A North Middle School shop room was turned into a rod and reel assembly line Wednesday as students worked on piecing together 800 fishing poles that will be distributed to youngsters at the 23rd annual fishing day at Wadsworth Pond in west Great Falls on Saturday.

“Tighten the drag,” Kiaunna Cislo, a seventh-grader, advised Dominick Zolnar, another seventh-grader, as they did their part in the make-shift fishing pole factory.

Pat Volkmar, a teacher at North who was overseeing the rod and reel assembling, said the fishing poles were purchased from Pure Fishing for $10,000, with funding coming from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Walleyes Unlimited.

About 200 seventh- and eighth-graders took turns assembling the poles during shop classes throughout the day Wednesday and will finish up the work Thursday.

“We do this annually as part of our community service,” said Volkmar, who runs the North Middle School Fishing Club and local Hooked on Fishing not on Drugs club.

The fishing club, FWP and Walleyes Unlimited are joined by the U.S. Forest Service, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Missouri River Flyfishers and North Middle School Fishing Club in organizing the annual fishing day.

The rod and reels assembled by the students will be given away to the kids who participate in the fishing day Saturday.

“We even have itty-bitty ones,” said Walleyes Unlimited volunteer Richard Headley, holding up a 2 1/2-foot-long green rod sized for small children.

Older kids will receive a closed reel with a button for simpler casting while more experienced anglers will receive an open reel with the line cast controlled by the finger.

More programs like the fishing day are needed, Headley says.

“Keep the kids off the computers and cellphones a little bit,” he said.

Harley Taylor, an eighth-grader, said he was supposed to be in orchestra but received permission to help assemble the rods for the period.

The rod and reels arrived in boxes and needed to be assembled with the line, weights and bobbers.

Before the start of the class period, Volkmar gathered a group of seventh-graders around a shop table and began threading the line as he explained the process. He noted that their “young eyes” would make it easy for them.

Cislo put a hook and a weight on the rod and reel she was assembling. “Oh it’s messed up,” she said as she checked it out when she was finished.

“I thought you said you were a fishergirl,” Volkmar kidded her.

Tighten the drag, he advised, and that worked, with Cislo passing the advice along to Zolnar.

Follow Karl Puckett on Twitter @GFTrib_KPuckett

What’s next

Central Montana’s 23rd annual fishing day for youngsters is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Wadsworth Pond on the west side of Great Falls. No fishing license is required on that day. There is no age limit, but activities are geared to youngsters just learning how to fish. To reach Wadsworth Pond head west on Central Avenue over Interstate 15, turn north on 34th Street Northwest, then turn west on Wilkinson Lane and follow to the park. Call Montana Fish, Wildlife and parks at 406-454-5840 for more information.

Source