Teach Youngsters Fishing, A Lifetime Sport - Here's How It Works

A Valuable Outdoor Experience

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mountain Brook Junior High Physical Education Teacher John Phillips from Birmingham, Alabama, coaches basketball, cross-country and track and field. Phillips realizes that not all children enjoy traditional school sports. So, with the help of the Fisheries Section of Alabama's Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fish, he's implemented a fishing curriculum to show his students they can participate in other sports and enjoy them for their lifetimes.

QUESTION: How did you arrange to take kids out of school for a day? Did they get credit for that day? What did you see as a result of this two-week course on fishing?
ANSWER: My administrator, assistant principal and principal all were very supportive of the program. They encouraged me to take the kids out of school to show them the outdoors. That support certainly helped make the program successful. The way the trip worked out, the kids fished for about 3 to 3 ½-hours. That amount of time was perfect. The kids didn't get bored at all or cause problems. We had a delicious lunch prepared for us there at the lakes, which was included in the price of the trip. We were able to return to school before the end of the day so they didn't miss any of their extracurricular activities. The fishing days worked out perfectly, and the kids gained valuable outdoor experiences.

QUESTION: How about the fish? How many fish did the kids catch? Who caught the biggest?
ANSWER: Out of 101 students, all but seven or eight caught fish. Many students caught multiple fish. One girl took more than 10, and one kid caught 16 bass. Some kids that had never caught fish before caught their first bass. The good thing about the place we were fishing, if you didn't catch a bass you still saw someone catch one. I would guess about 94% of the kids caught fish. I know one little boy came up to me and said, "I didn't catch a fish, but this has been the greatest day of my life!" Those are the kinds of experiences we're trying to build and trying to offer kids to build a lifetime interest in sports.

QUESTION: Were the fish cleaned and eaten or released?
ANSWER: We released every fish we caught. Releasing the fish teaches the kids an important lesson about resources and the environment. So, if you're not interested in eating them, you can still go out and enjoy the outdoors, have a great day of fishing and let that fish go to catch it another day.

QUESTION: What's the future of the program? How did the administration respond after the field trip? Do you plan to do this again next year?
ANSWER: We got nothing but positive response from the kids as well as the administration. A lot of parents called and told me they wished they could have gone and missed a day of work. Because of the response, we are definitely doing the program next year. So many kids enjoyed themselves. Students in our physical-education classes enjoyed doing something a little different than what we normally do.

DOUG DARR: The overall response to the curriculum has been positive and we've already supplied a number of schools with the program.

To learn more about the Alabama Fishing and Wildlife Curriculum, call Doug Darr in Montgomery, Alabama, at (334) 242 -3884, e-mail him at ddarr@dcnr.state.al.us, or write 64 N. Union St., Montgomery, AL 36130. You also can visit the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resource's Web site at www.dcnr.state.al.us. To learn the particulars about setting up the curriculum, contact John Phillips at Mountain Brook Jr. High (205) 871-3516, or e-mail him at phillipsj@mtnbrook.k12.al.us.

To contact Leavellwood Lodge, call (205) 372-2323, write PO Box 24, West Greene, AL 35491, or e-mail at info@Leavellwood.com. You can also visit them at their Web site at www.leavellwood.com.