Dana Wharf Sportfishing, through the City of San Clemente’s Parks and Recreation Department, recently finished a sold-out fall after-school fishing program for middle school-aged kids. This fishing program has been a very popular one, bringing both young newcomers and skilled youth anglers together for a three-hour fishing trip after school each week.
This six-week program is the only program of its kind offered in Orange County, perhaps even the only one of its kind in California. There are plenty of tennis, golf, and team sporting activities available to kids, but Dana Wharf has it pegged with this fun fishing outdoor opportunity.
The kids arrive Wednesdays after school, the boat departs at 4:15 p.m., and the trip returns to the dock later that evening at 7:15 p.m. While the boat is away from the harbor, the kids are left with the opportunity to learn various fishing techniques from Dana Wharf’s captains and crew and how to apply them with respect to current fishing conditions on the day of the trip.
Dana Wharf staff have found that when kids can help one another by both teaching and learning, it creates a fun dynamic and hooks the fisherman for life. By the middle of the six-week session, the kids have developed some skills that will give them the ability to catch fish with confidence and prepare them to go on longer trips with Dana Wharf or any landing along the coast. – Captain Brian Woolley, Dana Wharf
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