6-31-26 Fishing and Camping tips to help Kids enjoy the outdoors.

With school out for the summer, Jim and Scott share fishing and camping tips to help kids enjoy the outdoors.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes you to Jim Straighter Outdoors,
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(01:06):
inside Louisville and one one hundred four four four eight
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radio Jim Straighter Outdoors right here on news Radio eight
forty whas.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Good eating everybody. Jim Straighter here with my co host
Scott Cronin, and we've got a unique program tonight, folks.
Scott and I've been doing a little skullduggery thinking about
what would really be a fantastic program to help the
kids kick off summer. And obviously most of the strills

(01:48):
of not all are now out for the summer break,
and there's a lot of things that we can help
these kids do to get outdoors. So we're gonna talk
at length tonight about that. We're going to start out
with some features about fishing, fishing opportunities, they're available for everyone,

(02:10):
but my primary focus is going to be on the kids,
how to make them successful, how to get them as
if the saying goes hooked on fishing, We're going to
talk about camping. Scott is probably as expert a camper
as I've ever met in my life. Quite frankly, he's
camped all over the United States and he's going to

(02:33):
give tips about backyard camping, camping and campgrounds, camping out
in the state park areas, and it's going to be
a wealthy information that I think you all will enjoy. Scott,
I am particularly excited about this because you and I
Bowls share a passion for getting kids outdoors, and this

(02:55):
is a golden opportunity with school being fresh out for
us to to help folks know what the beat is
and how to take advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Absolutely, and any time that a young person can learn
how to become a sportsman or woman, I think they've
become a more successful employee and a better overall adult
in society. I think there's plenty of references and resumes
out there from some great leaders. And when you connect

(03:26):
that hunting and fishing and outdoor lifestyle to how they
got hooked on that and mentoreding that at a young age,
those folks have.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Gone on to have a lot of success in life.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's a level of education much different than just K
through twelve. What the outdoors can teach you and the
way that it can develop you as an individual to
problem solved and to have success and failure is good
for any young person, no matter their gender, if they live.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
In a rural area or an urban area.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
We've all got a a rolant responsibility to build young
people into great adults and hopefully good employees and overall
just generally good citizens.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, sir, very well said. And the focus tonight is
gonna be about opportunities. As I mentioned, we're gonna start
with fishing, and we're gonna tell you the kind of
places that you can take youngsters. We're gonna talk about
what the fish species are doing right now and how
you can capitalize on it. And again we're gonna talk camping.

(04:30):
We're gonna give you a lot of tips about agencies
that can help. For example, you single moms out there
that perhaps are bewildered about how to get your child
involved in outdoors, We're gonna give you a lot of
tips about that. And there's a tremendous amount of resources
and Scott and I are going to share those as well.

(04:52):
So that's gonna be the focus tonight. I think you
all were really enjoyed because we're gonna go pretty in
depth about how to help these kids have a ball
in outdoors this summer. As Scott so happily mentioned, it
teaches patients, it teaches perseverance, it teaches self reliance. There's

(05:14):
so many good things that come from the outdoor experience.
And it'll get these kids off those cell phones and
teach them a little bit about what happens out here
in the real world outside of the electronic age wizardry
that tends to unfortunately capture most of their time. So
again we'll be sharing that right after this break. This

(05:35):
break is presented by sm I Marine. Go see them
that they have the low aluminum boats, StarCraft pontoons, other
brands of boats as well. They got to use boats
for sale, and they're always ready, willing you're able to
help you solve problems or equip your boat with new electronics,
and even take the time to show you how to

(05:57):
use those new electronics. See them, and remember what I
tell you about my friends that have them. I you
never get soaked by my friends. It asks to my
marine Scott, let's pick things off here with tackle, because
the proper tackle can be a big reason for failure
or success. When you're talking about taking kids fishing for

(06:22):
the real youngsters, say, oh, I don't know, three to
eight years of age. There's nothing in the world wrong
with the traditional cane pole type of arrangement. Of course,
they've grown by leaps and bounces, where now they have
the fiberglass poles that are very very handy. They're durable,
and they're flexible enough that a child catching a blue

(06:46):
yell or a sunfish, or a catfish or even a
bass on them has their hands full, and that that's
really something that's fun, to say the least. That's how
I learned, certainly I expect you probably did as well.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, And it really starts before you even get to
the water, because the first thing that is best to
focus on with a young person is that the length
and the weight of the rod and reil combo that
they're going to be using fits them. You don't want
to go into it thinking that you'll just get by

(07:24):
with a.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
Full size adult pole.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
And I know a lot of times folks will think
about some of the smaller pos that will a lot
of times have cartoon characters or some type of meaning
to the kid that connects to them, you know, if
they're in the Spider Man, or even if they're a
little princess.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
A lot of times they can go and pick out
their poe and they have ownership in that.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
And that goes to where we're going to start off
with developing these kids, is they take pride in something
and they begin to want to learn how to use
it because it's theirs. And that's a huge achievement that
is setting the young people, and that's a way in
which you can imprint on them as a mentor that

(08:08):
you're gaining the respect from them, but giving them the
trust that they can go in there and make a
selection of something and they're they're making a decision, and
that's a big part of this. And a lot of
those rodden reil combinations, though like modern American ways, they
tend to be be encounters and they don't put the

(08:29):
best quality aligne on some of those rod and real combos.
So it's really important that with young people you get
a good you know, anywhere it's from four to six
pound test line on a lot of those spin cast
combos that you'll get them going on to where that
line will be a lot more forgiving to them.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
And sometimes young.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
People need a little bit more weight and they need
to a lot of times use hooks that have the
bait holders on them that are barbed up the back
of the spine of the of the application there for
the bait to stay on there. Because anybody that's taking
young people fishing, you know, it's a big whipping motion
a lot of times, and you want to have good

(09:12):
clear areas to teach them how to cast. And that's
where the backyard can come in handy. And it's just
a it's a big learning curve form, Jim, and it's
a it's a point in time where us as adults
have to have a tremendous amount of patience and we
have to learn how to actually demonstrate and show young

(09:34):
people how to do something. And it's important too that
we we do that in a way that it's safe
for those kids to fail. You don't want them to
ever get to a point where their courage is taken
away from them, where their pride is hurt when they're
at the beginning stage of learning how to do something.
So the more simplistic you can keep it, and the

(09:57):
more that that gear is h in line with the
size and stature of the frame of them, the more
success you're going to have. And it's also going to
be easier for him to actually fight fish. When you
get to that point of not just focusing on targeting
where you're going to throw the artificial bait or the

(10:17):
live bait, and when we talk about those big open areas.
If folks notice you mentioned about the single mothers, maybe
people don't have a yarda. There's a lot of parks
that offer you some open areas that folks can utilize
that we'll talk about through tonight's program. And there's also

(10:37):
some programs out there too with equipment gym like the
League of Kentucky Sportsman that has taken and invested funds
from the license plate program so that folks don't even
have to have an investment and their budget this has
to be zero dollars and zero cents by going to
a local library and being able to check out and

(11:00):
utilize this fishing equipment. So we're not just gonna cover
how we can get them in the gear and get
them going with it. We're also going to focus on
the budget because it's challenging.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
For a lot of adults at this day and age.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
To tackle something new, and sometimes when folks aren't aware
about a certain sport, they don't know what expenses or
how much time it's going to be in front of
them with them.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, sir, well, your point about the small line is
something that I don't think we can overemphasize. It's easier
to cast, it's definitely easier to entice the fish to
bite on a lighter line, and the rest of the
tacklers should be kept simple. I'm a big believer in

(11:46):
true turn hooks. They're so easy to set the hook on,
they got a longer shake, and the snelled hooks in
particular seem to work real, real well with kids because
you can change baits. If a blue yill were to
swallow it too deep and you were having trouble getting

(12:07):
it off, you can always change to another hook. And
split shots should be very minimal, if at all most cases,
and bobbers should be small. One of the number one
things that I think frustrates youngsters is a bobber that's
too big. But what I mean by big or small,

(12:29):
something about the size of a quarter or a nickel
is just about right. And I prefer for the kids
the round bobbers that have the little piece of lead
around the core of the bottom of the of the bobber.
They're easier to cast, they set up well in the
water and fish because of that weight already being on

(12:51):
there don't have much trouble pulling it under and that
true turned hook all the child has to do is
start reeling in more time not they'll get a solid
hook cup. So you mentioned the Roden Real combos. Some
of them are really really nice for the money, and
they're available everywhere Kmart, Walmart, Cabela's, Bass Pro, local tackle shops.

(13:18):
They all carry them. If a child is fortunate enough
to be with an adult that has fished a good bit,
they may out for a spinning outfit, but the main
thing is get them to put four to six pounds
line on them. Most of these rod and Real combos,
especially in the spin cast, come with standard ten pound line,
and while it will work, it's harder to cast. It

(13:42):
tends to be cheap line that kinks up a lot.
And honestly, the investment in some four to six pounds
line is well well worth the effort, no doubt about.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
It really is.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
And I've noticed over the years working with young people,
it seems that whenever there are events, whether it's churches
or conservation groups, getting multiple youth together at one time
to fish, or Grandpa taking all the grandkids at one time.
How this line actually has a place with young people

(14:17):
other than just the application it has with adults. And
it allows a kid to watch their line for the
stripe or the bite. It allows them to see if
things are tracking, if they start getting into artificial and
it also helps guide them. As you know, over the years,

(14:38):
you learn how to move your rod tip this way
or that way to get around this limb.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
Or that log or that.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Rock so that you're fishing close to that habitat and
structure to get that bite. And it really allows the
young person to focus in and do some things. And
back to the bobber point. One of the things over
the years that I found that kids like as well.
They really enjoy night fishing with a lighted bobber. It's

(15:07):
just something that is a niche for them. It's a
great opportunity because a lot of times it will even
allow you to beat the heat, which can kind of
be an issue. And we can look at anything from
different skin types that children may fight, as far as
dealing with sunburn or bugs, or parents' schedules when they

(15:28):
get off work.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
Or the time of day that they can go. But
fishing with.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
That lighted bobber gets a lot of kicks and giggles
out of those kids.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
And they love it.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
And the thing that we've got to remember is that
we have to get their attention early on, and we
have to focus on the experience for them, because the
adult mindset will go into this total equation thinking that
it's only going to be a successful trip or a
successful outing if kids catch fish. And that's the fartest

(15:59):
thing the truth that I can tell you. When you
get these kids out there, it's their time, it's their event.
You teach the basic principles, but you let them control
what they're liking out of what they're doing.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
If that's a lighted bobber or going in the middle
of the day or.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Fishing off a dock, or fishing out of out of
the back of the truck, sitting on the tailgate, or
cutting a stick to catfish with, it's just something that
they need to be able to have that ownership in again, Jim,
it's their exsuriance.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah. And while we're on this, tackle size hooks for
most blue yellow fishing croppie, even a size six or
number eight. I prefer an eight for the smaller sunfish.
It's very easy to hook them with it. You want
a lightwire hook, but a size six is big enough,
and size eight it's very appropriate for most things. Some

(16:54):
people think you can't catch a big old crappie on
a size eight hook. Well I got news for them.
I do it all time, so they will definitely hook
in a hole. But you want a longer shanked hook
where it's easier to get the hook out of the
fish's mouth. And you will need a pair of need
on those flyers in case the fish takes it real deep.
But other than that, the basics were giving you is

(17:16):
about all you need. You do need a little kip
with some split shot if you want to fish on
the bottom, and we'll cover that going forward to the
program as well. So coming back, we're going to talk
about the species that are very active right now and
applications about it. How to get these kids to catch them.
The more they catch, the more they get hooked, as

(17:36):
they say, so stick with us. We'll be right back
after the break break is presented by SMI Marine. Go
see them. They got some great use boats for sale,
pontoons for sale, allumin them low boats for sale. And
remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI Marine. God.
Let's do what I call tic tac toe on the

(17:57):
species that are red hot right now. What you know
they can provide for the kids. And again we're talking
to the adults as well, because we're gonna be giving
tips about activity that spills over into their desire to
fish during the summer period as well. Let's start with
bluegill and sunfish. I think because it's the fish of

(18:19):
all ages, it's what most of us start with, and
I'm still hooked on it. I mean, I love fish
for bluegill and various species. Blue yell are still spawning
at some of the lakes. It's not as red hot
as it was back in early May, but we've got
a full moon tonight, which is undoubtedly drawn some fish

(18:42):
back up. I fished a little bit this week and
found them to be very active. Actually they weren't the
size and numbers as before, but they are definitely still spawning.
The female blue gill, a lot of them are still
got eggs, so they're going to continue to respond to
this moon cycle and up until first of July certainly

(19:05):
so let's talk about them because they're available so many places. Obviously,
if you want to fish for bed and buoghill, if
you're on one of the major lakes, you want to
go back into what we refer to as cuts, which
is really nothing more than a cove where there's a
cutout in the bank where there's a channel place for

(19:26):
the fish to be able to make their beds. And
those are the type of places they hang around on
all summer long, honestly, and something just as simple as
a piece of red worm or a waxworm on one
of those small hooks beneath the bobber. And again, if
you want to make it real easy on yourself and

(19:49):
you anticipate problems with the hooks, you go with snelled
hooks which have the leader and use a snap slivel
that make it real easy to change that outfit in
case there's any problems, and it's very very effective. The
swivel actually easily provides more than enough weight to take

(20:10):
the bait down. And the trick is you wanted to fall.
Rip wrap areas have always got bluegill and sunfish on.
If you don't know anything else, go to those rip
wrap areas. Along bridges, abutments, highway crossings, anywhere where you
got that big rip rap around the Marinas, there's always

(20:33):
those areas and they're good for all the species, green sunfish,
blue gale, long ear sunfish. They're all active there and
it's easy peasy fishing. All Child's kind of juice have
about a foot and a half to two foot of

(20:53):
line out cast around those edges of those places, weed
edges or another great thing arm ponds for example, and
the fish are always active on those edges looking for
aquatic insects and a small piece of red worm or
a piece of a nightcrawler or a waxworm. Waxworm tends

(21:14):
to be one of my favorites because they're small and
fish tend to ingest them. Just right now. You can
also switch to a small jighead if you would rather
use that, and they can cast that actually with a
little split shot ahead of it. But those species are
very active right now.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
And there's some more to fisher bait by Berkeley, the
power bait that's really good. It stays on the hook well,
the Berkeley golt. But I really like taking young people
in and around docks where you can legally fish there
because a lot of times they don't have to cast
just yet. The fish can be hanging underneath the shade

(21:55):
or the structure of the dock. And it's a great
time to catch fish on a bobber as well when
young people are starting off, because a lot of times
these areas that you're going to take kids to fish
for bluegill and the panfish arena is they're.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Going to be able to see some fish. They're going
to be swimming around the rocks or.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
A log, and that's going to teach kids how to
kind of visually fish, which will come along later on
in their life to be a very good skill set
as an angler. But that bobber going down in that
reaction time, that hand eye coordination what you're teaching that
kid and timing that hook set and going through the

(22:38):
proper way once that hook is set to keep their
rod tip down and to retrieve the fish. And it's
always important when fishing with young people and they're just
starting off the least amount of line that you've got
from the angler to the fish, a lot of times
you're going to have a little bit better success on

(22:59):
hook set in recovery of getting that fish to the
bank and are up there on the dock and pontoon
boats are a fantastic way for young people to get
out and fish, especially with family members, and they've got
to higher a rail system a lot.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Of times in a boat.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
It's one of the times that I actually like a
deep d boat or a good deep river John style
boat because the young people just, you know, trying to
teach them balance and fishing out of a boat is
something important.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
And on the safety side of that, you.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Know, don't forget as young anglers get out and you
put them in a boat, you know, part of that
gear is going to be that lifevest and that's important.
But bluegill are so powerful on what they do sitting
a stage for a young England to have success because
all of those base that you talked about tend to

(23:55):
catch a bass and a crappie and a catfish and
other species. Even though you're targeting a certain species, there
being blue gill or readier sunfish, whatever it is for
that easier bite. And sometimes it's not necessarily the easier
bite as it is just powering numbers because blue gill

(24:15):
tend to be one of those species that can be
found about anywhere, and they tend to have a lot
of different diversity in the areas and the habitat and
which they're in. And it's a great science listen for
young kids too, Jim. It allows you to start to
talk to them about the food chain and what predators

(24:35):
are and prey and a lot of times too, you
can teach young people what you're fishing with and why
you're fishing with it to kind of understand whether or
not they're trying to imitate, you know, an insect or
natural things that to fish are going to feed or
forage on, whether that's an earthworm or nightcrawler or red worm,

(24:56):
whatever you want to call it. And it starts getting
kids in reduced to something too that I think is important,
and that is they have to learn how to handle bait.
And part of getting these young people involved, you're going
to have to be a coach and a mentor for
them to have some courage to touch the bait, to

(25:17):
take the fish off of the hook. And it's important
that we remember when these young people are getting all
excited and jumping up and down or doing whatever they're doing,
that the catching of the fish is only one part
of the experience, and if you fish with kids long enough,
you'll realize that sometimes you may have some young people

(25:39):
that may really enjoy catching a fish, but they don't
want to touch the bait or take the fish off
the hook.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
So try to go back to what I.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Was saying earlier, keep that confidence in them, give them
that good experience, and gradually work in the things you're
introducing a.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
Whole lot to them, more than just catching a bluegill.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, sir, time of day is critical on everything we're
gonna talk about tonight. For summertime fishing. Too many folks
have a tennessee to engage in other activities and then
take the kid out in the middle of the day
when it's hot. That ain't gonna cut it. You need
to fish either early in the day or late in

(26:19):
the day in dusk to that period. You know from
saying a before sundown up till the dark period. Fish
are very active then and the kids are comfortable then,
and that's a big factor in them be impatient enough
to stick with it. And those two times a day
tend to be when the fish are most active to

(26:40):
begin with, so you want to spoon feed them that
as best as you can, and don't forget. We're gonna
talk about this a good bit about crappie here in
a minute. But night fishing after dark. Take these kids
the lighted areas in the state park parking lots, around docks,
anywhere where there's enough light for the child to be

(27:01):
able to see. You will find fish to be very,
very receptive to bite in that time of day. They're
not used to seeing anglers around much then, and they're
after these insects that are very active at night around
those lights. And Scott, you made a great point. That's
when these smaller bass and catfish are probing and swimming

(27:24):
along these rip wrap areas and around these docks and
the type of places where they can be very very active,
and on our major lakes, those places are very obvious
and productive targets for sunfish.

Speaker 4 (27:39):
Yes, sir, And a lot of times too with young people.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
Oh trick of the trade that may help some folks
is anywhere on some of these lakes that actually have
fish cleaning stations and those fish that are being processed
there at the dock or at the lake house there
off of the marina. A lot of times that's a
good spot to drop a little something down and catch

(28:03):
and retrieving old catfish with some of these young kids.
Those fish know what's in that area, real common, and
there's nothing wrong with capitalizing on some of the waist
and scraps of fileying fish when it comes time to
putting kids on a good bite, because we'll get into catfish.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
But I'll tell you.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
One thing, then, blue yold may be great to catch
your numbers, but them smiles and them joys of excitement
and cheering and carrying on. Sure, do you get a
little bit louder when that's a three or four or.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Five ten pound catfish on there.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
There's no doubt about that, no doubt about it. All right,
I'm gonna go to quick break here. Coming back, we're
going to give you some more tips about panfish. We're
gonna talk a little bit about creek fish, which has
a lot of things going far and teaching kids about
the environment. And we're gonna continue on through the species,
so stick with us. The brake's presented by my friends

(28:57):
at say my Marine. Tim Eddyton and his staff are
expert at troubleshooting things on your boat, equipping you with
new electronics or electric motors. And remember you never get
soaked by my friends at SMI Marine got while we're
on this blue gill and panfish kick. We do need

(29:18):
to mention the stream fishing because it's a premier way
to get kids involved, and it's a great way in
shallow streams that do have waiting sections that are available
for kids to learn about crawfish, tadpoles, They get to
see great blue hands, little green hands, aquatic wildlife. It's

(29:41):
almost endless really to talk about. And there's something magical
about a flowing water course that gets in your veins
very very quickly. I was fortunate enough to grow up
on Beargrass Creek, which was at the time of very
good fishing creek. As a kid, the comment about me was,

(30:04):
where's Jimmy, Well, he's at the creek.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Every day I could, I was there, and it just
gets in your blood. And there's so many places that
kids could get access with an adult companion to fish
these creeks. There's obviously launch sites and a lot of
them around the state. The Department Fish Wilife Resources has

(30:31):
excellent guides to places where there's those type of access areas.
There's lakes that are actually devoted to kids, catching fish
and the fins f I N S program the department has,
and if you'll utilize some of these techniques and small
light tackle we've been talking about, the kids will be successful.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
Oh absolutely, And you can go ahead and kick me
in the shin now. But as there pan fishing in
those creeks and turning over rocks to catch a crawlfish
here and there, we got that little brown fish in
Kentucky that I love so much. And sometimes a little
short small mouth bass or some warmouth or whatever.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
May get on your hook or on your line.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
And I've never seen a kid not smile and be
glad to catch one of those too.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
But back to that creek deal.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
One thing that's really important about the stream and the
creek style fishing is going back to this whole program.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
And building confidence in kids.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
You know, got to cross the stream, or maybe you
remember being a young kid, if you're an angler or
a hunter in general, at some point in time, you
had to learn how to cross a log, or.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
You learn how to skip a rock.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
And that's the whole point of not the program, that's
the whole point of us is adults in the outdoors,
is we're passing on to these kids. So many things
that are just going to help build and shape and
form them. You know, you're looking at we're talking individual species. Now,

(32:15):
kids are learning identification. That's science class one O one.
You know, we're fixing to figure out, you know, how
we're going to.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
Get the bait over there to catch those blue gill.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
You know, there's some physics and and some and some
lessons being learned there.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
You know, how do you get it to cast farther?
And and and so much.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Jim can be said too about this blue gill fishing
that you can do, and the parks or the creeks
or the streams. And then.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
What do you do with them after you catch them?

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Man, even little blue gill can fry up. You can
fry the hole, or you can cut the filets.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Out of them and have them boneless.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
And that's the part to me the bluegill really shines
on because you can teach kids after they've caught a
mess of bluegill or just a little you know catch
there doesn't have to be the whole basket flowing over.
You can teach them how to scale them, gut them
and process them. And for I'm in a skill it

(33:17):
or drop them into some oil, and teaching that lifestyle
to young people. You know, we were nomadic and we
moved around, and why does one part of the stream
or one part of the pond hold more fish than others.
And kids are starting to learn about habitat and they're
starting to learn how they could provide for themselves. Not
that grocery stores are going to all shut down all

(33:40):
at once.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
The world's not coming to an end.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
But we do have to remind young folks where we
come from, and we can remind them where we're going,
and that bluegill serves so many things, and just to
nibble on the.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
End of the hook and retrieving them into the bank.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yes, sir. The aspects of fishing in streams, of course,
go to small boats and kayaks, which are very very popular.
Now now we've already mentioned this, but you got to
have flotation devices for these kids. There's too many people
nowadays that think once they buy a kayak, if the

(34:22):
child knows how to swim, they don't need it. Well,
that's not the way it is. It's a necessity. And
you don't want to be foolish those saying accidents of
what happened because you weren't prepared for it. Well, the
accidents can and do happen. And that life preserver is
exactly what it said. It's a life preserver, so please

(34:45):
don't skimp on that. But gosh, there's so many streams
that Kentucky has more miles of running water than any
other state except for Alaska. We brag about that a lot.
And it's got just wealth of opportunity out there. And again,
a lot of the state parks have river and stream

(35:05):
access inside of those parks. So with a little checking
things out, you can find out about those kinds of
things very very well.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
And it's you know, it's so easy for kids.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Once they get up in age and they start learning
how to have their friends and their buddies, they're going
to mature. You know, when you start introducing young people
into fishing, you're you're looking at.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
All kinds of ages.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
But I can remember growing up as a as a
young man and having a bicycle and I had a
fishing pole, you know on the front of that thing.
You know, holding my grips on my bicycle and holding
my fishing pole at the same time, and you know,
tackle box hanging there off the side of the handlebar
and then buddy, we were we were gone, and I

(35:52):
mean it. And you're talking about the best times of
the day, And there was times of the day that
we were riding our bikes when the sun was coming up.
I remember my dad getting ready to go in to
work and my mom, you know, asking where we were going.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
And you know, let these young people go places.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Let them as they mature and they get older, let
them get out there and let them go with their friends,
and let them go through that peck in order too.
It's it's important that young folks learn how to explore
why they're fishing, no.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Doubt about it, that's of course. So yeah, one of
the great things about fishing gets them out there. All right,
I gotta go to break here. We'll be back after
break to talk about catfish, bass and other specie activity
around the region that you could capitalize. And we're going
to again talk a little bit about camping and some
of the fund that could be had by actually staying

(36:45):
in the outdoors overnight. So we're back right after the
break is presented by SMI Marine. Go see them. They'll
take great care of you. You'll have new friends. A
minute you hit the door. Remember you never get soaked
by my friends at s amout got We've been talking
about the penfish species a good bit. Now let's switch

(37:07):
gears to catfish because it's getting red hot. That's one
of the cool things about catfis fishy, is that their
spawn comes a little later then the early spring species,
and they're fun to catch and delicious to eat. Let's
dive in on that.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Well, with young kids, it's all about getting their interest,
in getting their approach, and so different species of catfish
tend to feed on different types of food, and so
when I think of fishing with young kids and catfish,
I start thinking about how creative you can be and

(37:50):
what I'm getting there is Sometimes it's the stink factor,
and sometimes it's the how well will the bait and
stay on the hook when it comes to catfish. But
one good thing about the catfish species, especially in a
lot of farm ponds, folks that tend to have access
to areas that will let you fish in farm ponds.

(38:12):
A lot of times those folks will have those ponds
stopped with catfish, and preferably most of the time they'll
have channel cats that'll be put into those ponds. So
your chances of catching those fish are normally pretty good.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
The other thing is is those.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Fish, you know, they tend to be really good for
table fair and so it gets into an interesting concept
there when it comes to hook the plate. You know,
we just got off the boogill species that have scales,
and they're learning the anatomy and physiology of a different species,

(38:51):
that being the catfish. And of course the croaking of
the catfish and the whiskers and the stingers and pins
and all these things, the sliming to them.

Speaker 4 (39:01):
It gains kids interest.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
And one of the things personally that's really good about
catfishing with young kids is it's an easy way to
get them to gradually step up in using bigger equipment.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
It takes that.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Young kid a lot of times into that teenager or adolescent.
And where I'm going with this is you can start
moving up the ladder and progressing this angler to let
them know that hey, maybe a little different type of hook,
maybe a little different type of weight, maybe a different

(39:42):
type of bait, and maybe we're going to go up
and our pound tests, and we're going to get up
in our rod's ability to maybe handle a little bit
heavier fish, and you're progressing this angler to understand now
that their equipment and their selection is really important.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
Now now, as far as catching these catfish.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
A lot of times we'll think about ponds, but we
touched on the pinfish with the creeks, and we have
a lot of river system in the state of Kentucky,
and that could.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Be the Green River, the Ohio River, there's the Kentucky River.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
There's a lot of places. And what you can catfish
with kids. And another twist to the catfish is the
fact that you can now begin to teach kids how
to fish.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Without a rod.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
And what I'm getting at there is you can start
teaching kids how to limb line. You can start teaching kids.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
How to put out pipes of lines, trout lines, whatever,
and legally mark those with their name and their contact information,
and then start pulling those lines up and working those fish.
And it creates for a great activity that we'll get
into a little bit later in the program, and that
is some of those overnight trips that you may have

(40:57):
where you actually spend the night and build a cat
at fire. And that's where cat fishing, in my opinion,
really starts to involve a young person into adapting their
outdoor skills and getting out there and fishing during those
hours in which the sun may not beat up, and
those overnight trips they become part of cat fishing.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Yes, sir, well, they're definitely early and late and nocturnal feeders.
We know this, or at least that is the way
they operate most of the time. But they're going to
move up into the bays. They're looking for rock to
spawn in, and the channels in the blues will be
more and more active as summer progresses here. And you

(41:43):
mentioned Lyne. You know, ten to fourteen pound test seems
to do very well most of the time. If you're
moving up into the big blue catfish, that's a little
different category. But for the youngster learning the channel cat's
usually the primary target. The smaller blue catfish or even
bullheads and some of the you know, other bodies of

(42:06):
water around the region, but there's a lot of baits.
A lowly nightcrawler is a great, great asset. I mean,
they work. They love them. Chicken breasts marinated and strawberry yello.
It's the old standby and put that on a snelled hook.
Like we talked about earlier on a tend to fourteen

(42:29):
pound line of lightweight fished on the bottom or beneath
the bobber along rip wrap areas you're going to catch catfish.
I mean they're yeah, catfish is not shy about biting.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
I'll put that no between the shrimp and the hot dogs.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
I can't tell you how many hot dogs that I
decided to eat raw myself before I decided to cut
one with my buck pocket knife to put it on
the end of my hook. That's a great thing about
that creativity in these kids. You can pretty much make
up a little potion or whatever bait.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
You want to with them.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
And like I said, every angler is going to be different.
But you know, there's nothing wrong. As you're helping develop
a young person and you're getting them out there and
you're getting a field and they're.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Starting to do the experience. You know, some of.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Them may be some type of blood bait. Something may
be a cheese bait, something may be more on the
garlic side, like you talked about my old favorite deal
shrimp and strawberry yellow. All of these things are letting
these young people know how these fish are feeding. Are
they feeding on the bottom, Are they feeding on live things.

(43:40):
You know, go back to using live bait, using cut bait.
You have to catch your own bait. You can go
out there, catch a fish, a blue gill, and if
it's small, you can utilize that as fresh cut bait.
And these are all things that in today's world that

(44:03):
some folks may see as cruel or maybe they don't
understand the purpose of it, but it goes back to
that food chain. You can catch a small fish, change
your gear a little bit, put that same fish on
a different style hook, and catch a bigger fish. And
it's like teaching a young person how to grow up

(44:23):
in their economic health and their success is you know,
you start with something, you utilize it, and you invest
in something that you've got to get something bigger and better.
And it goes back to teaching these life principles. As
we move through the species, what they're learning about there,
they're learning about these life principles.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Doew yes, sir, all right, switch gears a little bit
because there's two species that are fantastic all summer long,
and that's crappie and white bass. And I'll throw hybrids
in there as well, and that is fish under lights
at night There is something almost mystical about watching menus

(45:06):
gather underneath the light, watching the frenzy start where the
predator fish start moving in, and it is very simple
to do. They make great lights to do that nowadays,
the hydroglows and what have you. They attract the bait fish.
This is where fish with live minus and a light

(45:28):
wire hook comes into play, a light split shot. This
is where you can really have a blast taking these
kids out and teaching them how things operate at night.
And it's simple fishing really, because you want to either
set up on bluff walls where the river channel or
creek channels meet those steeper walls, or on points that

(45:53):
are next to deep water and you anchor, put the
light out, take that little picnic pack out, let them eat,
munch around while the bait gets in a frenzy. Drop
a min of down. For me, the magic depths always
seems to be fifteen to twenty five feet. That's the
depth where these predator fish feel really comfortable cruising in

(46:16):
and out of the light. And you'll catch white bash,
you'll catch crappie, you'll catch hybrids, you will catch the
occasional catfish, and you will catch bass because they all
love mintals and it's man is it fun? Now? A
quick tip here, it's always best on the darker phases
of the moon. If you try it on a full

(46:38):
moon period, you're probably gonna be disappointed because the fish
have all that other light to forage on. But I
know you love to do that. Scott Bridge abutments great
place to fish at night. Anywhere where a bridge crosses lake,
anywhere where a bridge crosses the river and the rip
rap around those places. It really is a fish gathering

(47:01):
point for all the species.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
We mentioned two things about those species that I prefer
when it comes to building young anglers, and I'll start
with the croppie.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
The anatomy of that fish is mouthed.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
You have to start to learn your hook set, you
have to understand how to fight them just a little differently,
and so you're starting to perfect yourself as a mentor
to train those young people how they will retrieve and
gather those fish in. It's a phenomenal species of fish
to eat. Then to the white bass, I feel that's

(47:35):
an excellent gateway to put children in a boat and
to get them out on the water and for them
to start to understand vertical jigging, water columns, understanding what
they're seeing on some type of fish finder where son
are to where they can understand the bens and the

(47:56):
changes not just in the water depth, but where these
channels are and how.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
These fish move in packs, in what.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
They do throughout their year, and why they're doing what
they're doing. We're teaching them to do more than just
catch fish.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Absolutely, and that fishing at night under lights it's a winner.
I mean, those fish they come to that light and
it's almost like a captive audience, and it's really cool
to see all that frenzy start. And as the night
goes on and the fish get more and more active,
you can actually move up in the water, call them

(48:34):
and catch them. Us A shallows six to ten feet,
but again for me, the magic depth generally speaking is
twelve to twenty feet. Fifteen's about golden. Most of the time.
You do it around deep docks, for example, these channel
binds we talked about. If folks don't understand what we're
talking about, get a lake map of the lake you're

(48:56):
on and look where those channels mark to where they
swing in next to points or BLUs are the type
of places that you definitely want to probe.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
And a lot of those places to Jim or we'll
go to break.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
A lot of those places will we'll be around spill
ways and dams, and we've got those all throughout Kentucky
and Indiana for folks to gather around and capitalize on
those fisheries.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Yes, sir, great point, all right, folks got to go
to break. It's presented by s and by Marine. Go
see them. If you need new electronics and need help
understand how to use them, they're your guys. If you
have problems with your boat, they're your guys. And if
you're looking for a new pontoon boat, they carry the
StarCraft pont toons. They got low aluminum boats. And remember

(49:46):
you never get soaked by my friends at SMI. God,
we can't ignore the bass. Every kid knows catch bass,
and they're very capable to do. And this is where
you got to kind of keep it simple. If you
want to get them started back to early and late

(50:07):
in the day, that's definitely a way to go. Certain
types of lures for the beginning angler are much easier
to use. Straight line spinners are great almost anywhere for bass,
especially in farm pond environments, but in major reservoirs as well.

(50:27):
Small topwater lures a small floating in palla, any type
of small top water like that cast in and around
visible structure. One of the key places you can take
a kid and almost know you're going to get bit
by basses around these crappy steak beds in the lakes.

(50:49):
They're marked, they're available on maps from the Department of
Fish and Wildlife Resources for most of the resorts and
riprap areas are always good. And don't forget troll for bass.
Small crank baits are deadly for it and a kid,
you know, then you got some boat activity to you know,

(51:12):
let them enjoy the ride while they're catching fish.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Yeah, as these young anglers are progressing through this learning
how to fish deal, you're now talking about a lot
of baits that will have different types of hooks and
a different number of hooks, and safety is going to
be a big issue with the bass with treble hooks
and making sure that kids are maturing and going through that.

(51:39):
And it's important to understand as you go through your gear.
A lot of times baits such as those inline spinners
you're talking about, will now introduce kids to how swivels
are being used and their fishing gear, and more importantly, I.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Think with bass, as I reflect back on.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
My life, I think what stood out most about my
bass fishing early on in my career as a young
angler was how important that tackle box was for me,
and making the selections of what baits I was going
to buy and how I was going to lay it out,

(52:21):
and when we brought the bass species to play prior
to going on the air, I'd be lying to you
if I wouldn't smile a little bit because I'm sitting
there thinking about all the frogs that I bought over
the years and trying to imitate I remember buying some

(52:42):
top water baits that had like floating heads on them
that were to imitate a snake, and really all it
was was just a seven inch worm with a curly
tail on it. But marketing got me and caught a
bunch of fish on those. But you know, I just
think back over the years. You know, I had a mounce,
I had a rat, I had a frog. You know,
I had all of these different things. I learned how

(53:03):
to fish a slugo and and and I learned how
to visually, you know, start targeting fish in that gear,
I learned how important glasses were, especially polarized glasses, and
and that's something.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
That you can start to introduce to these young people.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
And more importantly, Jim is now we're starting to graduate and.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
Put some of the smaller stuff down. Not that the basic.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
Spin cast reels won't get it done, because they sure will,
but now we start getting into bales and we start
getting into true bait casting rills, and young people are
going to learn a six and a half foot rod
versus a seven foot rod, a fact fast action versus
a you know, medium heavy or whatever it.

Speaker 4 (53:49):
Comes to, and and getting into ratios.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
There's math class went on, you know, more going on
in this teaching kids how to fish. You know, what's
the ratio and the retrieving speed and how fast they
can take up that line. All of these things will
help make these kids better anglers. How fast you retrieve,
you know, how do you mimic it? Be talking about
the hours of the day and why fish are coming

(54:14):
up to feed, and that sun dropping over the horizon,
and the insect activity starts to pick up, and the
animals that will be moving around and the critters that
will be stirring on top of the water at different
points and times of the year, and how fish will
capitalize on that.

Speaker 4 (54:30):
I mean, it's.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Obvious that the bass gets a lot of attention, and
it does because it's a really aggressive fish and it
creates a lot of excitement in these young anglers.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Yes, sir, if I had to pick three baits right
off the top of my head quickly, here, it would
be a small swim bait three inches. We'll catch a
lot of small to medium bass. It would be a
spinner bake that we talked about. And again those small
surface lures casting and around edges of aquatic reeds, rip

(55:04):
rap areas or structures like those fish habitat that are
readily available around a lot of these places. All right,
folks will be with you right after the break. The
break is presented by SMI Marine. Go see him. You'll
make new friends there at tim Annington any staff or
super friendly. Remember you never get soaked at SMI Scott. Obviously,

(55:30):
fishing is one of the greatest ways to get kids outside,
and we've talked extensive about it, but getting them outside
is the paramount thing which leads us down the road
to some of the aquatic sports like the kayaking, canoeing.
But let's start out with camping. Because you're an expert camper.

(55:50):
You travel all over the United States camping your whole life,
and I'd like you to give folks tips about how
to get started, you know, simple as backyard camping on
up to you know, some stuff at some of the
parks and some of the things that are available out
there folks that they might not know about.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
Well, it's important for young people to travel in general.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Just to see what's outside of the box and to
see what is similar and to see.

Speaker 4 (56:21):
What is different. Different areas are more unique than others.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
So traveling becomes a passion for a lot of people,
and sometimes that can start with camping. But this is
some basic gear, not overthinking it, understanding how important the
weather is, it's going to be a real, real important
part of all this, and not getting too far from home,
and understanding that some of these young children are going

(56:48):
to have some fears. They you know, everything's cool until
it gets dark. And I think there's a lot of
listeners out there that will be able to relate to
the first time they tried camp in the backyard. And
that's where I'd like to get started as just doing
some backyard camping and teaching young people what it is

(57:09):
to put some shelter over their head, and basic principles
of fire and being able to cook on that fire
is important. It may be a small or a hot
dog on a stick that a kid cuts, but that's
an important thing for them to begin to learn and
to go through the process because it's going to carry
over not only into their fishing career or getting outdoors,

(57:33):
but their hunting career or how they can travel and
see landmarks in the country. And a lot of those
national parks and state parks have a lot of opportunity
and you can go with all kinds of gear. Camping
for a kid, if you're listening as an adult, could
start with maybe doing it with a tent. Maybe it's

(57:53):
using some type of RV or some type of trailer
that you have that's set up, or even just taking
a kid to the cabin. I think a lot of
times when we think about camping, we tend to think
about really getting out there and trying to rough it,
and there's no.

Speaker 4 (58:09):
Need to do that. You don't want that.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Roughing it experience to start shaping or removing these kids thinking
that you're going to toughen them up and put calluses
on them. What you're trying to do is you're trying
to build them up. You're trying to put them in
a position to where they're doing something different, you know,
and it's important that these young folks can understand the

(58:33):
whole experience of what they're doing and why they're doing it.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
So you need to figure out where you're gonna go.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
That's gonna be a major thing, and you're gonna have
to get your gear and everything prepped up and ready,
and realize that lighting is going to be really important
because these kids, like we talked about, they're going to
have to overcome some fears. And then put the time
in to prepping your food, what you're going to have
as far as water, how you're going to deal with

(59:00):
your higien These are all important things to consider. And
let's talk about something that maybe could get a little uncomfortable,
but to stay professional on radio is is just think
about common things that you're gonna.

Speaker 4 (59:15):
Have to do.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
You're gonna have to urinate, you're gonna have to use
the bathroom and those types of facilities, and you're gonna
have to bathe, and a lot of times we've got
to understand that men are different than women and why
you know, it may not be that big of a
deal for a little boy to you know, not have
a shower for a day or two. It could be
a huge deal for a little girl and there's a

(59:37):
lot more hair there that they got to deal with.

Speaker 4 (59:39):
Or it could be the.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
Fact that they don't like bugs, or they don't like
certain sounds, or they don't understand dealing with things in
the darken. And I've seen this as many little boys
sometimes get scared as I have little girls. So don't
just assume that you know, camping's only for boys. Get
the girls out there and put yourself in a setting
to where if things don't go right, it's easy to.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
Change things around.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
And this is where the Boy Scouts and four h
and Girl Scouts, all of these different types of organizations
that are out there really come in to play. And
it really comes into play for parents trying to figure.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
Out, you know, where do you go or what do
you do?

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
A lot of state parks, a lot of campground areas,
they'll have some basic classes to teach kids how to
do things, and it revolves around that camping deal.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
From starting fire to cooking on the fire.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
All of these things are great, but don't overlook an
suv either.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
It's amazing what you can do with young folks.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
You can take and foe down those seats in an suv,
or if you've got a topper on the back of
a truck and put some type of padding in their
for them to sleep on, whether that's an air mattress
or you're using some type of foam or you're actually
using a justified country sleeping path and start letting them
get their blankets and their pillaws and all of their things.

(01:01:06):
And we've got to remember we're to the stage when
we say we're introducing these kids. It may be that
they take their blanket. It may be that they're taking
their stuffed animal. Got to understand not everybody's going to
go out here and just jump into this camping thing
like they're a lumberjack.

Speaker 4 (01:01:22):
You know. It's it's something that they gradually have to
get a taste for. They got to understand it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
But I will tell you this, when you can add
some hot dogs and some smolles and some fresh flat
jacks in the morning, cooking those on a flat top
and sitting around the campfire and just you know, sharing
you know, stories.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
And maybe talking about family members.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
That these are times in which we can talk about
all the gear.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
That you need for days, Jim.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
But one of the things that you've got to focus
on when it comes time for camping is realize how
these kids are going to open up. Realize that those
campfire stories and being able to spend time with these
young people and putting the phone down and driving that
stake in the ground and going out there and picking

(01:02:14):
up your own firewood and not having to pay for it,
and getting to using acts for the first time, or
maybe getting to use a pocket knife for the first
time while you're camping. These are all these things that
are pillars to building the all around outdoors men and woman,
and it's given them that experience to understand when they
need to put that bug spray on or when they

(01:02:35):
need to have light to.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
Help aid them as they walk.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Make sure just make sure that weather and location is
a major consideration that you do, and realize that camping
may be best starting off at just one night in
the backyard or someplace real close to home. Just in
case you got to get back and things don't go
is planning. Don't force or fight a kid through a

(01:03:04):
bad experience. And please please try to look at the
programs that are out there with the youth leadership, whether
that's going to Camp Curry, whether that's sending kids to
a Scout camp.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
Let kids get that camping.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Outdoor cavin experience. Take them to a campground, let them
spend the night with you in RV and understand that
camping and glamping and card camping, all of those things.
You're going to come across differently, just depending on who
you are and what you're going to do. Because I
will say this one thing about teaching camping to young

(01:03:42):
people is the adults have got to be on the
same page and in the same gear because I know
a whole lot of adults that don't like laying down
on the ground or setting up tent camp. And that's
why the hotels and some of the airbnb's and resort
are so full. It's not that the kids don't want

(01:04:03):
to go camp it's the fact that the adults don't
want to go camping because they had a bad experience.
And with the right gear and a lot of preparation,
you can go out there and sleep in the comfort
and spend.

Speaker 4 (01:04:15):
The night underneath the stars. And there's you a little astronomy.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
Getting back to what are kids going to get out
of these things that we're teaching them?

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Yes, sir, coming back from this break, I want you
to talk about a few essentials that are absolutely stir in.
Maybe some tent types that you would recommend for starters
for folks that are just getting into it. So got
to go to break break is presented by SMI Marine
Go see them go to take great care of you.

(01:04:43):
Remember you never get soaked at SMI's case. Gott uh.
Before we dive into the tenths and what have you,
we do have to mention the insect situation, especially ticks.
Sawyer's tick repelling is a must for the high and camping.
Their cardian product is great for mosquitoes and whatnot. And

(01:05:07):
they do make tent gear an area spray around your
tent perimeter for ticks and other critters as well. That's
Sawyer's Sawyers. Go ahead about the tents if you would.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
Yeah, Well, over the years, the best tent that I
have found is by Gazelle.

Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
They've got a hubstyle tent.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
If anybody's familiar with a ground blind, it's very similar.
It's based on a hub system. No more nights of
making sure this size rod or that rod goes through
this hole and trying to follow directions. You know, the
bad things that happen is getting the camp too late
and setting stuff up in the dark. You need to
be familiar with your equipment, and we've made things a

(01:05:57):
lot more simpler, the logistics of it. And I tell
you can have a tent popped up in ninety seconds
and taken down in ninety seconds.

Speaker 4 (01:06:05):
I'm not lying. It's that quick, and that's really important.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
And you have a good structure that's going to keep
the dow off of you, the sun, the rain, whatever
that could pop up if the weather did turn for
the worse or just give you some challenging conditions. Your
betting's going to be extremely important as far as you're
camping essentials and trying to look at all of the

(01:06:29):
smaller things that you may want to bring along a
pocket knife, some rope, duct tape, all these are things
that kids can find.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
Creative ways to utilize.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
And your lighting's going to be important, not just for safety,
but kids are going to go try to find critters,
or they're going to try to go out there and
play a game of hide and go seeking the dark
or whatever it is that they're doing.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
You may decide to take some kids out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
Maybe you go down to the beach at Florida this
year and you're not just camping, but have some lights.
If you let them go catch some crabs, or get
some kids out and let them catch some mic crawlers,
do do the odd and end things to where they're active,
and then your hygiene is going to be really important.
A lot of things that are overlooked when people take

(01:07:17):
young folks into camping is they will just overlook some
of the most basic things, like you were talking about
bug repellent and sunscreens and medications, or maybe it's glasses
or contacts. It may have to be prepared for and
make sure that your toletry kit has got everything that
you need for some basic first aid all the way

(01:07:37):
to just keeping yourself in a situation to where odors
and you know, events that occur. You know, wet wipes
are going to be a big thing. Baby wipes when
you're out camping is to wipe yourself off and to
stay clean and that's that's going to lead in and
out of your cooking supplies is you know what are
you gonna need. You're gonna probably need a cooler to

(01:07:57):
have some ice on, some drinks, water and soft drinks
with different things.

Speaker 4 (01:08:03):
Keep kids hydrated, to keep yourself hydrated.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
Do want to talk a little bit about how important
it is keep alcohol away at these situations when young
people are around.

Speaker 4 (01:08:16):
That's something that I see a lot of times. Folks
will make a mistake on it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
They'll have alcohol involved around a youth camping trip and
that's never a good combo. But your food needs to
be packed. Make sure you have some trash bags. You
want to leave the place in better shape than how
you found it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:34):
That's a great time to start teaching conservation.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
Let the kids get involved with what they want to
cook and what they want to eat. Let them pick
out their breakfast if they want bacon and sausage, and
by god, let them have bacon and sausage, and don't
worry about if they eat too many pancakes. Let them
pour as much maple syrup and put as.

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
Much butter on it as they want.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
And you know, teach them how to turn a flapjack,
teach them how to mix stuff up and make sure
you've got a good water supply for your hygiene and
your cooking. And then of course you've got all your
miscellaneous things like maybe a kid may take a book
to read or a journal. You've got all your different
types of fishing gear or cameras.

Speaker 4 (01:09:14):
Sometimes you may even take the.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
Dog binoculars, whatever it is that is kind of round
out everything and make sure that you realize when you
go camping, you can make it as.

Speaker 4 (01:09:26):
Complicated and as simple as you want.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
But it goes back to the old boy scout motto,
always be prepared.

Speaker 4 (01:09:34):
So if you've got room.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
In the truck and you've got the right bag or
the right storage container to keep some stuff in, you know,
just have it there just in case you need it.
And that could be something as simple as maybe you
get to your campsite and you forgot your can opener,
or maybe you've forgot a lighter, or the lighter that
you got you lost it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
So sometimes it's good to take two of everything.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
And I know that that sometimes gets to be and
inconvenience and weight can start to be a factor. But
remember we're talking about getting started most of the time
car camping, camping on the back of the farm, going
somewhere to somebody that's got a little bit of property
to let you utilize it and start combining in things
like we talked about earlier, the cat fishing, staying up

(01:10:20):
all night, all these are things that kids need to do.

Speaker 4 (01:10:23):
It's things that we did.

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
And if we forget with our busy schedules sometimes that
it's our responsibility to make time to teach these young
people how to get out in the outdoors. I promise
you the time is going to be a whole lot
more important than the gear or the brand or what

(01:10:46):
story you're going by it from. There's nothing that kids
need any more than our time, and that's what is
going to be important. When you pack to go camping,
remember that you're needing to pack time and not be
rushed and make sure that you realize what's going on there.

(01:11:06):
There's a lot of philosophy in what we're talking about tonight,
a lot of method and what we're talking about tonight,
and it's for a reason. Go back to the beginning
of the program. Have all your camping gear ready, but
remember it's about the kids experience and they're going to
get things out of these experiences that you never thought of,
and things are going to occur that you never planned for,

(01:11:29):
And what makes or breaks that trip for them is
not going to necessarily be the same thing as what you,
as the adult think will make or break the trip.
So soak it all in, go at it with the
understanding that you're at the beginning stage. And the other
part about all of this is you can progress. Take

(01:11:53):
a little bit of a time, progress move a little
bit further, and by all means, make sure that whenever
you do any of these things that you're not trespassing,
and you've got permission to be where you're supposed to be,
and you've got all your permits and license to do.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
What you're going to do. It's the adults responsibility to
make sure that they're abiding by the law and they're not.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Going through the process of teaching all this only to
meet somebody such as a ranger or a game warden
to have an experience.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
Go south real quick.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
Jim Scott again, what's the name of that tent and
where can people search for them?

Speaker 4 (01:12:31):
Well, the internet would be the best place.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
It's the gazelle, My favorite one is the T four
and in the overland edition, and you can catch those
anytime from two hundred and eighty dollars to about four
hundred dollars depending on what color or style you get,
whether you're paying full price or sale prices. And just

(01:12:54):
remember when it comes time for you as an adult
around these holidays are days or whatever, and people ask
what you want, and start thinking about things that you
could get as gifts, and then give that gift back
to teaching the outdoors to a young person, never too
old to have enough camping gear to get a new
product here there. And it's amazing how everything's progressed with

(01:13:17):
all this, Jim, because it camping twenty years ago wasn't.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
As enjoyable or as easy as it is today. I
can promise you.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
That, oh you got that right real quick, We only
got about a minute left. What type of air mattresses
do you recommend and or what else do you recommend
in that regard.

Speaker 5 (01:13:35):
I absolutely recommend the Sea to Summit, and I like
the self inflating pads that have some memory phone built
into them.

Speaker 4 (01:13:46):
And I really.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Enjoy sleeping pads that come with good repair kits, because
if you use them they're.

Speaker 4 (01:13:54):
Gonna get holes, scratches, and beans.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
And I'm telling you they still haven't made one that
will survive year if you really get out there and
use it like you're supposed to.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
So be ready to fix and patch that joker up.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Okay, buddy, Well, folks, that's a wrap up again. Most
important thing we want to impart here is get the
kids outside, get them away from the cell phones, get
them away from the hustle and bustle. There's so much
to be learned in the outdoors that will carry them
forward to life and hold them in good stead in
just about any circumstance. All Right, folks, the program's been

(01:14:29):
presented tonight by SMI Marine. Go see them. They'll take
great care of it. You never get soaked at SMI