They're hooked

Posted 6/27/19

Even as the gray clouds passed over the humid shores of Rocky Point Tuesday morning there were lots of smiles. Fifty children from ages 7 to 12 stood around their instructors, dressed in their red white, yellow and green fishing attire, along with

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They're hooked

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Even as the gray clouds passed over the humid shores of Rocky Point Tuesday morning there were lots of smiles.

Fifty children from ages 7 to 12 stood around their instructors, dressed in their red white, yellow and green fishing attire, along with matching caps.

This was the 4th annual Youth Fishing Camp sponsored by The Rhode Island Salt Water Anglers Association and an exciting event for both kids and adults who love marine life.

The kids could hardly contain their excitement and were eager to give the 4-1-1 on making the perfect catch even though they had no idea what that might be.

For bait, “you have to use popcorn,” said Caleb Surgue. As others looked at him incredulously, he smiled. “It works!” he insisted.

“You can’t forget to use the right bait for the right fish,” added Lana DesRoches, who has already been fishing eight times and now hopes to catch none other than a “big great white shark!”

While all the kids continued to talk about the secrets of fishing, others were concentrated on learning the basics. Paired with accomplished saltwater fishermen were newcomers, who transitioned from station to station learning for the first time how to ride in a boat, how to work fishing gear, and what fish they should keep an eye out for.

“This year we have the most number of kids who never fished before,” said Association Director Steve Medeiros. He said there were at least 15 to 20 kids who had no fishing experience and there are many who had “never been on a boat.”

That was all going to change over the course of the three-day camp.

The annual Youth Fishing Camp is indeed growing fast. Medeiros said “the idea came in 2016” and ultimately, 50 kids signed up for the fishing endeavor. Every year, Medeiros, along with other volunteers have “improved it” and it “keeps getting better and better.”

This year notices for the camp were first published in association news letter and then on the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Facebook page. In no time the 50 slots in the camp were filled and Medeiros ended up with a waiting list of 67.

On Tuesday the Salt Water Angler campers learned “basic fishing laws, marine biology,” and how to use and tie “fishing knots, bait and lures.” On Wednesday the camp traveled to Point Judith, where they spent “hours fishing aboard the 80-foot boat, Seven B’s V” and finally, the camp will conclude today with an exciting morning on “RISAA members’ boats…in Greenwich Bay” Children will receive certificates of completion” for all their hard work.

To make the opening experience all the more special, Mayor Joseph Solomon and Janet Coit, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, joined the Youth Fishing Camp at Rocky Point.

“This is a great partnership,” said Coit, “I just love seeing these kids on the water.” Mayor Solomon added that hopefully, next year, the kids would fish on the Rocky Point Pier currently under reconstruction.

Catching fish was surely on the minds of many campers, but that’s not what Medeiros hopes they take away from the three-day adventure.

“The real purpose of this is to expose children to the marine environment” where they’ll make memories that “they’ll never forget,” he said. He hopes that these young fishers will “pass on the love for the bay” for years to come.

(Text and photos by Sophia Aigner)

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