Young people and fishing ??????

I guess I dont agree that limits and slots are why kids arent fishing.I explained to all 3 of my Grandsons why CPR,slots and limits are nessessary and they actually like letting fish go.I think kids just want to catch something.

I also think the small bait shops have fallen victem to the big stores like Cabelas,SW,Gander and even Walmart just like small hardware stores have.Its pretty tough to compete with them.

There are probably a lot of reasons why kids arent getting out fishing as much these days but if you can get them out once to plant the seed they might pick it up again later down the road.I know when we brought someone elses kids to the lake they didnt want to leave.My 3 Grandsons used to come to the lake with us a lot. But now they are at the ages they are all in sports so they come less.But I know when sports are over they will want to come more.

Also there are a lot of people that dont get into fishing till they are older and on their own.Some might grow up in a family that doesnt fish and not have an opportunity to try it till they are older.

Either way I guess I dont buy that there are that many less fisherman out there or there will be a lot less in the future.Every lake and sport store I have been to lately has been crawling with people and it doesnt look like a dieing sport to me.

I also wonder how the DNR figures out how many kids are fishing when they dont need a license.Granted I dont see a lot of young kids out there either but I do see a lot of people from teenagers on up.

well for those of you that have been down on pool 4 with the ARM event knows how big the smiles of these kids get when we take them out and have a good time on the water. I also did an event last year called the 1st annual BB/BS youth bass tourney http://www.westonkabassclub.org/YouthEvent/2008BigMarine/2008WBCBBBS.htm

I put this event together, we took out 15 matches and they little fished in their first ever bass tourney, they all got participation tropheys, the but winners got nice plaques to hang on the wall. the smiles from that 5 hour event was huge.

see, an organizatin like BB/BS is a great spot to reach and influence kids if you don’t have any of your own. not only to help them mature and grow, but to help them get passions other than video games and t.v. we have a few bigs that are into the outdoors, hunting and trap shooting, a few bigs that are into fishing once in a blue moon, but alot of our bigs just don’t have the time to invest into teaching, showing, and yes, not getting the big buck, or seeing any birds out in the field. you will have to go through them stages to get there before you will make a friend and a hunting/fishing parnter for life. my dad and I still share deer hunting stories every deer camp from when I was a little baby boy, and last year, I got to start lane on the same path, we will have deer stories now every year. along with fishing stories every summer.

get involved and do something about it instead of sittingr on your computer talking about it, volunteer to help with ARM this year, or take a neighbor kid out fishing. heck all of the neighbor kids that I have around my house always come and talk fishing with me. I also toss them a few bags of baits that I don’t use or just feel like giving them away, they come back and show me pictures of the fish they catch with them. it may be the act of taking them fishing, but also talking about it can do the same thing.

shane

We all for the most part have seen and identified what the problems are for kids today to become more involved with fishing.

Something I don’t think anyone has addressed is the fact that most of us are baby boomers. The next generations are X and Y. There are not nearly as many of them as we are.

What can we as a largest segment of todays society do to influence these generation X’s and Y’s to follow in our footsteps? We have several groups that address the issue and reach out to 30-40 kids at a time, and there may be as many as 10-12 of them in any state, but we need to “reach out and touch” many more kids than that.

Would “outdoor studies” in middle and high school be an option? Would a nation wide effort by a consortium of retailers help educate and intice these kids to explore the outdoors?

What can we do to “retain” these youths in the future? What changes can we realisticaly try to make?

If it is to be, it will be up to us to make it happen.

I dont think it takes much to get kids hooked on fishing its just getting them the opportunity to go.I helped out a guy that brought his school class to ML one time and it was cold and slow fishing although they did get some perch and both the boys and girls had a great time.They just liked checking out the portables and electronics and the fish houses etc.Every time my Grandsons bring a friend along to the lake the kids always ask is when they can come back again and dont want to leave.Well except for the kid that was out in the 4 footers and got a little sick When I grew up there were things like the boy scouts and programs that got kids out in the outdoors.Im sure there is still some but the parents also have to be motivated to get kids out.Hey Jack if you ever wanted to try to set something up at MTB to take some kids out fishing Im sure I could donate a day for a good cause.