West Palm Beach Fishing Club gives kids day of fishing

By BOB MARKEY II
Neighborhood News Group
Posted Sept. 7, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — Shy’nice Early couldn’t stop talking about the tile fish she had just boated aboard the 70-foot Lady K, following a day of angling and environmental immersion, courtesy of the Palm Beach County Fishing Foundation (PBCFF).

“He was pulling all the way down to the bottom of the ocean!” said Early, 9, of West Palm Beach, happily reliving her drift fishing experience off Boynton Beach with around 40 of her 8- to 14-year-old West Palm Beach summer school mates. “It was fun. I got to catch a fish and go on a big boat.”

“I caught a blue runner and it was this big!” 11-year-old Manuel Gutierrez said after receiving the “big fish” trophy, rod and reel and prizes for his earlier group from New Hope Charity in Pahokee. “I was thinking it was a king fish. At first, I thought it was a shark.”

If Shy’nice and Manuel were typical participants in the Kids Fishing Day – and that appeared to be the case – the effort was a success, said Tom Twyford, president of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club and its charitable PBCFF.

“Some of these kids had never seen the ocean before. That’s special,” said Twyford, who has run the free event – now spanning three days – for 24 years. The program builds self-esteem and a greater appreciation for the marine environment. “This is all about introducing (disadvantaged) kids to the marine environment, fishing and boating.”

The program is made possible through donations from the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County – and others large and small – to the club, which encourages groups of children from throughout Palm Beach County to participate each summer. It costs tens of thousands of dollars – $8,000 just to hire the drift boat for the three days – to produce the event, which started in 1988 as a one-day boat trip.

On Aug. 2-4, more than 400 children were brought to Bicentennial Park in Lantana, well fed and then funneled through activity stations including knot tying; how to set up a tackle box; study of the environment, such as the Lake Worth Lagoon, and its inhabitants; the types of fish and marine creatures, including a touch tank full of crabs; and more. A hands-on “fish morphology” table showed the children how various types of fins can propel fish and keep them alive.

“We teach kids why it is important to protect mangroves and sea grasses. It’s a very important message,” said Twyford, who organized 100 volunteers in the effort. “If there’s no habitat, there’s no fish. We’re trying to educate the next generation of the stewards of the resource.”

At the casting station, Bill Ackourey and other volunteers showed the basics of how to put a bait or lure where the fish are, without hooking someone or jumbling the line in the process.

“It’s just nice to see kids getting into the sport,” said Ackourey, of Coconut Creek.

The fishing club got great support from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, whose employees were on hand to display and discuss the marine environment, such as Cari Harrington, who gave children hands-on knowledge of invertebrates, coral and even a couple of lively crabs, whose ticklish legs drew squeals from those brave enough to touch them.

“This is fantastic. I think I’m having more fun than they are,” said recent Boston transplant Bruce Maxfield of Palm Beach Gardens. “I’m retired and I’m giving back.

“And I learned like crazy. I had no idea horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes,” Maxfield said.

The kids got to practice their new skills and even caught a few small fish along the Intracoastal Waterway sea wall before walking across the street to the drift boat for one of 12 two-hour fishing excursions.

Just getting their sea legs was difficult for some of the children, but there were plenty of adults on hand to help them bait hooks and even reel in the big fish. Several of the kids in the late afternoon group caught bonito in the 10- to 20-pound range.

Each child left with a special T-shirt and personalized certificates of participation, as well as a new fishing rod and reel, provided by the Florida Foundation For Responsible Angling.

“We do a lot of good things each year, but this is the highlight,” said Henry “Cookie” Inserra of North Palm Beach, between rounds of cooking hot dogs for the throng. “If you keep one to two kids off the street, it’s worth it.”