Roaring Fork Conservancy partnered with the National Fishing in Schools Program (NFSP) and adopted their interdisciplinary fly fishing curriculum called Cast a Fly, Catch a Student into our education program offerings. The curriculum, which also includes rubrics and assessments, provides lessons designed to be taught in physical education classes of elementary, middle and high schools. Cast a Fly, Catch a Student educates students about fish, insects, aquatic environments, resource conservation, and stewardship through fishing, and learning the skill of casting, as the instructional tool.  

As certified teacher-trainers for NFSP, Roaring Fork Conservancy educators will offer teacher trainings throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond several times a year. Through this training teachers will learn how to teach their students the basics of casting; setting up a school gymnasium with multiple fishing rods in a way that will be safe for multiple students to practice casting; utilizing the CasTarget system which features photorealistic fish targets students use in casting accuracy and consistency, while also teaching about flies and which fly patterns to use to catch specific fish; and fish species identification. Teachers within the Roaring Fork Valley that go through a one-day training for the Cast a Fly, Catch a Student curriculum, will be able to rent ($50 fee) a Kit that has all the needed materials, such as fly rods and reels and the CasTarget teaching aids, needed to implement this program (a $3,400 value).

To learn more about Cast a Fly, Catch a Student please view this informational video.

For more information or if you are interested in bringing Cast a Fly, Catch a Student to your school, please contact Christina Medved at 970-927-1290 or christina@roaringfork.org.

NFSP was made possible in part by grants from Aspen Elks Lodge #224, Holy Cross Energy Round-Up Foundation, Snowmass Village Rotary Club, and private donors.