DNR helps support new 4-H fishing club in Marquette County
Michigan Department of Natural Resources sent this bulletin at 06/30/2015 02:20 PM EDT|
Hands-on approach gives kids a "big picture" view of Michigan fishing. |
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Upper Peninsula DNR News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2015
Contact: John Pepin, 906-226-1352
DNR helps support new 4-H fishing club in Marquette County
Some Marquette County youth who are hooked on fishing have formed a unique club to enhance their enjoyment of the sport and to dive deeper into learning more about it.
The 4-H Fishing Club – open to all Marquette County youth ages 9-19 – held its organizational meeting June 13 during the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Free Fishing Weekend, encouraging parents to join the young anglers in the day’s activities. 
“This newly formed group is a positive step in the right direction for recruiting more anglers to the fishing community in the Marquette area,” said Cory Kovacs, a DNR fisheries biologist for the Eastern Lake Superior Management Unit in Newberry. “These opportunities for youngsters to get involved and get on the water are important for their experiences and sometimes drive them to be outdoorsmen and women.”
The club – which is the only 4-H Club of its kind in the Upper Peninsula – is based at K.I. Sawyer and has adopted the community’s 10-acre Little Trout Lake there as its “home water.” The group plans to hold meetings at various local lakes this summer where members will fish and receive angling instruction. The boys and girls will continue to meet year-round to learn about fishing in all seasons.
“The purpose of the 4-H Club is to introduce youth to a big-picture approach to fishing. They will learn multiple styles of fishing, catching fish, cleaning fish and even cooking fish,” said Liana Graves, Marquette County 4-H Program coordinator. “Environmental stewardship will be woven into the fishing lessons to connect environmental issues and natural resources.”
Graves said the club plans to team up with area service organizations to work on community projects that encourage environmental stewardship, like stream and Adopt-A-Trail cleanups.
“Ultimately, we want to provide our youth opportunities to work side by side with caring adults to guide them in learning through hands-on activities that develop them into responsible citizens,” Graves said.
A $4,673 Michigan 4-H Participation Fee Grant was awarded to Marquette County to create the fishing club. The funding enabled the club to purchase a boat, canoes, and enough fishing equipment for the club to use on its fishing expeditions.
During the Free Fishing Weekend outing, 11 of the club’s 16 members met at Little Trout Lake, which is home to bass and bluegill and perhaps a few residual rainbow trout that were stocked in previous seasons.
Eight parents also participated, along with four club volunteers, Graves and Dale Throenle, the club’s leader and instructor.
“This club is a great way to get kids outdoors and involved in a family-based activity. It has been very cool to have so many parents participate,” Throenle said. “It introduces them to a year-round, lifelong outdoor activity. Whether you are 8 or 80, you can fish.”
Before fishing, the club learned about group organization by electing its officers.
“We are excited to have some great leadership from our members in the club,” Throenle said. “We look forward to seeing the members grow in their fishing and leadership skills.”
Club President Crimson Bianchetti, 13, of K.I. Sawyer said she really enjoyed the day.
“It was exciting,” Bianchetti said. “It was a good start for everybody to get their hands on a fishing pole. I caught one bluegill but it was scrawny so I let it go.” 
About half of the young boys and girls had never fished before, while others had fished with their families. One girl seemed less squeamish about worms once she held one and discovered it couldn’t bite her.
Kovacs had provided the club with measurement stickers, bobbers, “Eat Safe Fish” brochures and “Let’s Go Fishing” activity books from the DNR.
This fall, during another fishing event, Throenle plans to stock more rainbow trout in Little Trout Lake, which feeds Silver Lead Creek.
The DNR will offer a winter Free Fishing Weekend, when no fishing license is required, over the weekend of Feb. 13-14 and another free summer event next June 11-12.
Kovacs said he will meet with the club next spring to explain what fisheries managers do and how they process information.
“I will cover topics including how we collect fish data with netting and electrofishing gear, what we do with the data to recommend regulation changes to the Natural Resources Commission, and how we use different management tools such as stocking and regulations to improve the fishery,” Kovacs said.
“Conversations like these, in these kinds of groups, usually spark more interest in fisheries management, as well as careers in the natural resources fields. That is how I got started and here I am today doing what I love.”
Marquette County’s 4-H program has roughly 190 members with 16 clubs focused on interests ranging from sewing, food preservation and crafts to studying bats, bees, butterflies and several outdoor adventure challenge activities, including spelunking, rock-climbing and winter camping.
For more information about 4-H in Marquette County, contact Graves at 906-475-5731 or deisenro@anr.msu.edu.
For more information on DNR fishing-related activities, including the Hook, Line and Sinker educational program and Family Friendly Fishing Waters, visit www.michigan.gov/fishing.
/Editors’ note: Accompanying photos are available below for download. Suggested captions follow.
Instruction.jpg – 4-H Club leader Dale Throenle, holding fishing pole, teaches Marquette County’s 4-H fishing club members about different types of fishing poles during the club’s recent meeting at Little Trout Lake at K.I. Sawyer.
Fishing Poles.jpg – Jane Flourre, a parent participating in Marquette County’s 4-H fishing club outing at Little Trout Lake, helps 10-year-old Gracey Ayotte of K.I. Sawyer get her pole ready to fish.
Shorelines Fishing.jpg – Marquette County 4-H fishing club members and volunteers fish along the shoreline of Little Trout Lake at K.I. Sawyer. The 8-foot-deep lake is home largely to bass and bluegill./