Catfish Connections – December 2020

Support Youth Catfishing for the Future

There is an old saying that If you take a child fishing, they will fish for life. It has been in print, in videos, social media etc. Is it true?

I don’t have all the survey data at my fingertips but seeing buying trends and meeting people on the water, in stores, at shows, seminars etc., I see the positive impacts of the actual application of doing it and doing it often. My personal experiences as a boy and with my children and now grandchildren prove to me it is an overwhelming truism.

The number of families fishing in 2020 during the COVID Pandemic has shown that taking our younger generations fishing, teaches family unity, respect for our environment, a way to release stress, and the beauty of our country – freedom.

Whether you catch a stringer full or just a couple fish, laughter and fun should be experienced for it to continue throughout life. As with any experience, success breeds success. Fishing failures should be a learning process and never seen as a negative.

One of our major CatfishNOW and CrappieNOW goals is to be a “How-To” source of information to teach the beginner no matter the age. Urbanization has deprived some adults from having the fishing experiences to pass on to their children. We hope to help bridge that gap so you may take the youth fishing and rekindle that love of nature and family.

Our medium reader ages have dropped dramatically and we see this as a big positive. Couple this with not just one positive success story but multiple stories should create this urge to fish for life.

There are many groups helping families and youth to have a positive fishing experience. Let’s all support them and personally mentor the next wave of catfishermen and women.

God Bless and Good Fishing!

Dan Dannenmueller, Publisher