Kids' Fishing Day

It's nice to see kids making sure to get their parents outside now and then.  Today, I helped out with a kids' fishing day, put on in collaboration between the Northern Virginia chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF), Reston Association, and Wetland Studies (the company I work for).  Yesterday, DGIF stocked about four hundred 8"-18" rainbow trout in Snakeden Branch, one of the streams we restored in Reston a couple of years ago.  Today, about 50 of those trout came back out at the hands of almost 200 kids between 2 and 8 years old.  (Okay, their parents helped a little bit, too.)

What a blast.  Some of the kids had never seen a trout before, let alone caught or held one.  They were fascinated as Sarah and Beth (our two fish-gutting mavens for the day) showed them how to clean fish, taught them the males from the females, and let them get up close and personal with the leftover fish heads.  Even the girls got into it, which was great to see.  (I do think it helped that we had two ladies at the cleaning station. You can't go wrong with positive role models!)

Kids, keep getting your parents outside. It's good for them.