Bigfork elementary students give ice fishing a try

“If you want to catch fish,” John Cloninger told the 45 or so assembled 4th graders from Bigfork Elementary School. “You have to be quiet out on the ice.”

Yeah right.

Bigfork’s 4th graders took to the ice on Echo Lake with gusto on Thursday to try their hands at ice fishing as part of the national “Hooked on fishing, not on drugs” program that has quite a following around the Flathead. Cloninger said about 1,200 kids in the Valley participate each year from Eureka down to Dayton.

“It’s such a rewarding program for us and for the kids,” said Cloninger, who runs the program for much of the Flathead with Jan Thon.

Funded by the federal government and assisted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the program aims to give students an appreciation and awareness for fish and aquatic resources as well as help instill outdoor safety and knowledge.

“We owe a big thanks to FWP,” Thon said. “Every time I call them, they come right out.”

Since the fishing access at Echo Lake is operated by the FWP, it is their staff that comes out at the drop of a hat to sand the icy parking lot, something Thon said was much needed sometimes, especially after a school bus got stuck on a slick ramp a few weeks ago.

The lessons aren’t just taught out on the lake either, as Cloninger told the group to keep any fish they caught because they’d be used for a dissecting exercise in science classes.

The classroom portions of the program range from dissecting fish to better understand how they live, to talking about game wardens and hunting and fishing regulations.

One of the best parts about the program, according to Cloninger and Thon, is the time students get to spend with the many parents or grandparents who volunteer to come out on the ice and help.

“The kids really remember the experience when their parents or grandparents come,” Thon said. “It’s real quality time.”

And that relationship-building time was good to have on Thursday, because the fish sure weren’t biting. Students — it must be said, mostly the girls — blanched at sliding maggots onto their hooks for bait and flatly recoiled at some of the experienced fishermen putting the bait into their mouths to warm it up.

It’s not an easy task to get 45 kids having a good time in the middle of a frozen lake, staring into a watery hole, but Cloninger and Thon somehow manage it, all while ensuring that everybody stays safe.

“It’s the perfect job,” Thon said. “We get to spend all day talking about what we love.”