FISHING WITH A RANGER: When you want to learn how to fish - 
go fishing with a ranger -- Passport to Texas.


Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife


What better way to spend a sultry summer evening than sitting 
lakeside ... with a line in the water ... waiting for a bite. You and 
your kids are invited to do just that, Saturdays, at Inks Lake State 
Park in Burnet.


"One hour every Saturday from six to seven, children of all ages 
come in and we teach the basics of safety, how to cast, a little bit 
about how to set up a pole; the very basics of fishing as far as that goes." 

Robert Smith is an interpretive ranger who spearheads this activity.


"We furnish poles, and all the tackle. We let them fish about fifty 
minutes after we do our little safety program and lecture."

Smith says he started the Fishing with a Ranger program after 
witnessing that many of the park's young visitors seemed unfamiliar 
with the gear.


"Some things I saw weren't really safe. So what we try to do is to 
get, at least the very young crowd, to have an opportunity to fish 
with a little bit of training, to make sure they do it safely and they 
don't hook each other. They hook the fish. Not each other."

He says most everyone catches a fish ... but not everyone gets to 
take one home.


"A lot of times there's a parent in the background who's generally 
making motions above the kid's head, saying, 'no, we can't keep 
the fish.' They don't want to mess with them. But we always do a 
big deal whenever a kid catches a fish."

That's our show for today ... made possible by the Sport Fish and 
Wildlife Restoration program. For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... 
I'm Cecilia Nasti.