[mikeo]

I've been thinking of ways to give back to this great activity of fly fishing, and how to maybe to make my "living" doing this -- since fly fishing makes me come "alive". A fellow Canuck, Ian Colin James said on a podcast (on Utah-based Fly Fish Radio) in January 2006 that we should get kids involved in fly fishing. That we need to get them out with a fly rod as the kids are our "future". Ian spoke about getting a young guy or girl out first with a spin rod, catching fish with a fly rod on small ponds for bluegills or sunfish (for 30-45 minutes at most), and maybe even teaching them how to tie simple flies that they can catch fish on. The need is to give them success. To get them to catch the bug. That we need to get kids involved since the average fly fisher is getting older and we need to do so if this sport is to survive. Ian also spoke about keeping it simple (the K.I.S.S. principle), that the usual equipment seems so mystifying -- that we should keep it basic. I've thought that it would be a great idea of set up a foundation for fly fishing for youth -- to be able to provide free or low-cost workshops or camps to young people to get them out fly fishing -- even to include families. I'm always impressed when families fly fish together -- and in my case, I got my start as a fly fisher through my grandfather. The Federation of Fly Fishers has a great Junior program. And there are fly fishing badges for Boy Scouts. Even some youth fly fishing camps already. So I think it's important to get kids involved in what can be a "lifetime" activity. That could be the "future" of our sport.

[mikeo]

Forgot to add:

On top of all that author/artist/fly fisher Kirk Werner has created a series of children's books around a character named Olive the Little Wooly Bugger; these books teach chilren about fly fishing as well as simple life values too. Finally I just saw that Echo has a line of fly rods for kids called Gecko, made so they can handle them properly (not just cut down adult rods either).

[Montana Mark]

Mike - good idea on trying to engage kids. I build my own rods (graphite, not bamboo yet), and showed my kids how to do it. They thought it was pretty cool and have gotten several of their friends involved through the same mechanism. It's a great project to run as the season slows....

[mikeo]

Just found this on Internet -- great program aimed at kids/families and fly fishing. Family Tyes is the type of a program that could be set up anywhere (even up here in Canada). Check out their website www.familytyes.com.