JEFFERSONVILLE — Standing on the side of the pool, 14-year-old Ryan Ring casts his fishing line into the clear water, trying to get his bobber to land in one of the hoops strategically placed throughout the pool.
“I didn’t ever expect for us to do this in class, but it’s fun,” Ring said with a smile, even though he missed the hoop this time.
All swimming classes this week at River Valley Middle School are taking a break from the usual type of lessons to go “fishing” in the school’s pool.
“I teach lifetime recreation and lifetime sports, and fishing is something they can do forever,” said Karen Robinson, physical education teacher. “These kids live on a river. We’re surrounded by water. We have innumerous opportunities to go fishing.”
So, for the first time, she decided to bring that lesson indoors. Students were given fishing pools with a Styrofoam bobber on the end. No hooks were used. Students were taught both side and overhead cast techniques. Karrisa Struck, 14, has fished many times before.
“I didn’t want to do it at first, because I didn’t want to do it in front of everybody, but it’s fun now,” she said.
And even with her experience, she said she couldn’t get her bobber to land in one of the hoops.
Some were brand new to the sport.
“It’s pretty easy,” 14-year-old Destiny Fleming said of her first time fishing. “I like the pole thing, swinging it and stuff, but I’m not making it in the holes. I’ve got bad aim.”
Overall, Robinson said she’s been surprised by how well the students are taking to fishing.
“I haven’t found one person who didn’t want to do it,” she said. “Now they all have spring fever. I guarantee some will be out fishing this weekend, rain or shine.”
Even if they don’t go out that soon, the lesson did open some people up to the idea.
“I think I might go fishing sometime,” Fleming said. Ring even has an idea to improve the lesson in the future. “It’s be cool if we had magnetic fish we could hook on the bottom,” he said.
The fishing lesson continues for the rest of this week at the school.
