On August 17, Nancy Koep, a long-time member of the National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA), hosted a fishing seminar to for young anglers as part of the Kids Safety Day put on by the Starbuck, Minnesota Police Department. The event was held at the Minnewaska Area High School and had 4 groups of kids of that of youngsters who Nancy worked with for 45 minutes at a time. Each group of kids got to learn a variety of information about angling and boating safety.
Nancy started each seminar with fish identification. This session included information about each fish species including preferred habitat and presentations that could be used to catch them. A great deal of time was spent on the walleye the MN state fish. After the session on fish species, she focused on boat safety best practices making sure the kids understood the importance of wearing the PFDs, and why it is so important to make sure they have the right size life jacket for their size.
As with all NPAA events Nancy did a segment on Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS), a topic that is critical to the future of their local aquatic ecosystem. Each kid received an Invaders of the Great Lakes books and she had the kids read the information about all the invasive species they have in their area lakes. The last topic was the Clean, Drain, Dry routine for boaters, explaining to the kids why it is so important that we all make sure it gets done after a day of boating. This includes getting the weeds off the jet skis, duck boats, etc. something that is critical to help slow the spread of AIS.
Nancy would like to thank the National Professional Anglers Association for the NPAA t shirts for the kids, combo’s, and the Invader of the Great lake’s books for the kids.
