Take a kid fly fishing

Published 10:19 am Thursday, September 22, 2011

Writer Lauren McLane of The Sentinel newspaper in Carlisle, Pa. did a nice story on a Trout Unlimited program to get kids in trouble to spend more time fishing, We need more young people in fly fishing, so hopefully we’ll see this effort expand a little a bit around the country.

CARLISLE, Pa. — Fly fishing and at-risk youths might not seem to have much in common on the surface, but taking a risk on the combination of the two helped to win Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited the coveted Golden Trout Award.

“It helps youth in the community,” Justin Pittman, juvenile probation officer and member of CVTU, said of the Street-to-Streams program.

“It’s another piece of the puzzle,” of figuring out how to reach those kids, he added.

“We have had support from the members, from management, from Judge Hess, who took a risk on us,” said Sam Martin, director of juvenile probation.

Judge Kevin Hess, the primary juvenile court judge, applauded Pittman and Martin for their work.

“Justin and Sam have done the work on putting it together. They’ve been very supportive on a number of levels. These are generally at-risk kids. The program is helpful.

“It underscores values that are strange to some of these people, the whole notion of patience, the discipline that is involved, the fact that it is outdoors and teaching them an appreciation for that,” he said.

Chet Hagenbath, president of CVTU, said the club was “humbled and pleased” by the award, which was given for a number of projects the organization, which has more than 500 members, has done.

Street-to-Streams grew out of other outreach projects the organization does.

About two-and-a-half years ago, Hagenbath said, they started a Ladies’ Fly-Fishing Day.

“I was helping a lady on the stream at Allenberry and Justin walked up to me and asked what we were doing. I told him and he joined the organization.

“He got elected to the board and suggested doing Street to Streams,” Hagenbath said, and the program started.

“What we always want to make people understand is that people think we are primarily a fishing organization, but that’s not true. We preserve, protect and enhance,” he said.

“What canaries are to mines, trout are to streams,” he said, referring to the canaries miners used take underground to check for potentially lethal build-ups of methane gas. “We are dedicated to clean, fresh water.”

The program is certainly beneficial to the at-risk youth who are involved, but it’s also beneficial to the members of the organization, Pittman said.

“This says a lot about the level of commitment form the CVTU members. We’ve received support on both sides,” he said.

“It’s a mentoring opportunity to teach and lead by example for members of the community,” Hess said.

“They take them under their wings, give them a new outlook. Many of these kids don’t have hobbies or interests. I try to get out there when I can to meet some of the kids themselves. It’s a unique program. With some of the challenges young people are facing, we need to broaden our horizons, think of new and different ways” to reach them, he added.

Both Martin and Pittman praised Hess for being open to the idea.

“He saw past the unconventionality of it, to see the potential,” Martin said. “He took a risk, knowing the benefits outweigh the risk.”

Pittman added that fly fishing is his passion, but it’s “something they can take with them now. It’s positive, they can come back to it later. It’s a positive connection to the community.”

The member mentors — called “gillies” — have talked with their students about everything, Pittman said. Some of them have gone on to develop lasting bonds with their students, continuing to work with them well after the program ends.

Besides Street to Streams, CVTU won its Golden Trout Award for programs at the U.S. Army War College, which engages high-ranking officers in a program of fly fishing and conservation.

Also included was the restoration of Big Spring Creek, which was once recognized as one of the best brook trout fisheries in the East before being degraded.

CVTU worked with the Big Spring Watershed Association and the state Fish and Boat Commission to restore a critical section of the stream to a condition that could support a healthy trout population.

CVTU also participated in the dam removal at Yellow Breeches. With grants of $160,000 from the state Department of Environment Protection and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the organization helped to remove two low-head dams at Spangler’s Mill and Green Lane Farms and to perform necessary bank stabilization.

The organization also worked with a developer to preserve an “exceptional value” section of the LeTort Spring Run from run-off from a development.