Certified...

I am now a certified angling instructor. No, it has nothing to do with math, or geometry.

It means as far as the State of Kansas is concerned, I can now teach people - primarily kids - how to fish. I was worried. I don't think kids are supposed to fish like I fished the last time I fished. Kids shouldn't put a pole in the water and crack a few beers. I digress.

How did this happen? It was kind of an accident. I was visiting a friend this weekend and before I arrived she text me that her husband, who is very involved with Boy Scouts, wanted to take a fishing class and would that be OK while I was visiting?

I didn't object. We were heading to a big hunting and outdoors show, so I guess that made sense. I'm not an avid fisherman, but it wouldn't hurt me to learn a few things. I text her back that I was OK with going. I wondered what kind of class it would be, because the year before at the hunting and outdoors show we learned all about bass fishing and how to manipulate a lure. It was one of the demonstrations at the show, and I just figured that this year they had expanded and added classes. It wasn't that far fetched.

So I thought.


On Friday night we were catching up and swapping travel horror stories when her husband came in and said he was leaving to go fishing with a buddy. Once he was out the door she said, "that class is at 8 a.m., and I'm sorry because I didn't know he was going to sign me up, too. I figured he'd go and we could do whatever, but I don't think he wanted to go by himself."

"It's perfectly fine," I said. "I might learn something."

"Here's the article about it," she showed me the newspaper and sure enough the information was right in front of me. "I don't know much."

"It's a training program," I said as I read some of the words to her. "Pre-registration is required."

"Oh," she said, rather surprised. "What is the training for?"

"I have no idea," I answered and busted out the iPad to look up the website. "There isn't much information, oh, and the registration is still live."

I put in my registration information that consisted of an email and phone number - and that was it. "It didn't ask for my name," I said. "That's weird."

"I guess you're registered," we were both laughing as we read the CONGRATULATIONS portion of the form that said I was now registered to attend angler training. I did find out it wasn't tied to the outdoors show we were headed to, but rather sanctioned by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism as well as a program called Fishing's Future. I still didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I'm always up for a good adventure.

The next morning we walking into the event site and I was rather surprised to see about 50 people sitting in the room, and there were only four women - my friend and I were two of them. We took three seats in the back and that's when I realized I was about to get put on some type of list after this was over, and once I got to the noon hour I was going to be a card-carrying volunteer to teach kids how to fish.

I haven't fished in years. I don't fish now. I don't have a license. I don't own a pole. I don't even like touching fish. How in the hell was this going to work?

The instructor was pretty energetic about fishing and hopped around like he'd ingested speed. "You don't even have to have water to do these events! You just need to get kids interested. Have a backyard fishing event, or teach them how to tie knots!"

Knots? I could tie knots. The backyard fishing was a pole with a bright lure that was used in "catching" plastic fish in the backyard or parking lot. On the bottom of the fish were species and part of the game was once you catch one you have to identify it, and given a situation you have to find the answer in the Kansas fishing rule book. I could backyard fish.

"The point of these events is to just let kids have fun and promote fishing and families," he said to us. "Make them want to fish! It's cheap entertainment and it brings families together."

He then went into details about different activities to do, and how to facilitate them. He included ways to get parents involved and even told some pretty good stories about some of his own events and experiences.

That's I realized that the class was not about "teaching how to fish" as it was how to volunteer, how to work with kids, activity ideas when hosting fishing camps, workshops, or events. It was a crash course in how to do things the right way, the fun way, and how to make certain the volunteer hours you put in get turned back in to the state so that we can collect a little over $21 per hour in money to go back to the KDWPT.

In other words. Volunteer, fill out the paper work this way, and the state gets paid.

This is something I could handle. I did my part on Saturday and handed the state my four hours of time. That's $84 I contributed to the funds that help employ a few of my friends, and all I had to do was sit there and learn about the program, how to do events, and fill out paperwork.

What are the next steps? Get a license. Get a pole. Maybe I found a new hobby. As long as I don't have to take my own fish off the hook, I'll be fine.