Connect with us

The Sentinel

Club teaches students to fish, enjoy streams

Uncategorized

Club teaches students to fish, enjoy streams

Tony Velasquez makes the art of tying flies look easy at the NIC club fair.

North Idaho is abundant with rivers and creeks for fly fishing. NIC’s new fly fishing club may be the start of a great and enjoyable recreational activity for many beginner and veteran fishermen.
There’s nothing like the sounds of a cool river or creek at your feet while casting a fly out over the water. Fly fishing is a popular activity for citizens of North Idaho and NIC has recognized this by adding a new fly fishing club this year, NIC’s first fishing club ever.

The club is small with only a handful of members right now, but is looking to grow. Tony Velasquez, a custodian at NIC, started the club.

He said he can literally be out all day fishing and that he loves to fly fish and the outdoors. Velasquez said he has been fly fishing since July 2010, and he has been tying flies since January 2011.

He is scheduling meeting times to discuss fundraising, day trips and learning how to fly fish and tie flies.

Velasquez was accompanied by Bernice and Doug Seminole for a day trip out to the Coeur d’Alene River on Saturday, Oct. 15. This was the club’s first fishing trip.

“On Saturday I caught a 19 to 20 inch Cutthroat Trout, which was a new personal best,” Velasquez said. “I went out on Sunday too and caught a whole mess of nice Brook Trout and German Browns.”

On Oct. 30 there will be a fly tying charity event to help support, “Casting for Recovery.” The time and location is TBA. Also, there will be a showing of a fly fishing movie and raffle on Nov. 17. More details are on their way from the fly fishing club.

During the fishing trip, he asked when everyone wanted to head home for the day.

“What time do you want to leave?” said Velasquez. There was no response. “Well, it doesn’t matter to me. I could fish all day until dark.”

The club is looking to participate in fundraisers and tournaments in the future. One such event might include “Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing,” which has a few local locations in Spokane, Boise and Idaho Falls.

“Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing” assists with the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active-duty military personnel and veterans through fly fishing tying, education and outings.

Another organization that the club is looking to help out is “Casting for Recovery” which was founded in 1996 in Manchester, Vermont.

It is the brainchild of a breast cancer reconstructive surgeon and a professional fly fisher. The organization was founded on the principles that the natural world is a healing force and that cancer survivors deserve one weekend — free of charge and free of the stresses from medical treatment, home or workplace — to experience something new and challenging while enjoying beautiful surroundings within an intimate, safe and nurturing structure.

More in Uncategorized

To Top