NPAA members Brent Long #109 and Michael Kittner #690 held a fishing basics clinic at the Disabled American Veterans benefit walleye tournament in Warren, PA.

 

Eighteen kids and nine adults learned about safety in and near the water. Brent showed a replica of his first fishing rod, he calls the ugly stick, a branch with a piece of line and a hook and while you can still find them today, the kids learned they would be taking home a closed faced rod/reel for attending the clinic. They were shown how to use both closed faced and open faced reels and how to set the drag properly.

 

The kids had the opportunity to practice tying both the clinch knot and polymer knot. Then they looked at the types of presentations some of the anglers were using including the presentation Brent and Mike used to bring in the tournament winning basket that day.  They learned about and looked at live bait and live bait imitations such as Gulp leading into an AIS discussion.   That discussion include Clean Drain and Dry best practices and how to avoid transferring aquatic vegetation and organisms from one location to another.

 

Brent and Mike thank the NPAA and FAF for the rod combos, tee shirts, AIS water bottles and fishing booklets the kids received.