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Learning on the fly
"I don't think it's strange at all that girls fish," the Mary Queen of Apostles fourth-grader said.
Abby is one of several girls participating in a after-school fly fishing club that meets on the second and fourth Mondays of every month.
The club is open to students in fourth through eighth grades. About 20 students are taking part. Most of them are boys.
Abby said she's no stranger to fishing. She said her father takes her and her twin brother, Thomas, fishing quite frequently.
There's a down side, Abby said: "My dad hasn't let me keep any of the fish yet." Abby's and Thomas' father is Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Ceraso.
Abby and Thomas, both 9, said they joined the club because they wanted to learn a new skill.
"I wanted to learn a new way to fish," Abby said.
Said Thomas, "It's something new and it's something I really wanted to learn."
Amy and Joe Gablick lead the club. They own The Contented Angler, a fly fishing instruction and supplies store in Lower Burrell.
The Gablicks have been teaching the kids to tie flies and cast the line. They do this inside the gym at Mary Queen of Apostles Middle School.
Amy Gablick said that she and her husband plan to take the kids to the Yellow Creek Trout Club in Indiana County in the spring for their first fly fishing experience.
Gablick said she was pleased to see the students express an interest in the sport.
"We figured we'd see what the interest level was," she said. "Obviously, it turned out pretty well."
The Gablicks have been teaching the students to make flies that resemble insects found near a lake or stream.
On a recent day, the students made ants.
When asked if making the ant was difficult, fifth-grader C.J. Snyder said, "Not if you're paying attention."
C.J. said he joined the club because he thought it would be fun.
Fourth-grader Tracin Bauman said she joined the club for the same reason. She said her favorite part was making the flies, and that the one she liked the most was a fuzzy yellow one called a "wooly bugger."
The Gablicks also are teaching their pupils some entomology.
Joe Gablick said the students are learning the life cycles of insects found near streams.
"Really, they're learning some science, too," Amy Gablick said.
Joe Gablick said the kids have been attentive and interested in what he and Amy have been teaching.
The Gablicks run the club for free.
"We didn't want this to cost the parents anything," Amy Gablick said.
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