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Family Fishing Event Guide

Purpose and Need of the Family Fishing Event Guide

Two young children standing in the water at the shore of a mountain lake fishing with a rod and reel.

Family fishing events are a great way to engage the public outdoors in one of America’s greatest pastimes. The purpose of this guide is to help district staff, partners and volunteers organize an event to provide outreach and education to the community. Family fishing events are a way that the USFS can engage the community, celebrate National Fish and Boating Week and provide a free family fishing experience while educating participants about the environment and conservation.

This guide will provide tools for hosting a family fishing event including:

  • Plug and play document to help set up the event
  • Set up pinyon folder for sharing information
  • Examples of press releases posters, and additional outreach materials, to advertise the fishing event to assure appropriate attendance, reach underserved communities.
  • Regulations associated with hosting events as it pertains to purchasing with various types of funding, including partnership funds, appropriated funds, perms and trust dollars, and through partners. (i.e. Perms and trust dollars, partner funds, appropriated funds, etc.). Examples of who to involve for partners and how the larger groups may be reached (using existing agreements), discuss solicitation issues and seek partners who can ask for donations or assistance in hosting the event anywhere you need official agreements or a Memo of Understanding (MOU)s. Examples of successful events weaving in points from above. Interview fish bios who have set up an event- provide hyperlink to video. Develop a list of fish bios who would serve as a point of contact for resources. Provide POC for each regions or even a state agency contact.

A father teaching his son to fish from the bank of a river while others walk around in the background.Examples of helpful training sessions, such as “How to talk to the media”, “How to teach Kids to Fish”, Wired 2 Fish, “Getting started fishing” Coordination of event- this section will have “things to consider for your event” (Where to have the event?, What is the capacity of the site for the event?, Can it accommodate accessibility? Can a bus or larger vehicle get participants to the site who may have mobility issues, Food, tents, grills, partners, bait, prizes, swag, EMS? Is the site managed by a concessionaire? Is equipment available, volunteers to help with fishing, will nets need to be set to keep fish in area?, What about license waivers?