Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014 - 32

Getting the Most out of Your

Mentored Youth
Fishing Days

2003 Trout Stamp-Christopher Leeper

Experience
by Andrew L. Shiels

photo-Amidea Daniel

Deputy Director, PFBC Field Operations

On a Saturday
in March 2013,
the Pennsylvania
Fish & Boat
Commission
held its first
Mentored Youth
Trout Fishing
Day in the
southcentral
and southeastern regions
of Pennsylvania.
The event was
held at 11 lakes
and a section of
the Lehigh Canal
on a mostly
sunny but windy
and chilly day. Such weather is to be expected in late March,
but this did not dampen the spirits of most attendees. Many
fish were caught, memories were made and children and
their mentors enjoyed the day together fishing and learning.
The Commission had numerous staff engaged to perform
onsite registrations, assist as needed and collect observations
of this pilot event. For 2014, two Mentored Youth Fishing
Days are being held, one on March 22 and the other on April
5. For more information, see page 64.
For a successful experience, we offer the following
suggestions based on some tried and true practices and our
observations of the 2013 event.
* Prepare for the weather.
✓Bring extra clothes including a windbreaker or rain
jacket (even if it is not raining), warm footwear and
winter boots for the kids.

32

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2014

✓Wear warm hats, gloves and include disposable hand
warmers in each pocket.
✓Carry an extra pair of shoes and dry socks in case a
little one steps into the water by accident.
* Bring snacks.
* Take a warm beverage like hot chocolate to stay warm and
bottled water to stay hydrated.
* Remember something to sit on such as a bucket, folding
chair, hot seat or cushion.
* Bring along simple rod holders (forked sticks from downed
wood, not live trees).
* Get baits such as paste baits, wax worms, meal worms and
salmon eggs.
* Include lures such as small spoons and spinners. These can
work well in certain lakes if water temperatures are warm
enough, greater than 50-degrees F. Otherwise, stick with
paste baits.
* Use a spinning or baitcast rod that is 6 to 7 feet long, paired
with a reel with 4- to 10-pound-test line.
* Use size 8 or 10 baitholder hooks and splitshot in sizes BB
and B.
* Take along small, round floats (1 inch or less in diameter) or
weighted, elongated floats (1½ to 2½ inches long).
* Don't forget old hand towels to dry hands after handling fish.
If you plan to release the fish, don't grab it with a towel. This
removes the necessary mucus coating from the fish's skin.
* Be patient.
* Remember a camera or camera phone. Photos of the day and
the day's catch will help young anglers tell their fishing tales
to family and friends and can be a treasured keepsake.
* Observe where and how fish are being caught and attempt
to duplicate that approach. Match the bait, color, depth,
distance from shore and other factors of those catching fish.
Don't be afraid to ask others what they are catching fish on.
* Move around and look for pockets of biting fish.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014

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