TRI-LAKES AREA — The state of Arkansas encompasses a little more than 53,000 square miles. Of that amount, our Natural State anglers are blessed with about 600,000 acres of lakes and 9,700 miles of streams and rivers.
Heck, our state is even divided roughly down the middle - from northwest to southeast - by the 320 or so miles of the Arkansas River that flows from Fort Smith to near Arkansas Post.
Some of our more well known waters include lakes DeGray, Greers Ferry, Beaver, Bull Shoals, Ouachita, Hamilton, Catherine, Norfork … the list is a lengthy one. Of course, for every one of these large lakes, there are dozens of smaller lakes, bayous, streams, farm reservoirs and pasture ponds.
Therein lies the problem for many Arkansans. While some of these waters cover thousands of acres and others are small, they all generally require a trip of a few to several miles to wet a hook. And, of course, those larger lakes and the running waters are not often conducive to fishing from the bank.
In today’s society, where time seems to have replaced gold as the standard measure of value, it is ever harder for a family to make a successful effort at getting away for an angling adventure. There’s always something to do, whether work, chores around the home or some activity in which the kiddos are involved. There is just no time left for fishing.
Step back in time a bit, however, to 2002. In December of that year, then-outdoors editor Trey Reid of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette covered an event in Little Rock that set the stage for something that could - and would - make a difference.
Then, the AGFC stocked about 15,000 rainbow trout in Little Rock city-park ponds and part of Rock Creek. The urban trout program began with a Saturday trout-fishing clinic and fishing derby at Boyle Park.
As the idea took root, it blossomed into the Family and Community Fishing Program. Clifton Jackson of the AGFC has been along for the entire ride.
Jackson, now 39, began his career with the commission as a district fisheries biologist for central Arkansas. After two years in that capacity, he became the family and community fisheries biologist. In that position, he spends about 60 percent of his time outside the office, either doing research in the field or promoting the positivity of fishing through educational programming for children.
For Jackson, this job is a personal effort that links to his childhood.
“I grew up in North Little Rock and spent a great deal of time fishing with my family and friends,” Jackson said. “The creation of this program represented a unique chance to enhance angling opportunities for families in central Arkansas and other densely populated areas.
“I love fishing and the connections that people make while taking part in this ancient pursuit. I am also quite familiar with the struggles that families can encounter where good family-oriented public destinations are quite limited, and angling pressure is significant.”
The program now has 31 lakes enrolled, averaging around 3 acres each. The program’s activities are funded through the 1/8th-cent conservation sales tax aka Amendment 75, fishing license sales, and Sport Fish Restoration funds made available by the Dingell-Johnson Act.
Jackson said that the program “works to create outstanding angling opportunities” for Arkansas’ urban residents, addressing “major issues related to a trend in decreasing fishing participation.”
That incessant lack of time and family commitments is countered by the stocking of thousands of fish in these public parks that are conveniently located near our state’s larger population centers.
While the fishing trip provides quality time, Jackson said, “a nice, healthy meal of fish” only enhances the experience.
Jackson knows this on a firsthand basis. He has fished at many of the program locations with family and friends and watched others do the same.
“It is great to see others enjoy a product that our agency worked hard to provide,” he said. “I am glad these opportunities are here for my kids and other children. I wish these opportunities were around when I was their age.”
While providing those opportunities is of great value on its own, the program has been enhanced with the addition of special stockings.
“Anytime is the perfect time to go fishing,” Jackson said, then explained: “Consequently, we try to provide angling opportunities in the warmer months as well as the cooler months. Trout fishing in the community ponds where we stock trout is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the relatively mild winters in Arkansas. In the warmer months, we stock tens of thousands of pounds of channel catfish. Since many children are new to fishing for trout or catfish, we host several basic fishing clinics. … Many of the kids that attend can get a free rod-n-reel combo for taking the class.”
So, trout fishing rules the winter months, and the channel catfish are the ponds’ drawing card during the fishing derbies that often accompany the coming of summer. But, there are even more reasons to go to one of these waters.
“We have various sources of some really memorable-sized fish,” Jackson said.
These larger fish may come to program ponds after becoming an unwanted nuisance around net pens - fish that are too old for brood stock or too overgrown for studies.
“We get several really big fish annually and stock them into these ponds. … Since the intense level of fishing pressure would never allow for many fish to get old and big, stocking these trophies around cities is a real added bonus.”
To recognize the full extent of this AGFC program, consider this. In four Family and Community Fishing Program locations and other similarly managed waters in the Tri-Lakes area, the AGFC has stocked roughly 55,000 fish between 2009 and today. Plus, commission plans call for stocking another 9,000 fish this year in Clear Lake just outside Arkadelphia, Entergy Park Pond and the Family Park Lake at Hot Springs, and Sunset Lake in Benton.
While catching a bunch of fish for the skillet, or maybe a giant blue catfish, is attractive to many, Jackson hopes the moniker of the program is what most draws people’s attention.
“I think that taking a child fishing creates an angler’s legacy,” he said. “There are simply not a lot of activities that everyone can share with their friends and family for a lifetime. There is so much truth in the ‘Teach a man to fish …’ adage. The lessons that you pass down through fishing, such as patience, perseverance, confidence and plain old ‘gettin’ after it’ are of immeasurable value to a child. I believe that time spent fishing is one of the easiest ways to spend quality time with a loved one.”
While Jackson is obviously proud of his “child” that has grown into the Family and Community Fishing Program, he is also quick to point to the effectiveness of two more AGFC programs that are part of the commission’s approach toward getting kids to go fishing. The Aquatic Research Education Program provides mobile aquaria and related seminars. Meanwhile, the Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs Program uses an Arkansas Department of Education-approved curriculum that applies lessons learned from fishing to various classroom subjects.
For more information on any of these three programs, including a list of all the Family and Community Fishing Program locations, visit the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission online at www.agfc.com.
Staff writer James K. Joslin can be reached at (501) 399-3693 or jjoslin@arkansasonline.com.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 135 on 05/13/2012