few months ago. A casting instructor gave it to me at a Trout Unlimited event.”
Russ and the other campers spent a couple of hours Aug. 16 honing their casting skills, which can be one of the more intimidating parts of fly-fishing.
“The first day, it was kind of like, ‘Huh?’” he said. “Once I got the technique down, I was starting to figure out different types of casting like roll casts and side casts. I got better and better at it.”
Russ has fly-fished on a few ponds in the Appleton area.
“So far, the biggest thing I caught is a 2-pound largemouth bass,” he said. “My friend’s grandma has a pond and he took me there to fish. There’s kind of a stereotype that fly-fishing is only for trout, but you can catch anything on a fly rod.”
Learning about habitat
Campers and mentors spent much of the third day of camp at Bird Creek, a Class 1 trout stream that flows through Wautoma before emptying into the White River.
“That part of the program has gotten bigger every year,” Parmley said. “It gives the kids a chance to see all of the extra work that gets done that helps maintain these streams for future fishing and how important the resource is. That ends up being one of the things they enjoy the most, as far as getting into the water and playing. We’re putting brush on banks, we’re putting in lunker structure and moving rocks around. “The kids love getting their hands dirty.
“During that time, we’ll do a stream shocking so they actually see first-hand the fish that are living right under their noses,” he added. “We’ll talk about the whole environment beyond the water and the fish: the insects, the plant life and how everything’s working together.”
Campers wrapped up the day with a trip to Rotary Riverview Park to fish the Waupaca River, where they caught everything from trout to bluegills to largemouth bass to creek chubs.
Focus on youth
Getting kids involved in an organization like TU is one of the main goals of the camp, according to Parmley.
Ayden Wagenknecht of Kasson, Minnesota, carefully brings line through the guide rings on his fly rod. Greg Seubert Photo
“If you look at Trout Unlimited, the average member is in their 60s,” he said. “Fast-forward a couple of decades and it’s going to shift. It’s even more critical today to get young kids and families involved. It’s a real challenge because today’s world is complex. I think organized sports for kids is probably the biggest culprit that keeps them off the stream, whether it’s hunting or fishing. It’s a challenge at times to find the kids to come here.”
Campers receive a free one-year membership to TU.
“TU does a good job with youth-oriented publications and activities,” Parmley said. “We really encourage them to get involved with their local Trout Unlimited chapter. The whole idea of this is we have room for 21 kids because we have 21 chapters in the state. Our goal every year is to have each chapter sponsor one kid. It doesn’t always play out that way. Some chapters sponsor three, some don’t send a kid and it changes from year to year. These are kids from all over the state that get this great opportunity.
“My son came the very first year and I jumped in as a mentor,” he said. “We’ve been back every year. The kids who show some leadership and some advanced fishing skills, we invite them back. Four of our mentors are kids who went through the program and we have four junior mentors. They’re sharing what they learned a year or two ago and doing it in a little different way than us older guys.”
Parmley is convinced the camp has an effect on kids that have attended in the past.
“We have three boys that were students the first year and every one of them has been back every year since,” he said. “All three of them are going to college for environmental and natural science degrees. They’re getting involved in fly-fishing and outdoor clubs at the college level. I’m hoping a good percentage of these kids are going to be leaders in the future, chapter presidents, work day coordinators and running this camp. I have a vision that this camp will be run by kids who have been through this camp. In five or 10 years, I would like to see all of us who started this sit in the lawn chairs, let go of it and let the kids take over.”
