Yesterday, Tania and I hosted the Fishing’s Future Reel Blessed Chapter First Cast Family Fish Camp at Indian Riverside Park. It was our first event in a long time, and I truly missed being out there with the families, volunteers, and kids.

Event Recap

Friday evening was spent preparing—organizing gear, packing rods and supplies, and loading the car for an early start. Tania and I left the house at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. As we headed toward the event, we said our daily prayer and stopped at Billy Bones to pick up bait and a few last-minute supplies.

Billy Bones was incredibly generous, donating several items for us to share with the families. We are very grateful for their support.

We arrived at Indian Riverside Park around 7:30 a.m. and were happy to find two volunteers already on site and ready to help. We quickly unloaded, set up the stations, and prepared for the families’ arrival.

Josh, one of our high school volunteers who has participated in many of our past events, did a great job helping with setup. He filled buckets with saltwater for the fishing portion of the camp. While doing so, a school of bait was pushed close to shore, and Josh quickly collected several pilchards and added them to the bucket. That gave us another excellent bait option alongside shrimp.

We were also grateful to have an FWC officer join us, along with a representative from our partner, FYCCN.

Learning Before Fishing

Families began arriving around 8:30 a.m. A few called to let us know they would be a little late, but overall we had a wonderful turnout. We had 28 people register and 28 attend, along with a few unexpected guests. A few registered participants were unable to make it, but everything worked out perfectly.

Because some families were still arriving, we began at approximately 9:10 a.m. rather than at 9:00. We opened the event with prayer, then divided everyone into five groups for hands-on learning stations:

• Backyard bass casting practice
• FWC fishing rules and regulations
• Tackle education
• Knot tying
• Setting up the rods everyone would use while fishing

Each group spent about 15 minutes at each station. By the end of the rotations, everyone had learned key fishing fundamentals, and we distributed rods to those who would be fishing.

A Great Morning on the Water

We began fishing at approximately 10:30 a.m., and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun was out, and a light breeze kept the weather comfortable.

We fished until about 11:45 a.m. Nearly every participant caught a fish—only one mother and one young lady did not land one, and it certainly was not for lack of effort.

The group caught a wide variety of fish, including:

• Mutton snapper
• Mangrove snapper
• Lane snapper
• Black drum
• Black grouper
• Blue runner

We also hooked and lost several larger fish that broke the 25-pound leaders on the rods. One of those fish may very well have been a snook, based on the frayed line and our use of a live pilchard as bait.

Lunch, Cleanup, and Prizes

After fishing, everyone returned to the pavilion for lunch. A huge thank-you goes to Publix for providing sub platters and water for the families. Reel Blessed provided the chips, and Josh prayed over the meal before we ate.

After lunch, we had all the kids participate in a trash pickup around the area. The top three kids who collected the most trash received a hat and a tackle bag. Every child also received a pair of Danco pliers. After we gave out all the gifts, we ended with our signature ceremony, where we asked the kids to thank the parents who brought them, give them a hug, and tell them they love them. After catching fish, this is my next favorite part of the event.

Thank You

All in all, this was a very successful event. It was great to be back, hosting a First Cast Family Fish Camp, teaching families fishing skills, helping kids catch fish, and spending time outdoors together.

Thank you to Tania, our volunteers, the FWC officer, FYCCN, Billy Bones, Publix, Salt Strong Alliance, and every sponsor who made this event possible. Most importantly, thank you to all the families who came out and trusted us with their morning.

We are blessed to introduce families to fishing, conservation, stewardship, and the joy of making memories together.

By clicking the Donate block below, you can partner with Fishing’s Future Reel Blessed Chapter to help make future family fishing events possible. Your support helps us provide fishing education, equipment, bait, meals, prizes, and hands-on outdoor experiences for families throughout the Treasure Coast.

When making your donation, please write “Reel Blessed” in the comment section. This ensures the funds are directed specifically to our chapter and used to support programs and events right here on the Treasure Coast. Thank you for investing in the next generation of anglers, conservationists, and families.