This day-long fishing trip is a prevalent staple of the Outdoor Pursuits class. It is an engaging hands-on experience that complements the outdoor pursuits curriculum. 

On the morning of Friday, Oct. 25 the Outdoor Pursuits classes made ripples on the lakes of Busch Wildlife, kicking off their annual fishing field trip. 

In class, students had a fishing focused unit that gave them the opportunity to learn useful background information about fishing and aquatic wildlife prior to the field trip. 

“We learned about what the [fish] ate and their anatomy,” Thomas Bronikowski (11) said. 

William Sodemann, the teacher of Outdoor Pursuits, provides more detail on how this trip also places a lot of emphasis on the practical skill of fishing in addition to the ecological aspect. 

“We talked about fish species, habitat, anatomy, and then practical skills on knot tying and how to bait a hook and take off a fish when it’s caught,” Sodemann said. 

On this year’s fishing trip, the classes fished at their usual spot, Busch Wildlife Conservation Area. Busch Wildlife features 38 fishable lakes as well as plenty of creeks spanning across its 6,987 acres. The primary species prevalent at Busch Wildlife are Bluegill, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Trout, and Catfish. 

They specifically fished at Lake 15 and Lake 2. Both of these lakes are toward the front of the conservation area. These two lakes are also specifically dedicated to group fishing and contain multiple species of fish, allowing students to catch a large variety. It is believed that the designated group fishing lakes are more stocked compared to other lakes, making the catch rate a little higher.  

Overall, this fishing field trip was another success for the Outdoor Pursuits classes.

Sodemann comments on how the conditions were perfect. 

“We had several students catch fish of all sizes and the weather was beautiful!” Sodemann said.