Ligonier Valley students test waters of fly fishing in Trout Unlimited program

Thirteen-year-old Blake Rensko left behind the confines of his seventh grade classroom at Ligonier Valley Middle School on a recent Wednesday to spend some time angling in a nearby stretch of the Loyalhanna Creek.

He didn’t catch anything during his fly-fishing excursion, but he hooked a 20-inch rainbow trout and two other trout specimens during a similar outing a year earlier.

“I like being outside in the water, even if I don’t catch anything,” he said.

The Ligonier Township teen wasn’t playing hooky. He was joined in the creek by about a dozen schoolmates, along with adult mentors, in the culminating exercise of an annual program where members of the local Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited teach interested Ligonier Valley students how to tie flies and then cast them in the stocked stream.

For Trout Unlimited, the program is an opportunity to share a passion for fly fishing with a younger generation, according to chapter President Larry Myers.

“More importantly,” he said, “it’s an effort to teach the students the importance of protecting our trout streams and the cold-water fisheries.”

At Ligonier Valley, the program is coordinated and championed by health and physical education instructor Ryan Podlucky, in conjunction with a student outdoor club he serves as adviser.

“We caught 11 fish this year,” Podlucky said. “That’s pretty amazing for taking 14 kids fly fishing, and most have never done it before.”

He gauges the program’s success in another way, by the lasting impact it has — inspiring the young participants to stay involved in the outdoor sport.

“Some of the kids have been back in the same spot fishing with their families,” he said. “It’s great to see how it’s bringing families together.”

Podlucky also enjoys following the angling exploits of former students, now young adults, who post images of their latest catches on social media.

“They got their start in seventh or eighth grade with Trout Unlimited,” he said.

Alyssa Queer, 12, of Cook Township, has enjoyed fishing with a spin rod in her grandparents’ pond, where she’s caught bluegill, catfish and bass.

“I like being outdoors, and it’s calming,” she said of her visits to the pond.

Fly fishing with Trout Unlimited was a new challenge she was eager to try.

“My brother did it when he was in middle school, and I thought it would be cool if I could do it,” she said. “Tying flies was pretty easy once I understood how to do it.”

The real test of her skills, she found, was in attaching the fly to the fishing line. “Tying the knot was hard,” she said.

The guidance provided by the Trout Unlimited members, including Podlucky, was invaluable.

“They were really helpful, giving tips about where to cast,” she said.

Blake Rensko also had experience fishing with his family, since he was about 5 years old, but expanded his abilities with the Trout Unlimited program.

“I didn’t know how to tie flies or fly fish,” he said.

He enjoyed the program so much, he was among middle school participants who returned a week later to help out as junior mentors when Trout Unlimited hosted an inaugural catch-and-release fishing trip for Ligonier Valley fifth graders.

Over two days, about 80 students from the district’s R.K. Mellon and Laurel Valley elementary schools used spin rods to cast for fish on another local waterway, Four Mile Run.

Blake Rensko was on hand to help his 11-year-old sister, Scarlet. “Usually, I help her if she gets (her line) stuck in the bottom, or I help her unhook the fish,” he said.

Each of the fifth graders caught at least one trout, Myers reported

The younger students also rotated through stations where they learned about water safety, the vegetation bordering waterways and the macroinvertebrates that are critical to healthy stream habitats, Myers said.

Podlucky also arranged for 10 students from the district’s Life Skills program to join in the event. They had the first shot at the trout on the second day.

The students were assisted by more than 20 teachers and volunteers, along with local waterways conservation officers and a state game warden.

To prepare for the event, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stocked the stream and Trout Unlimited paid for another delivery of trout from a local hatchery to increase the odds of students catching fish.

“Property owners and neighbors had remediated a section of stream specifically for youth anglers,” said Myers. “The neighbors sponsor a youth event each year on the traditional first day of trout season, but this event went above and beyond.”

Some students who have participated in the Trout Unlimited programs eventually have become members of the group, whose mission is to protect, restore and conserve the cold-water streams that provide support for trout populations in Westmoreland County.

“We’re planting the seed at this age,” Myers said. “We see the students, they disappear for a few years and then they come back. We’re trying to recruit the next generation of cold-water conservationists.”

Visit forbestrailtu.org for more information about the local Trout Unlimited chapter.