Reel 'em in: Outdoor lessons learned in Jackson Middle School Fishing Club

For the second day of November, conditions couldn't have been much better for the 31 members of the Jackson Middle School Fishing Club.

The sun was out, and the unseasonably 80-degree temperature for this weekly after-school outing was accompanied by a steady breeze.

The sixth- and seventh-graders were on their fourth of six Wednesday trips this fall, making the 1-mile trek by foot from the school to Jackson City Park. Science teach Tim Kluesner was waiting with an arsenal of fishing poles when they arrived.

However, this Wednesday was going to be a departure from the occasional bluegill or catfish that had been caught in previous weeks.

The Missouri Department of Conservation had stocked 2,000 pounds of trout in the lake a day earlier, and the youngsters were about to cast into the mother lode.

Dominic Scott, 11, reaches over to grab his trout from his hook Nov. 2 as part of the Jackson Middle School fishing club's session at Rotary Lake at Jackson City Park.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

Kluesner was stationed at a picnic table, patiently tying on spinner lures for a line of club members, most wearing T-shirts, gym shorts and tennis shoes, and then sent them on their way, one by one.

It didn't take long for the watery playground to deliver.

"I already caught one, first cast," said seventh-grader Caleb Corley, out on the nearby dock, when asked about his luck.

Corley was among those who heard about the club, which meets six weeks in the fall, once in February and again for six weeks in the spring.

"This year, I tried it, and actually, it's pretty fun," said Corley, who was interrupted by his second fish. "This one's bigger."

Next to him, leaning on the railing, was seventh-grader Dawson Maintz, who was in his second year with the club despite batting fishless a year ago. He ended his drought a few weeks back.

Like some others in the group, he said he might be at home watching TV or playing with an Xbox if not out catching fish on this ideal fall day. Kluesner is his third-hour teacher, and one whom Maintz gave nodding approval, describing him as "really funny."

"It's trout, and trout don't eat bait and stuff, so he gave us all spinners," Maintz noted.

Kluesner taught in Colorado right out of college and worked as a fly fishing guide during the summers, although he admits his true preference is bass fishing.

He started the fishing club in 2004 with Jackson Middle School vice principal Mike Martin and had about 20 kids at the start. About six years ago, the Missouri Department of Conservation began to get involved with the club, and it grew.

"They bought us 30 fishing rods and they bring us bait every week, and they brought us lures today," Kluesner said. "So we work with them and it's worked out well.

"The last couple of weeks it's just worms," he added. "You get a bluegill here and a catfish there, but today I think almost every kid has caught one. I love it."

The club allows Kluesner to share his love of fishing with youngsters, getting them outdoors and away from video games and TV.

"Some of these kids don't get opportunities like this," Kluesner said. "Some of them are foster care, and some of them are one-parent families, and they just don't get to go fishing. This is their opportunity."

He recalled a year when he had just one girl in his club, and when he asked why she joined, even though none of her friends did, her response stuck with him.

"She said, 'Well, my dad fishes all the time, and I need to learn how to fish so I can hang out with my dad,'" Kluesner said.

On this particular day, there were three girls in the mix, including 12-year-old sisters Gracie and Mallorie Metzger, who also happen to be two-thirds of a set of triplets.

The spirited duo described themselves as the "outdoor" type.

"It's really fun," said Gracie, wearing a bright pink T-shirt with "Live Fit" on the front. Not surprisingly, she considered the two pink-hued trout she caught as a little prettier than the bluegill she hooked a couple weeks earlier.

Gracie said she wasn't aware of the fishing club until after the start of school, when the students were given a sheet of paper with a list of available clubs.

"Whenever I saw the paper, I said, 'All right, I'm going to do the Fishing Club. I mean, I plan out which clubs I'm going to be doing. I'm going to do the Yoga Club, the We Run Club, the Dodge Ball Club, and I think there's one more, but I forgot what I was going to do."

Mallorie wore braces on her wide smile and was perfectly content with the fishing despite catching just 1 1/2 -- "the half one, I caught it, but it went away."

She was not so sure about some of the clubs she was getting roped into by her older sister, whom she noted held that title by all of 30 seconds.

"Gracie's making me do yoga," Mallorie said. "Mom wants me to try it, but Gracie wants me to do it."

Looking a bit more serious about his fishing was sixth-grader Colton Jennings, the 31st member of the 30-member club. A seasoned veteran who had caught his first trout years earlier at Yellowstone National Park, he wore cowboy boots and jeans and was using his own open-face reel and lures. He was on to the fish's color of preference as his father, Heath Jennings, looked on.

"I'm just happy he has this opportunity to be in the outdoors club at school because that's what my son is really into," said Heath, who said Yellowstone was just one of many trout and camping trips for his family of four children.

He stopped for a second as his son adeptly reeled in another one, looking the part of a well-traveled fisherman.

"You got a good one, Colt," Heath said. "He just heard it through school, and I just come every week to get some time in with him."

A bit later, Colton could be found in another spot, hauling in his seventh trout just two minutes before 5 p.m., when the fishing was to end.

He looked up to the sky, and said, "Dad, look."

A bald eagle, apparently the club's 32nd member, was circling the water.

A beautiful day for fishing, indeed.

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629