Hi-Line Living: Hooked On Fishing - Not On Drugs

While the sun above them struggled to burst through, 41 bundled-up third-graders from Lincoln-McKinley Primary School spent Tuesday morning catching yellow perch through the drilled holes of the Kremlin Town Pond.

It was 9 a.m. and instructor Dave Hagengruber was holding a short fishing pole and telling the surrounding kids to spread out once they get on the ice. His last piece of advice was to have fun and catch fish.

“How many did you catch? Thousands, right?” he said, referring to what he wanted the kids to be able to say when they got back to school.

Hagengruber of Montana Fish,Wildlife and Parks, has been teaching kids how to ice fish for 20 years. The monthly expedition to the frozen pond is part of Montana educational curriculum. The caught fish are frozen and later dissected in science classes. The fishing trips are also part of a larger national program called “Hooked On Fishing — Not On Drugs.” The program’s aim is to use “fish and fishing as a means to teach nearly all content area to upper elementary and middle school students.”

Jane Leinwand and Kassie Kudrna were the teachers who have the pleasure of teaching the students. Leinwand has been at Lincoln-McKinley seven years and she thinks highly of the program.

“We do this once a month. It's really a great program — it's helped the curriculum,” she said.

As for Kudrna, this is her first year teaching. But it's not her first encounter with the fishing program.

“I remember going ice fishing with my dad in third grade.” Kudrna was all smiles as she talked about her ice fishing experiences as a Lincoln-McKinley student.

It was the same Hagengruber that was there when young Kassie and her dad went ice fishing who was now teaching Miss Kassie Kudrna's third graders.

“Yeah — what does that say about my age?” Hagengruber said.

The Lincoln-McKinley students were out from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and brought in a total of 50 perch.

The crowd of kids, teachers and volunteers trudged over a rocky, snow-covered hill and to the other side, where a pond with several fresh-drilled holes was ready to be fished. Everyone spread out and maggot-hooked lines were dipped into the chilly water one after another.

Maggots, Hagengruber explained, are baby flies.

Within minutes, 8-year-old Dakota BigKnife, with uncle Dale Johnson beside him, caught the first fish of the day. Dakota was grinning and holding the flapping, yellow-striped perch suspended in the air.

Dakota said he had fished in Hays and Rocky Boy but never caught anything. He was happy to have caught his first fish ever.

Hagengruber, sporting a Green Bay Packers beanie with a fuzzy ball on top, seemed more excited for Dakota than the boy himself. He walked over and reminded Dakota to kiss the fish on the lips.

“You always kiss your first fish. It's for good luck,” Hagengruber said. “It's better than kissing a girl,” he hollered as he rushed off to where another fish had just been angled in.

Kaylee Jones also caught a fish. She said she was excited about catching the fish, but skittish about kissing it. Kaylee's current excitement was not enough to rouse interest in future ice fishing, though.

“Because it's cold,” she said, before baiting her hook and dropping her line back in the water.

No child was more animated than Aleaha Miller after pulling out her fish. Aleaha was jumping up and down and screeching, refusing to touch the slimy fish, much less kiss it.

But not everyone was happily, or excitedly, dangling caught fish. Brin Randolph frowned and said things were going “horrible.” She was near the hot corner by Kaylee but not having any of the same luck.

Jane Leinwand and Kassie Kudrna were the teachers who have the pleasure of teaching the students. Leinwand has been at Lincoln-McKinley seven years and she thinks highly of the program.

“We do this once a month. It's really a great program — it's helped the curriculum,” she said.

As for Kudrna, this is her first year teaching. But it's not her first encounter with the fishing program.

“I remember going ice fishing with my dad in third grade.” Kudrna was all smiles as she talked about her ice fishing experiences as a Lincoln-McKinley student.

It was the same Hagengruber that was there when young Kassie and her dad went ice fishing who was now teaching Miss Kassie Kudrna's third graders.

“Yeah — what does that say about my age?” Hagengruber said.

The Lincoln-McKinley students were out from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and brought in a total of 50 perch.