How to Lead a Fishout

Leading a GBF Fishout is fun, simple and allows you to share a favorite fishing location with other club members. If you follow this simple format, you will have a good turnout. Everyone will be excited, informed and prepared to have a pleasant time on the water. One need not be a guide or even a great flyfisher. You may select a new place you know of or one of the many waters we annually fish that are productive. Finding a place to go is not difficult.

Promotion, organization and follow-up are key to a successful event:

1. LOCATION:  Select a location that affords the best chance for catching fish.  It is not your responsibility to guarantee fish will be caught. However, by picking a lake or river where the fishing is normally good during the scheduled event, you will provide members with their best opportunity to connect with fish.  Consider weather, moon cycles, fish derbies, holidays, conclaves, sport shows or anything else that can adversely impact your fishout. Schedule around these obstacles.

2.  PRESSURE:  Decide how may people your location can handle.  Depending on where you go, you may need to limit the number of members you can accommodate on the water. Rivers are usually more sensitive than lakes to numbers of flyfishers.

3.  PROMOTION:  Write an article for publication in the Leader at least one month in advance of the planned fishout that imparts your excitement. Give the dates and location of the fishout

Tell everyone why this fishout is going to be great. (Beautiful location, big fish, large numbers of fish, private waters, great camping or anything else that will get people excited.) Look at past Leaders for ideas. There are both good and bad examples of how to do an announcement.

If the fishout will be for more than a day, do some research on places to stay. Try to find a campground and a motel so there is a choice for the members.  Motels will sometimes give a discount for groups, but you have to ask.

Tell everyone how to sign up. Announce that there will be a sign-up sheet at the next meeting. Also give your telephone number and e-mail address so members can contact you to ask questions or sign up if they can’t attend the monthly meeting. On the sign-up sheet, provide a place for name, telephone number and e-mail address.

At the meeting ask the president to allow you a few minutes to talk about the fishout.  Once you have members that have committed, contact them via e-mail or telephone at least one week prior to the fishout. Inform them about the weather conditions, equipment, method of fishing and meeting location. Let them know how many people are going. Find out if anyone would like to pair up with other members.  New members will appreciate this consideration.

Do what ever you can to promote a group environment.  GBF is known for making new members feel welcome and helping less experienced flyfishers on the water.

CONCLUSION:  After the fishout, write a small debrief article in the Leader.  Refer to fun things that happened at the outing, such as people who caught fish, those that fell in the water, nice dinners/potlucks, or anything else that was memorable.  This will remind members who attended of the fun they had, and it will help other members decide if this is a fishout they would like to attend next year. Debriefing always promotes the next fishout.

FINALLY: It would be of great help if you asked those members who attended the fishout to share their impression of what was good and what can be improved on. This quick survey could be of help when planning future fishouts. 

GBF needs your involvement in order to continue and prosper.  You might even find a new appreciation of how fortunate we all are to have a club like Granite Bay Flycasters.