Get Out! And celebrate all things angling
Many will wet a line June 3-11 during National Fishing & Boating Week
determine when a free fishing day is offered in your state.
Like many other fishing aficionados around America, Steve Hollensed loves to fish.
Actually, the Tom Bean, Texas, angler's wife, Lisa, might say that such sentiments are putting it rather mildly since Hollensed's love of the sport is nothing short of full boil.
With at least 34 million kinsmen nationwide — according to a 2001 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Hollensed isn't alone in his unbridled passion for the sport of fishing.
The nation's love of angling will be duly noted this Saturday at 6 a.m. ET on "The Outdoors Show on ESPN Radio" and later this Saturday on ESPN2's "BassCenter" at 11 a.m. ET. But it will also be celebrated for the next full week during the June 3-11 nation-wide observance of "National Fishing & Boating Week."
As a part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's state park Family Fishing Celebration this year, tomorrow's kid's fishing derby is the second of three scheduled for the popular north Texas park.
At last month's first such derby, nearly 100 youngsters gathered for the event, led by Hollensed, who is the state park's fishing events coordinator.
"We had 96 kids at the first event, and for a lot of kids, it was the first time they had ever been fishing," Hollensed said. "For many other kids, they had been introduced to fishing in some sort of introductory way, but had never caught a fish, until they caught one for the first time at our derby."
With a lake noted for its abundant striped bass; largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth bass; panfish; and catfish; the derby is held along the state park's lake shoreline and — with the cooperation of the Eisenhower Yacht Club — within a covered boat dock over much deeper water.
With state park entrance fees waived — and fishing license fees waived too since June 3 is free fishing day in Texas — the recipe for a great day of introductory angling is complete.
What's the recipe? Simple — a good place to fish, plenty of willing fish, ample door prizes and derby awards, and plenty of park staff and volunteers who all want to see children discover the pure joy of a fish pulling back on the end of a line.
Hollensed believes that there are several good reasons to promote his love of fishing.
The first is that it creates stronger family bonds.
"One of the most important things is because it bonds and unites kids, their parents, and their grandparents," Hollensed said. "It's a real bonding experience."
The 50-year old Hollensed knows first hand of what he is talking about, first going fishing at the age of six.
"My parents first took me to a farm pond on a family fishing trip," Hollensed recalled. "We used a lot of simple and inexpensive gear like bobbers, hooks, split shot, and good old night crawlers."
The results from those humble beginnings on a North Texas pond have lasted a lifetime.
Today, Hollensed is unabashed in his love for his family — he's a devoted husband, father of two grown daughters, and unofficial fishing mentor to a son-in-law and a soon-to-be son-in-law.
He's also unashamed of his love for fishing, having angled his way across Texas, Oklahoma, the Rocky Mountain states, and into Canada for such species as catfish, largemouth and smallmouth bass, striped bass, panfish, trout, steelhead, and walleye among others.
So hot is his passion for the sport that he recently walked away from a successful career as an environmental science teacher at a North Texas high school to begin guiding fly fishing anglers to Texoma's striped bass, teaching the art of fly casting as a certified instructor, and working on the side as the fishing events coordinator at Eisenhower SP.
"Fishing has always been an important part of my life," Hollensed said.
"Years ago, in our state conservation magazine, we used to run advertisements to promote ourselves as the mixed bag hunting capital of the world due to our great hunting," said Daryl Bauer, a fisheries biologist and the lakes and reservoirs program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
"But I've always told folks that it applies to our fishing too.
"As a state, we're pretty much geographically where east meets west and where north meets south, so there's a lot of variety of water and fish here."
That provides a great avenue for Nebraska families to get together and spend some quality time outdoors.
"The beauty of fishing is that it is meant to be a participation sport and that means that anyone can participate in it," Bauer said. "It's an ideal thing for families to go out and do.
"Kids, parents, and grandparents can all fish together at the same time and in the same place. You can't do that playing soccer, softball, or most of those other sports (out there)."
But the quality time that families can spend together is only one reason to promote the sport of fishing in Hollensed's mind since he thinks that fishing teaches kids important lessons about creation in a hand's on way.
"I really do this because I think it's good for the kids and it's good for the sport, but it's also good for our environment," he said.
Barry Bolton, the assistant chief of fisheries for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation in Oklahoma City, couldn't agree more.
For Hollensed, what he's doing now in guiding, teaching flycasting, and helping put on kids fishing derbies is still about education.
It's just that his classroom — and the overall teaching objective — has changed a little bit. "When kids begin to learn about and appreciate the natural world, they're going to take care of it," Hollensed said.
"And with the pressure on our environment and its resources, I think it's really important to develop an outdoor ethic and nothing does that like fishing."
But for all of the above reasons to help kids learn to fish — worthy reasons, mind you — Hollensed believes there is still one reason that may trump all of the others.
"The biggest reason of all (to fish) is that it's just plain fun," Hollensed said.
"If a kid has a fish on the end of his or her line, you can just about bet that there is going to be a smile on their face."
And that is the power of fishing, something to be celebrated by us all.
