Libby students 'Hooked on Fishing' at Logan State Park Fish, Wildlife and Parks runs the two-decades old program

Libby Elementary School students, teachers and even some parents hit the ice at Logan State Park, Jan. 26, to fish and learn with the help of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Brian Stephens, a fisheries conservation technician, said that the Hooked on Fishing program has been around for about two decades, but this is the first year that Libby students have had a chance to participate.

“For some reason we just never got it up and running in Libby,” he said.

Part of a national program to encourage fishing as an alternative to more destructive activities such as drugs, the program mixes classroom and hands on instruction to engage students, Stephens said.

In the classroom, the students dissect fish and learn about anatomy, fish identification and even about concepts such as water distribution on a global scale, he said. Later in the year, they will mix their math education with learning about their natural world with activities that have them simulating population estimates for fish.

“It seems the teachers are doing a good job overlapping this special activity program and their day-to-day coursework,” Stephens said.

Libby fourth-grade teacher Bill Moe said the students will do a research paper as part of the program, and will be going out again in the spring for a fly-fishing trip.

“The biggest thing is the exposure, and getting them to see something different, especially in the winter time when they’re sitting on the couch, and just have some fun,” Moe said.

There were a variety of skill levels among the students, including some who had never been fishing before, Moe said.

“There was a lot of excitement today,” he said. “They were looking forward to getting out there and doing something they haven’t done or seen before.”

“A lot of these kids, living in Northwest Montana, they should experience the outdoors,” Stephens said.

“And fish and ice fishing, that’s all part of it. If nothing else, we can give them some exposure and get em outside.”

Fourth grade student Kaydence Gilroy said she would enjoy coming out and ice fishing again.

“No bites, but it was fun,” she said.

Fourth grade student Paxton Paulsen said he enjoyed getting a chance to share ice fishing with his friends. His favorite part is catching the fish, and he likes eating fish as well, though his father, Tim, said Paxton isn’t as fond of cleaning them.

“He makes dad do that for him,” he said.

As a parent, Paulsen said he likes that the students are involved in hands-on activities in the outdoors. They go ice fishing throughout the year, but still enjoyed taking some time outdoors on a weekday morning.

“Not all kids get the chance to get to go out and do something like this, so it gives them a chance to see what it’s like,” Paulsen said. “And I think it’s really great that the school supports it, and that fish and game takes the time to go through all the work to set it up for them like this.”

“And it’s nice that I get to tag along and enjoy it with him,” Paulsen added.

Katie Derrick said she came as a chaperone to help out, but was also there with her son, Hunter.

She said that their family has done ice fishing a lot in the past, but had not been out recently.

“I really do love it, we just get busy, and you forget how much you really like things until you get back out there,” she said.