Positive approach essential in fishing and all sports

When I became old enough to join the BOY SCOUTS I had already learned most of the outdoor activities that scouting teaches the youth of our land. I had a good buddy that loved the outdoors as much as I did and we had been camping out, fishing and hiking for years. My Aunt that I lived with until I reached twelve let me go to the ponds, lakes, creeks and rivers and my Buddies folks allowed him to go right with me. We both had looked forward to joining the scouts since we first heard about it. The Scout Master was tickled to death to find a couple new scouts that knew as much about living outdoors as he did He used us with new recruits to show how to build a cooking fire and how to cook a meal. We taught other scouts how to wrap a potato in clay, from the banks of rivers and ponds, and then bury them in the hot coals of the fire. When it was taken out and peeled you had a perfect baked potato. We also showed them how to construct a grill for cooking meat. We had gone to the junk yard and found throw away ovens and we would take the grills from the oven and put a stiff heavy wire on the four corners and cut the wire to a couple feet long and push the wires down into the ground over the fire and place whatever food on it that we wanted cooked. I really do not know why my Buddies Mother would let him go on all night trips to the woods and rivers but she did. She and her husband knew that I could swim and knew that I had taught their two Sons to swim so that may have been part of the reason that she trusted us. This was way back yonder when no one had heard of a crime against children and for that matter there was very little crime of any sort in our small town. We knew every creek patch of woods and the river for miles in every direction so I am sure that the scout master thought that he had found two gold mines when we joined his troop. He used us in everyway possible to teach his other scouts every and all things that we already knew. We were considered experts by the other scouts. I would hope that I live long enough to see outdoor classes in our public schools. It could be phased in by the physical education department. know it would work because I have already done it in most of the schools that I have taught in. I have taken a half dozen of my rods and reels to my gymnasium class and showed youngsters how to tie knots, cast, break down a reel for cleaning and the choice of baits and lures to use while on the water. Some of the kid's parents became interested and came for advice. The best advice that I could give them was to teach or have someone teach their child to swim before they got serious about camping and fishing. I have said this before in past article that of the thousands of young people who had outdoor hobbies only one came down with troubles with the law. Hunting, camping, fishing and other water related activities are all a great many children need to satisfy their wants. Along with teaching a child to cast a reel and go fishing could be an entire library of information. Such things what fish goes where and why it does in the different seasons and how to fish for them then. Knowing which fish is easy to catch and which are the best to eat. It is a simple method to become an expert at cleaning a fish of any species so that would be another chapter to teach. Knowing the months that fish stay in open fields before hitting the rivers and creeks to move upstream to spawn is important. Knowing the proper bait to use in the fields is easy enough to learn. Knowing the depth of the fish is a must so that you can dangle your lure in his mouth. Knowing the correct lure is just half of it you must know what speed to retrieve it and the little tic tacs that you twitch into the retrieve. All of this is fun to learn by student-building campsites to be used for several days or maybe be used on more than one occasion could also be fun and worthwhile to learn by the student as well as the entire family. The schools could reach millions of youngsters by a class. Just being outside in our beautiful world is good for all of and by starting young it would give the person a great deal more time to enjoy the outdoors. There are golfers, fishermen and women that are in every community that school could draw on for advice when it comes to technical things that not every coach would know. We use specialist in all our schools to come in for an hour to teach. Teaching students to take pictures of the great outdoors would also be an excellent subject to teach the youngsters. There are people all over every tow that would be happy to fill in for a day or two to teach this subject. Anyway let's do some thinking about getting our youngsters interested in the great outdoors. The more people who become interested in the outdoors the more people will become interested in saving it. I'm ready to volunteer right now call me.

Buckle Up, Drive With Care, Put On A Life Jacket And I'll See You On The Lake.