Inspiring the next generation through OSU’s 4H Sea Camp

Every July kids ages 14-17 assemble on Kelley’s Island for a week long camping adventure at the Erie county 4-H Sea Camp supported by Ohio State University and organizations that offer education and water recreation. Throughout the week they will have the opportunity to learn about aquatic science and experience a variety of recreational watersports on Lake Erie. This year I had the opportunity to provide them with a Lake Erie Kayak Fishing adventure for 5 campers and 1 camp counselor.

They arrived at the beach around 9am for a brief safety talk and kayak walkthrough before we shoved off. Not only did each kid get assigned a pedal driven fishing kayak, but each kid also received a new fishing rod courtesy of Zebco and a pair of fish grips courtesy of FishUSA. To commemorate their adventure, they also got to do a Gyotaku fish print at the end of the trip courtesy of the PaperFin.

3 young men and 2 young ladies made up the group, they were excited and eager to learn. They took to the pedal driven kayaks like fish to water and it didn’t take long for them to land the first fish. It was game on! The radio waves were filled with excited sounds of FISH ON’s! Every kid caught fish! They were landing multiple species left and right including walleye, catfish, white perch, white bass, and freshwater drum. Their excitement could be heard from the mainland and their smiles were brighter than gold.

Let’s put it this way... when the kids are exhausted but keep fishing for just one more- and the camp counselor is the last one back... you know you had a good day! Of course, that may have been “cause Chuck put him in a Torqueedo powered

Native kayak - he’s never coming back in,” said Irene Roff. Irene is an avid kayak angler who gets super excited about teaching kids how to fish and loves to volunteer her time to get kids out fishing. This trip she was over the top thrilled to have 2 girls on the sea camp team! She said “To see the smiles on these 2 girls’ faces as they got to yell “ fish on”... priceless! Chuck has a ton of patience, and he was just as excited as they were - and if you have teenagers ... you know that it’s gotta be something big to keep their attention. It’s days like this that bring out the kid in you”

After almost 6 hours on the water, they were worn out and ready to head back to land. We hit the beach and they helped each other roll the kayaks up the sandy beach to my trailer. It was now time to make their Gyotaku fish prints using the Paper Fin fish printing kits before heading up to camp to clean fish and prepare for a fish fry.

This is a day I’ll never forget and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to provide this experience for them. We are only as good as the future generation, it’s important for us to show them the way. Being a father of a 17-year-old daughter, I was excited to see almost half of my group were young ladies. It was also great to watch the anglers team up to cheer each other on and give each other pointers on what techniques worked for them. Fishing is for everyone to enjoy, and this trip was proof of the positive growth of more ladies enjoying the sport of fishing. I can’t wait for next year’s 4H Sea Camp Adventure!

Article by Chuck Earls - Lake Erie Kayak Fishing Guided Adventures LakeErieKayakFishing.com