GLENWOOD — Laurin Middle School student Corbin Sigler, 11, had never been fishing before he took an after-school fishing class. But once he started, he was hooked.
“I didn’t know anything about fishing,” Corbin said. “My favorite thing was to learn how to cast for accuracy. I’ve learned how to tie leaders with fluorocarbon knots and put bobbers, bait and stingers onto my line.”
Next, he wants to take a similar class this summer through Battle Ground Community Education. It’s taught by Darrell Kirkpatrick, his health and P.E. teacher at Laurin who also is his fishing teacher.
During the school year, the five-week Fish On class meets twice a week after school. It’s one of several after-school activities available for middle school students in Battle Ground Public Schools. The summer class is for anyone 10 or older who wants to learn to fish.
Fishing Local Waters
• What: How to Successfully Fish Local Waters.
• Who: Ages 10 and older who want to learn to fish.
• When: 12 sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from June 14 through July 26; two classes offered: 3 to 4 p.m. or 7 to 8 p.m.
• Where: Laurin Middle School gym, 13601 N.E. 97th Ave., Vancouver.
• Cost: $68 includes all materials, equipment.
• Instructor: Darrell Kirkpatrick, 360-521-0604.
• Register: Battle Ground Community Education, 360-885-6584 or online at http://bgce.battlegroundps.org
Students learn fishing techniques, how to tie flies, and about fisheries conservation and ecosystems. Lamiglas, a Woodland company that builds fishing rods, donated about 100 rod blanks to Kirkpatrick’s fishing program so that students could build their own rods. At the end of the summer class, fishing guides take Kirkpatrick and the students fishing.
Kirkpatrick, 55, said when he was a boy, his dad took him fishing at Horseshoe Lake and Battle Ground Lake. Later he learned “how wonderful the area is for salmon and steelhead.”
He started working with his students to raise coho salmon through Columbia Springs’ Salmon in the Classroom program. He started teaching fishing about five years ago to one special education student who used a motorized wheelchair and had limited motor skills. This boy was interested in learning to fish, so Kirkpatrick took him outside to teach him to cast. When Kirkpatrick became a volunteer at the annual fishing derby for special needs kids at Klineline Pond, he invited the boy along.
“We did a field trip for him so he could go catch a fish. He was so excited, he was crying,” Kirkpatrick said. “I wanted to help him some more.”
Soon other students gravitated toward fishing. So four years ago, Kirkpatrick started the after-school fishing program. As the interest in fishing has expanded, more students began fishing with their families.
“Once you go fishing, you get hooked on it. It’s exciting to catch those large fish,” Kirkpatrick said.
His student, Corbin, plans to fish with his family this summer. His mom has a cabin at Merrill Lake. But first, he needs a rod.
“It’s been such a joy for me that I started my own fishing guide business during the summer,” he said. “I can’t believe I get paid to teach people to fish.”
