BackyardBassangler education

2010 take Me Fishing Grant Recipients Announced

Loren — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:49:24 +0000

The National Recreation and Park Association and the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation have announced the recipients of the 2010 Take Me Fishing grant initiative.

This year, 70 agencies and organizations throughout the country received up to $5,000 for programs that will each serve a minimum of 2,000 youths by April 30, 2011.

NRPA’s Take Me Fishing initiative supports local park and recreation agencies and youth service organizations that work to connect young people with nature and engage them in recreational boating and fishing.

“With America’s youngsters spending hours a day on electronic media, it’s become more and more challenging to introduce them to the joys of the outdoors,” RBBF president and CEO Frank Peterson said in a statement. “We’re pleased to support NRPA as they work to connect youth with the outdoors and help create future boaters and anglers who will cherish and protect our outdoor spaces.”

View the 2009-2010 grantees

NRPA Fishing Information

RBFF Fishing Section

Another Cool Resource – Life Like Plastic Replicas of the Fish of North America

Loren — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:27:27 +0000

This morning I was introduced to the Replica Toy Fish Company which produces plastic models of the fish of North America. I had to order a set of their Pond Fish Collection to share with my nephew and wife. We’ve been taking a few evening fishing trips this summer to local ponds and rivers. We are catching some of the warm water species which I’m not as familiar with having grown up around salt water and trout streams. We had a lot of fun digging through the “Sport Fish of North America” book, identifying the different pan fish we were catching and learning a bit more about them. Now here they are in all their glory! I covered an earlier trip in the post “From Backyard Bass to Bass in the Back Yard” and plan another post in the next couple weeks touching on our recent success.

Check out the Replica Toy Fish Company. It seems like these little guys could be an interesting resource for teaching fish identification in the classroom. For the tactile learners, being able to hold and manipulate a model may help with the learning process. I could see gluing a magnet to the fish and allowing kids to “catch” one from behind a screen, then identify it for points or prizes. They could even be an interesting takeaway for participants. They are reasonably priced and come in a number of package options.

They are also pulling together a Kids Page with a list of activities and other on-line resources related to fishing and identifying fish.

Images of the models from the Replica Toy Fish Company

Future Fisherman Foundation and Boy Scouts of America Sign Memorandum of Mutual Support

Loren — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:16:02 +0000

Kerry Campbell of the Future Fisherman Foundations and Howard Kern of the Boy Scouts of America National Fishing Council Sign Memorandum of Mutual Support at ICAST 2010

The Future Fisherman Foundation (F3) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Mutual Support with the Boy Scouts of America, designed to expand the relationship supporting each organization’s programs to promote conservation and education of America’s youth.

F3 will participate in Scouting through assistance in developing and promoting the Boy Scouts Certified Angler Instruction program, their Fishing and Fly Fishing Merit Badges, related conservation Merit Badges and other education programs for youth and adults. Boy Scout leaders will be eligible to participate in F3’s new Tackle for Educators Program.

To kick off the new partnership, F3 joined Scouts and their leaders at BSA’s National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia earlier this month. This year marks BSA’s 100th anniversary, and the Jamboree was at the center of the celebration. Fishing has always been a favorite activity at Jamborees, and this year was no exception. F3 Director of Education Teresa Rodriguez assisted BSA leaders in training 120 additional instructors in fly fishing, so they could teach the more than 40,000 Scouts in attendance the necessary skills to earn Fishing and Fly Fishing merit badges. Although the temperature soared to over 100 degrees, the Scout leaders diligently completed their Certified Angling Instructor training and enthusiastically embraced skill sessions in knot tying, first aid and water safety, casting, rigging a fly rod and fly tying.

“The Boy Scouts of America are just thrilled to be entering into this partnership with the Future Fisherman Foundation,” said BSA’s Kern. “A great deal of synergy is going to happen between the organizations, and our nation’s youth are only going to benefit from it.”

“A partnership between the Boy Scouts and Future Fisherman Foundation just makes sense,” F3 Board Chair Kerry Campbell added. “We have many common goals when it comes to educating youth about conservation, ethics and the outdoors. Signing this Memorandum of Mutual Support will allow our two organizations to accomplish many things together we might not have achieved alone.”

About the Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. The Scouting organization is composed of 2.7 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 20, 1.1 million volunteers, and nearly 300 local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information, visit www.scouting.org.

About the Future Fisherman Foundation

Established in 1986, the Future Fisherman Foundation unites the sportfishing industry and a nationwide network of state outdoor educators, national conservation groups and youth organizations dedicated to introducing America’s youth to angling and the outdoors. These efforts help people of all ages have safe and enjoyable fishing experiences that foster conservation ethics. Visit www.futurefisherman.org.

New Product Launched in Partnership with Future Fisherman Foundation

Loren — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:52:30 +0000

We’re please to introduce our new Backyard Bass Starter Set. This new set was designed specifically to meet the needs of the smaller programs and events. With 16 fish in various colors and 20 casting plugs, it is perfect for up to 8 participants at a time. At $49.00 the kit is well within the reach of most budgets. Talking with Teresa at the Future Fisherman Foundation inspired us to put together this new package.

A portion of the proceeds from each sale of this product will help support the Future Fisherman Foundation and their many projects and programs promoting angler education. this offering fills the gap between the individual sets of 3 fish shaped casting targets and 2 casting plugs, and our larger offerings of bulk fish by the dozen. In the short time it has been on the market, it has already proved to be a popular size kit.