CRESTVIEW — Trevor Franklin Hayes is a confident fisherman, having caught a fish and two turtles on the first day of last week’s fishing camp in Twin Hills Park.
PHOTOS: View photos from the Twin Hills Park fishing camp>>
In fact, the 11-year-old gained sufficient experience to offer other kids some advice when they think they’ve got a fish on their hooks.
“Before you just reel it in, you gotta make sure it’s on there,” Trevor said. “What I do, I wait a second, then I pull it in when I’m sure that I got something.”
Trevor joined about 10 other kids, plus a number of moms, dads and assistant instructors in Crestview High School Outdoor Education teacher Ernie Martin’s annual start-of-the-summer camp.
Esau Jamison, 9, was intent on keeping just one of his catches, a turtle that wasn’t too keen on going home to Esau’s tank.
“I also caught some fish but I threw most of them back,” he said.
Esau wasn’t the only turtle catcher. Caden Haney, 4, smiled broadly as Martin helped him pull in a turtle of his own, posing for photos before agreeing that the turtle would be much happier back in the pond.
The kids learned about different equipment and techniques during the camp, as well as the effectiveness of different baits.
Trevor, for example, swore by biscuit dough. Bryce Clark, 12, thought she could do better with a worm, but only if Martin got it out of its container soil for her.
When Trevor scoffed at using worms, Martin challenged him.
“I’ll catch a fish faster with a worm than you will with biscuit dough,” Martin said.
“How much you wanna bet?” Trevor replied.
“You’re going to wash my truck!” Martin told him.
At the end of the day, Martin would be cleaning his truck without Trevor’s assistance.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview kids learn how to fish at Twin Hills Park camp (PHOTOS, VIDEO)