South Callaway club gives youngsters chance to wet a line 

Lisa Yorkgitis, Jefferson City News Tribune, 3/15/2007

Eighth-grader Jacob Bethel didn't set high expectations for catching trout with a fly, so he wasn't disappointed Saturday when none of his flies attracted a trout at McKay Park Lake.

“I thought it would be fun,” said Jacob, a member of the Hooked on Fly Fishing Club at South Callaway Middle School in Mokane. “I like to do the casting. I like to make the flies. It's an experience.”

Jacob is an accomplished rod-and-reel fisherman, but until last weekend, he had tried fly fishing only briefly. During club meetings, he learned how to cast with a fly-fishing rod and generate the appearance of an actual insect's movement. Fly fishing for real proved to be a challenge.

“Fly fishing is more technical,” Jacob said. “With regular fishing, you just cast the line in, wait for a bite and reel it in.”

Students in the fly fishing club have visited McKay Park annually since the Missouri Conservation Department began stocking the lake with trout a few years ago.

“Most of the students have bait fished before but not fly fished,” said Regina Van Patten, a teacher who serves as club advisor with her husband, Mark. “They learn to tie a fly themselves with fur and feathers. To catch the fish with something they created is a neat experience.”

Favorite flies among the youths include woolly buggers. Unfortunately, Jacob and some of the other students forgot to bring their handmade flies to McKay Park, so they borrowed some. That's okay. The club plans to hold one or two more fishing trips this year.

The club began four years ago, and each year, it attracts about 30 members. Through fly fishing, students learn about ecology. The presence of some insects, such as stone flies and may flies, indicates that a body of water is healthy. The ecology lessons correspond to the school's science curriculum.

Club advisors Regina and Mark Van Patten stress the need to care for the land, avoid crowding other fishermen and abide by state regulations. They want the students to become ethical fishermen.

“Any time you can teach someone to fish, you give them a skill that lasts a lifetime,” said Mark Van Patten, a fisheries biologist with the Conservation Department who hosts a fly fishing show called “The Tying Bench” at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on PBS station KMOS.

The club's donors include Mokane Market, Callaway Bank, the John G. Smerek Charitable Trust Grant, the Missouri chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Capital City Fly Fishers. Members of the Capital City Fly Fishers attend meetings and help on outings as well as at the club's end-of-the-year conclave.