Dear Friends of Pine Island Camp,
What do you learn when you learn to fish at Pine Island?
You learn to tie a surgeon’s knot, and how to cast from shore and from a boat. You learn about Maine’s freshwater and saltwater species, and how to reel in and release a fish. You learn about dry flies, streamers, nymphs, and soft hackles.
But it’s more than this.
Here’s how Griffin wrote about it during his first summer at camp:
“A few days ago, during fly fishing class, I caught a bass. At first, I thought the hook was caught on the bottom, because that had happened a few times before. But instead, it was a bass! That’s what I love about fishing: you never know if what you catch is going to be big, small, or nothing at all. You also never know when you might catch something, so you have to be patient and alert. Everyone should fish, because it tests your patience, and the more patience you have, the easier it will be to help people.”
That’s a pretty good lesson to take home from camp.
At Pine Island, we hope boys learn more than how to fish. We hope they learn how to be patient and attentive, and, as Griffin so nicely put it, better able to help others.
All the best,
Sarah Hunter