The Ocean Pines Anglers Club is gearing up to host a fishing flea market in preparation for its Teach a Kid to Fish Day and the Art Hansen Memorial Youth Fishing Contest this summer.
Tables with gear and other fishing accessories are pictured during the 2023 Teach a Kid to Fish Day in Ocean Pines.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
The Ocean Pines Anglers Club is gearing up to host a fishing flea market in preparation for its Teach a Kid to Fish Day and the Art Hansen Memorial Youth Fishing Contest this summer.
The fishing flea market, scheduled 7 a.m. to noon, April 6, at the Ocean Pines Community Center, will allow residents to sell their excess fishing and boating gear to neighbors.
Angler Club Administrator Jerry Leuters said the entrance for browsers is $2. Half of the proceeds are allocated for an event raffle, and the remaining money will be used to host the summer events, as will the table rental fees for vendors. Last year the occasion raised $600. Organizers are hopeful they will exceed that amount this time around.
Teach a Kid to Fish Day is slated for June 15. Leuters said that Angler Club members will help children cast and tie hooks, provide them with bait, and show them how to catch marine life. The group also brings a display board of different kinds of lures, as well as fish to help with identification.
The Art Hansen Memorial Youth Fishing Contest, on Saturday, July 20, is where the young fishers can apply their newfound knowledge and compete against other beginners. Competitions are between 4 to 7-year-olds, 8 to 11-year-olds, and 12 to 16-year-olds. Each age category offers a prize, and every kid gets either a t-shirt, hat, tacklebox, or rod.
Both events will be held at the South Gate Pond and are free and open to the public.
“This is a great way for the community to give kids something to do besides hanging on the streets,” Leuters said. “We want to teach the next generation to fish.”
The club was founded by the late Art Hansen, a former Ocean Pines resident, in the 1990s. According to a press release issued by OPA Director of Public Relations and Marketing Josh Davis, Hansen was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for fishing.
The organization now has about 100 members and is dedicated to spreading the love of the sport.
“I joined the Ocean Pines Anglers around 1996, and there were only like six or seven guys and one woman,” early participant and lifelong fisher John McFalls said. “I’ve really learned what little I know from that small group.”
Beginning days of the Anglers Club meetings were held in Hansen’s kitchen, McFalls said. They moved to the Yacht Club for a time, and now gather at the Ocean Pines Library.
The fishing contest was the first activity designated for young fishers.
“A year or so after that, we thought we ought to be teaching the kids to fish if we’re going to put them in a contest,” McFalls said.
For those interested in joining the Anglers Club, Leuters said the best way is to attend one of their meetings. They are held at 9:30 a.m., on the second Saturday of the month at the Ocean Pines Library.