The American Sportfishing Association recently published a report entitled           “Will Millennials Sustain Sportfishing?” The report indicates there is a steady decrease of angling participation across the nation for millennials over the past thirty years.

Cameron Carter is a millennial. He is a junior at Magnolia West High School, 4-H member, and founding member of his high school fishing club. He shares his passion for fishing by helping his mother and father, who are TPWD certified Angler Education Instructors, teach basic fishing skills to youth in their community, setting the hook for a younger generation. Catch the excitement in his story below, as he describes the anticipation and thrill he experiences when fishing. With the help of our volunteer instructors, hopefully we can change the trend for millennial anglers.

By now you may have noticed how all of my projects in one way or another, go back to fishing. You might wonder why this little sixteen-year-old boy could be so fascinated with it, to the point that he can’t take his mind off of it long enough to write a coherent paragraph, without mentioning it. It’s true, the very thought of fishing is something that hardly escapes me, and because I wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out, let me explain why: nothing compares to the chain of events that comes after casting a line out to an open space, letting it hit the surface, then bearing the focused silence that seems to overwhelm your body while it sinks to the bottom. You pause for a few moments at the prospect that a fish could be at the very spot you just casted, quite possibly looming over and menacing as it inches forward to stare your bait directly in the face through its callous eyes. You begin to slowly work your bait back to the boat, popping it up sporadically, pausing off on and on from time-to-time in this charade of duplicity. In attempt to be organic, your goal at this point is chiefly, to create a deception that transmutes this artificial piece of plastic into some type of forage. You pause again, eager that something is interested (give whatever is engaged, the time of day), and if something hits, you willfully ignore the natural impulse to feverishly bring it in. Once again you resist, wait and anticipate for at least about a half of second; this is to make sure that the tug you felt was in fact a fish that has interacted with your lure, not just a branch or some other type of cover. In these instants of pent up adrenaline, it’s at this point you methodically begin to reel all the slack out of your line, lean into it, and set the hook. The dream each time is to complete a clean hook set, and this aspiration is met once you feel the weight of the fish, and the fish fighting back. If you don’t, unfortunately that means you’ve not fashioned a successful hook set, thus leading to the eventual loss of the fish. Once you’ve completed a good hook set however, you have pretty much sealed the deal for landing the fish, and already the excitement reels over your body at the notion you done captured the fish already as my father would say it. Excitement grows to new levels as you begin to make assumptions about what you’re working with by the bend of the rod and the strength of the fish pulling against you…from there on it’s just fighting it in avoidance to any possibility it may get wrapped around in any cover or other hindrance that could cause you to break off. This fight is not a strong man, brute force game, but rather an eloquent art form between two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu combatants in the octagon, with exceptional prowess and technical skill. The angler must pull with just the right force and vigor, careful not to pass the threshold of too intense and not intense enough. The idea is to keep sustained pressure so the hook doesn’t come out, but to have enough restraint to avoid the hook from bending. At any point where you are just winding it in as fast as you can, you face a serious risk of breaking your line or this hook bending out. Slowly but surely, you continue the process of working, fighting, corralling, shepherding, ushering, attending, leading, and wrestling it back towards the boat. At the point when it’s finally reached the boat, you anticipate the fish coming out of the water to deftly secure the fish in a net, because if you don’t, the floundering creature will undoubtedly flail vehemently, flopping around and squirming for a way out…and the more he flops around and contorts himself outside the water, the more likely he’ll be to shake the hook in a last ditch effort for freedom. Forestalling the fish breaching the surface, you are frantically, excitedly and fanatically (but very much manically), calling for your partner to get the net in keenness to this foremost significant and climactic moment. It is a progression of pressure filled final moments followed by the temporary moments of excitement, tranquil peace, contentment and gratification. It’s temporary but once you are comfortable you only look to find that series of emotional events once more, looking for that rush yet again. From there you are always chasing that fight because the satisfaction is short lived; some may say you can get addicted to fishing, hook, line, and sinker.

Photo courtesy of Robin Carter, TPWD Volunteer

I got the call early on a Friday. The voice on the other end of the line quavered: “Please come help us deal with the snake in the pond by our office! We don’t know if it is poisonous, but it is scary!”

Spring is a high activity period for local snakes, both venomous and nonvenomous. The most commonly encountered snakes in our area (Central Texas) are nonvenomous (Texas rat snake, Eastern hognose snake, Texas brown snake), and the only venomous snake that commonly swims in water (Cottonmouth) is actually pretty uncommon around the limestone of Travis County. You can identify it because it’s entire body travels on top of the water. Regardless, here was an opportunity to talk to lots of people about snakes, snake habitat, and snake etiquette – so I gladly took it.

I brushed up on my water snake identification, remembering back to a few of the aquatic snakes I encountered on Hill Country hikes and paddling trips. In each case, the snakes were a part of the habitat – a part of the ecosystem – and I saw them as the valuable, interesting, and beautiful creatures they are.

When I got to the office complex, I was surprised that most of the folks were actually happy to have seen the snake. They were excited that their office complex, located right in the heart of Austin, was hosting a complete Texas ecosystem and not just a few exotic koi fish here and there. The serpentine visitor turned out to be the nonvenomous diamondback watersnake, who keeps the ecosystem healthy by preventing ponds from becoming overstocked with small fish and frogs.

While all of the native snakes in Texas are beneficial and most are nonvenomous, it is still good to practice safe snake etiquette while out wandering creeks, trails, and ponds. Check out the TPWD website for  some tips for keeping these snakes from making unwanted contact with you.

So, what to do when you encounter a snake and want to make that observation valuable? After checking your surroundings to determine it’s safe, try to take a picture of it with your cell phone (from a safe distance) and upload your sighting to iNaturalist.org, a platform for people to provide valuable data on wildlife throughout Texas. It gives people interested in nature a place to share observations, ask for identification help, and talk with one another about nature. You can enter observations online at http://www.inaturalist.org/ or through the iNaturalist app, available for iPhone and Android devices.

It has been a busy spring and summer, but thankfully we have had some extra help at HQ from our summer intern, Emily Kinney, a senior at Texas State University. Emily has been helping with events in Central Texas, pitching in at the warehouse to wrangle equipment, and with data entry of volunteer reports. We wish her luck as she continues to pursue her education and career goals this fall.

In April, a kick-off event for the Vamos a Pescar Education Fund was held at the George H. W. Bush Library in College Station. The education fund named in honor of President Bush, an avid angler, was launched by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF).  Grants were issued to partners in Texas and Florida to engage Hispanic families in fishing and boating. After brief presentations, families involved in the pilot project went fishing in the presidential pond with support from the partners, TPWD, and Bass Pro Shops staff. Even the former President caught a fish!

Also in April, Hutsell Elementary held their 10th anniversary fishing event, "Take Me Fishing Hutsell" in Katy, TX. Nearly 300 people attended, including alumni students and their families. What a beautiful day it was, especially after the devastating floods that took place earlier that week. Many thanks to all the volunteers and teachers who coordinated the event Robert Brashear, current Principal Margie Blount, former Principal Keiko Davidson, Brenda Shaver, Michelle Beer, Michael Scherer, Shelia and Willie Davis, Tim Gebauer, Michael Thomas, Paul Walker, Richard Ogrin, Lynn Banks, Thor Larsen, Neil Stillman, Thomas Fitzgerald, and many more!

Be sure to check our Instructor Resource web page for several new teaching aids, lessons and other helpful PowerPoints and videos, including:  

• Regulation Scavenger Hunt and Rummy card game
• Revised Basic Fly Fishing Guide
• Revised Spanish version of the Basic Guide for the Beginning Angler
• River Access and Conservation Program PowerPoint

As summer comes to an end, so does our fiscal year. Be sure to get all your summer fishing activity reports in by August 31st! Remember for those multi-day events, be sure to document your volunteer service hours by day. For information about reporting online, watch the helpful video or print out the instructions, if you need help with your User ID and password, just give one of our staff a call. 

Welcome New Instructors and congratulations to our Area Chiefs who earned their Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards!

Both Karen and Keira missed the annual Area Chief training meeting this year, but thankfully Audra, Caleb, and Greg were able to step right in and conduct the meeting without a hitch.

The meeting was held on April 1st- 2nd in Austin. Twenty-three people attended, including 10 new Area Chiefs! Activities included a Riparian Field Study led by Johnnie Smith, TPWD Conservation Education Manager, round table discussions, presentations about Invasive Species by Monica McGarrity and Alligator Gar by Clint Robertson, both from our Inland Fisheries Division. Our friends from Fishing’s Future sponsored the lunch on Saturday. When Karen got back to town, she was delighted to hear about the great meeting from our volunteers: 

On the weekend of April 1st, 2016 I had the pleasure of attending my first Area Chief meeting in Austin. I could not help but jump at this great opportunity to grow in the fishing community listen to ideas, and soon place it into practice. Teaching and sharing knowledge to anglers ranging from kids to adults in spincast and fly fishing, beginners to experts is great because it makes them aware of important information whether it is new or they’ve heard it a hundred times. It helps them grow, and allows them to enjoy the outdoors even more. 

My favorite part was to meet and network with all the other Area Chiefs: some retired, some fishing and teaching, and the ones who are new. I love to connect with those that have the same interests as me, enjoy the outdoors, to see those who are supportive of the Texas Parks and Wildlife programs. Being around this amazing group makes me smile. Being new to the Area Chief program, it was nice to hear new ways of teaching both adults and younger generations from others. It gave me many ideas and I can’t wait to put them into action! I really appreciated professionals coming in and speaking about invasive species and Alligator gar.

We all need to be aware of what is out there, how to identify species and correct information, but most importantly the best ways to teach and share that knowledge. I’m looking forward to teaching as an Area Chief and working with other volunteers to help TPWD in any way or form, share and pass down knowledge.

Life is Truly Better Outside!

Kim Penick, TPWD Area Chief, Plano, TX

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Thank you so much for conducting such a wonderful 2016 TPWD Area Chief Conference last weekend! I know y’all spend lots of time planning these events out and we really appreciate it! This year was different since Karen had to leave at the last minute for a family emergency and Keira could not attend due to having the flu, but Karen's Area Specialists and Assistant did a great job taking over!

I especially liked the Fish Fry on Friday evening and the round robin on Saturday where four different scenarios were presented and we had to list answers and ideas on a poster board. A bonus to this was where we could judge 1st, 2nd, & 3rd in importance later. I am especially looking forward to an email sent to all of us summarizing our answers and ideas. Exercises like this is why it's important for Area Chiefs to attend every year, plus to be re-charged for the coming year! 

Thanks again for leading this important conference & all you do for us,

Tim Gebauer, TPWD Area Chief, Katy, TX

Photo credit: Audra Wert, TPWD