Gone Fishing

Or rather we went fishing, and now we're back.

Hugo loves fishing. He's had a fishing rod for some time now, has a box of tackle & loves to go to outdoor stores to check out new lures.

This is one of my favourite pictures from last year. Hugo casts with considerable energy.

This time around, I organized a 4 hour Learn To Fish session, put on by the BC Freshwater Fisheries Society. Last year, while we were camping at Alouette Lake, some folks from the society came out to do a free session at the lake - that's where I first heard about them. When I looked them up on the web, I saw they also offered some school programs and so after a few phone calls, emails, and the usual headaches of trying to organize homeschoolers, we were off!


First we had an indoor session covering the anatomy of fish, fish habitat & conservation, as well as what the hatchery's main job is - hatching fish, oddly enough. They had a tour of the inside exhibits, learned some knots, and practiced removing hooks from these giant salmon puppets.

During a brown-bag lunch, they watched a video about fly fishing in BC.

And then it was outdoors, to the stocked ponds run by the hatchery.

Hugo caught a fish right off the bat. After that, nothing. I think the fish in these ponds were not that stupid and after one mistake, they were all learning to ignore the brightly colored lures floating around. Still, I think over 1/2 the kids landed a fish, a number had nibbles but no takers, and a couple kids landed a fish more than once.

It was catch & release of course, and luckily the dudes who put on the program came to unhook Hugo's fish. I was making a mess of it. I don't mind fishing but I'm a wuss when it comes to actually catching the thing & trying to unhook it.

If you're in BC, check out the Go Fish website for activities in your area, as well as some downloadable resources about fish habitat and fishing.