The Family & Youth Casting Call

Save the date!  The 2011 Family & Youth Casting Call will be Saturday April 16, 2011!!!

Spend a day fishing in the C&O Canal - we provide the instructors and all the gear you will need to catch fish! When not fishing, children will Explore, Learn and Protect to get their NPS Junior Ranger Badge through activities like water quality testing, fly casting or fly tying, fish art, scavenger hunts, touch tanks and so much more! Partner agencies and organizations will have displays set up to learn about how they are helping fish and fishing across the country. Don’t miss this fantastic day of family fun!

Hosted by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association  and the National Park Service

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The 2010 Family & Youth Casting Call
Focusing on Future Generations

Those of us who fish a lot can’t often remember the simple joy of catching our first fish but we take our children and grandchildren out and share the joy with them.  However there are thousands of children across this country who have never fished and parents who would love to get them out but don’t have the resources or knowledge to do it themselves.  This is the vision behind the Family & Youth Casting Call – to provide families in the Washington, DC area the chance to get hooked on fishing.

“Just like the field of dreams, if we host it they will come.  It proves to me that kids and families just need an excuse – and some tools and training that we provide during this event – to get outside and have fun,” stated Alan Gnann, Chairman of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) Board.  “Much has been made about the importance of reconnecting kids and families with the great outdoors. What we really need to remember is that most just need a helping hand after that first push out the door!”

AFFTA and its partners have hosted the FYCC  for five years and it has grown substantially in the last three.  In 2009, with glorious, hot and sunny weather more than 500 children fished at the event.  This year a daunting report of rain deterred a larger turnout, but another 200 children spent the day learning to fish and earning their National Park Service Junior Ranger Badge.  These kids learned a great lesson – that rain doesn’t stop the fish from biting and every child caught at least one fish and many caught well more than that. 

“It often amazes me how even the most active children can sit and fish for an extended period of time if they are simply given the opportunity – the lure of catching their first fish is so strong,” commented Mike Gawtry, fishing product line manager for L.L. Bean.  “And when they hook up that first time it is almost as if an imaginary hook is set in them to connect them to a lifelong love of fishing and the outdoors.”