On Saturday Reel Blessed Chapter of Fishing’s Future held our second Vamos A Pescar event. We had roughly 60 participants signed up and we had 12 volunteers coming, not as good of a ratio as last event but still pretty good. We even had Officer Miano from FWC present to help. We feel it’s important that the first encounter these families have with law enforcement is a positive one.

I arrived at the Port Saint Lucie Botanical Gardens around 7:00am to start setting up. I told the volunteers to show up about 7:30am knowing most would arrive early and I wanted to ensure I was the first one to arrive. Well, I was correct, the volunteers started to arrive about 7:10am. With all the help we were set up and ready for registration about 8:15am.

The families started arriving about 8:30am and we started a few minutes after 9:00am to allow the last few families to finish filling out the required forms. We had 48 participants in attendance today, which officially makes it our largest attended event! We opened up in pray as we always do, Thanking the Lord for the beautiful day and asked for His blessing of protection for all attending our events and if it was His will to allow all the participants to catch fish.

About 9:10am we divided the families into four groups. We had 3 stations, the first station was being taught the improved clinch knot, the second station reviewed rules and regulations and fish identification, and the third station taught casting. Three of the four groups would rotate though the three stations. The fourth group was return participants and the families were floaters, walking around helping others who needed assistance. We are trying to teach the youth how to be leaders and it’s amazing how they step up when you give them a purpose.

About 9:45am we brought all the families back together. We went over a few water safety concerns while fishing. First was always keeping an eye open for alligators and second was to watch the bank for fire ant mounds. I myself was unfortunate and stepped in one or two while talking with participants. After the short brief we provided all the participants with rods/reels and baits and we went fishing.

We fished from about 9:55am to 10:50am. It was hot and humid but the bite was on fire. Nearly everyone caught a fish. I think there were four kids who did not catch fish; however, everyone else caught multiple fish. Our volunteers did our best to try and get everyone a fish, but not catching fish is part of fishing. It’s not a lesson we want to teach our participants, but it is a valuable lesson.

At 11:00am Sage, one of the young ladies attending our event, blessed our lunch. Synergy Magnet School provided bagged lunches and we had Tikiz Ice for dessert. The shaved ice was a nice treat on this hot day. The participants all seemed to really enjoy the time spent eating a meal together as a family!

After lunch was complete, I gathered all the kids together and handed out bags for each one. Their mission was to gather as much trash as they could in eight minutes. The one who brought back the most would get a prize. I must say we collected more trash on Saturday than we have ever gathered in the past. I went home with two 40-gallon bags full of trash.  We had two kids that were really close to each other that we gave both of them hats as a prize. Once we were done picking up trash, we had each child thank their parent/guardian for bringing them to the event, tell them they love them and give them a hug.

The lunch and having the kids thank their parent/guardian is the highlights for Tania and I. We felt it is important to our mission of strengthening family bonds through the sport of fishing.

Reel Blessed holds these events at no cost to the participants. Tania and I with the help of Fishing’s Future have raised all the funds for every event and for all the equipment. We have raised these funds though grants, sponsorships and donations. If you are interested in participating in or volunteering for one of our events click the “contact me” link below. If you feel called to donate financially to us so we can keep holding these events at no cost click the “Donate Link” and put in Reel Blessed in the comment section of the donate page.

Salt Strong is starting local chapters on the Treasure Cost. Our first event will be April 27, 2023. Your insider membership will include access to the in-person meetings as well as all the other perks such as 20% off all tackle, Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on trends in your area. We will also have guest speakers at our meetings and we will be holding monthly tournaments. Click the link below to get a FREE pack of slam shady or a 10-Day Test-Drive of The Smart Fishing Spots App and The Salt Strong Insider Club . . . And We’ll Ship You $35 Worth of FREE Lures, an “Inshore Fishing Manifesto” Book (Physical copy) & Decals – Yours to Keep Even If You Cancel!