ok, finally have a chance to do this now:
After last year’s event, I wasn’t too keen on putting on this year’s Fish for the Future because the turnout was below my expectation. It was either due to the unusually hot weather that we had, or people in Vancouver simply aren’t interested in this type of events.
I decided to give it one more chance, putting more effort into the advertising. The result was beyond my expectation, and I am now very motivated to do the event once again next year.
Fish for the Future started three years ago, the idea was developed from what others have done during the BC Family Fishing Weekend, which was launched six years ago. Instead of doing a derby, which may often become too competitive and bring out the worst of parents, I decided that it is necessary to produce an educational event where everyone can have fun and learn something at the same time.
Sponsors have been incredibly helpful this year. Joanne and Margarita put together a package of goods that we could give away to the kids. These included the salmon and rockfish id cards, various pamphlets that explain the common fisheries around Vancouver. Steve and Ken at Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery were also very helpful. They provided several prizes and the regulation synopsis for people to take home. ZoAnn at the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation provided tents and various educational material. She suggested many excellent ideas that can be used to deliver the messages to the kids. Local stores like Berry’s, Nikka, and Anglers West were able to supply the prizes once again for our draws. Everyone should continue to Redl Sport as they have once again donated 20 or so rods and reels to each event, that’s around 500 rods in total!
When I woke up on Saturday morning, the weather looked as if it was ready to clear up, but it started to drizzle around 8:30am when we were leaving! The setup went so smoothly because Mark, Thomas, Dan, Aaron, Carlo, Nina, Richard were just so efficient. We had the tents, tables, chairs, everything up way before the start time.
This year’s event did not include the usual exhibitors, like BC Hydro, Lifesaving Society, Burns Bog Society, etc. Instead, we put together several small workshops that everyone could participate in.
Something new and experimental this year was the aquatic critter section, which I was so excited about for weeks. In this section, we had a freshwater display of insects from both streams and ponds, plus tadpoles, crayfish etc. The insect display allowed kids to observe and identify several insects by using the id cards and magnifying glasses. We also had a tank up where kids could observe their catches before releasing them back later on. It’s a fantastic way to learn the behaviours fish exhibit. We also had some marine invertebrates, including ghost shrimp, small crabs and sea worms. Seymour Salmon Hatchery brought a tank of juvenile coho that was always surrounded by curious audience. I really appreciate them for doing that as they also had a big event the day after that, lots of work.
The flytying section was incredibly busy the whole time. Poor Carlo, Aaron and Ed hardly had a break during those five hours as there was a lineup of kids who wished to tie!
Carole’s colouring workshop was beyond what I had expected. The glitter idea was fantastic, and you made so many little ones happy. It’s nice to be able to fish for a bit, then do various arts and crafts during breaks.
Floon’s instruction always amazes me. There was a good number of people who were willing to learn, and it looked like quite a few people will be purchasing fly setups after that day.
The sandwiches for volunteers were made by the kids who I tutor. They did a great job by looking after the draw prize station. This year’s money generated from draw prizes is $89.05. It’s not much, but that will be used to pay for some advertising of next year’s event.
The floating dock was quite crowded at times, but the atmosphere was great. Brian (Dragonspeed), Thomas (Spudcote), Richard (flyfisherman) and Rene (Rantalot) were able to make sure lines stayed tangle-free as long as possible, and kids were actually catching fish, lots of it! You guys did a great job, making sure every kid understood the goal of catch and release, and other aspects of fishing.
In total, we estimated around 350 to 400 people who attended the event. Traffic was consistent throughout the event, it was nice that we didn’t get one big rush then nothing for the rest of the day.
Now, improvements for next year, and feel free to add the ones that are on your mind:We need to create some sort of a fence/boundary for floon’s flycasting instruction area, so no one would be whipped in the head.
Next year’s I’ll be inviting back the major community groups such as BC Hydro Powersmart, Burns Bog Conservation Society, OWL, Lifesaving Society etc so there is a good diversity of activities to participate in.
Advertising needs to go out a bit earlier.
More tables! The aquatic critter section could use one more tent and two more tables so the work stations were more comfortable.
Start and end time? Maybe avoid noon so there wouldn’t be a gap since people would be out for lunch? Ie. 12pm to 5pm instead?
Set a time limit for fishing on floating dock? 1.5 hours, etc. This way it would not get too crowded, other kids have a chance to fish and also get to participate in other educational activities.
That’s all I can think of right now. Thanks again, this event can only happen if there are volunteers like you guys and gals. I think we also learn something new when we teach the kids how to fish.
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Topic: Fish for the Future 2005, thank you. (Read 12138 times)