Club Fishing at college

[jwmiller33]

Hello all. As some of you may know, I go to the University St. Thomas in St. Paul[to all you Johnnies, I don't wanna hear it]. This year, two of my friends on my hockey team (Club hockey team at UST) decided to start a club fishing team at St. Thomas. A friend of mine just started Club Hockey my freshman year in 2005 and this is our 5th season this year and the club has been very successful.

Anyways, to go through the University and form an official "club" we have to; write a constitution, get the signature of 10 people who would be members, and the signature of a faculty member who approves it (are all pretty easy adn doable). We are going to be an official club at the University, so we will get some funding from the University for some trips. My two friends have a class with the kid who is the head of the finance club/committee thing and he overheard my two buddies talking about it in class how sweet it would be to have a club fishing team at UST and the kid (head of finc committee) said that if we brought it up to the University, we could definitely get funding as long as we were an official club and he pretty much guarenteed us the "stamp of approval" from the FINC committee..

We told UST we could use our boats, between the three of us we have three boats, and anybody else who wants to join the club who has a boat, so there is no problem getting boats to fish out of. As the club, we would plan a fishing trip so somewhere within decent driving distance (probably 4/5 hrs tops) every couple weekends. Places such as Duluth area lakes/rivers, Mille Lacs, Vermillion, Pool 2, Pool 4 and several Metro area bodies of water (rivers and lakes). We will continue through ice fishing season since we all have ice gear too, and have a couple club fishing events during the hard water season. We were also just informed about the FLW college club fishing tournaments they have for the central division are tournaments in Kentucky, Iowa, and two somewhere else, so we are looking at ways to try and get a boat or two into the Iowa tournament. We also would obviously have waiver forms that all members would have to sign that frees the liability in case of an accident from the club and university. Most likely, all the people who would join this club would be friends of me and my two other buddies, so its going to be pretty informal as far as all that goes. I'm sure, and I hope we get some other people into the club with possibly a seminar and spread awareness on campus.

We also told the University we could do a seminar on campus about fishing awareness, basics on how to get into fishing, and the health benefits of eating fish. Possibly could have a guest speaker come in.

Does anybody have any other ideas of things we could do?

Does anybody know of any other universities that have club fishing teams and if you do, could you shed light on how the club is run? What do people do and how often? Has anybody else been involved in these FLW college club tourney things?

Thanks for your time everyone.

[Spearing Machine]

Grea idea! I go to UW stevens Point and we just got the Big Dawg Fishing Club going in the last couple of years. It has been a pretty big success and this year the school was able to send a boat or two down to the ozarks to fish in one of the larger college flw events. Keep up the goos work and let us know how things go for ya!

[Chode2235]

Are alumni welcome? It could be a great way to get some better funded members, and likely access to more boats.

You have some of the best smallie fishing right next to campus.

[jwmiller33]

Are alumni welcome? It could be a great way to get some better funded members, and likely access to more boats.

You have some of the best smallie fishing right next to campus.

that is actually a really good idea. how do you think we would go about contacting the alum or making the info available to alum to read? do you get a alumni newsletter or anything from the university? are you a UST alum btw?

and me and these two buddies are going on pool 2 on friday morning for the first time btw! do you have any recommendations on where to launch? my one buddie went and shore fished this morning right next to that landing thats just south of the ford plant.. he said there was no dock or anything. im not a pro at launching my boat, i like having a dock. are there any more convenient/easier launches close by? i hear the walleye fishing is pretty good too out in pool 4

[CJH]

I am a UST alum and we do get an alumni magazine. Once you get all approved and everything, I would contact the alumni association (I believe they are on campus somewhere) and just let them know what the deal is.

I would assume that if you are going to compete, its going to have to be students, however some alums may give you some support.

[jwmiller33]

We havent decided what we want the purpose of the club to be. We are kind of leaning away from competition and more towards fun. We just want to organize groups of boats going out on the same body of water to enjoy and teach eachother more about fishing. After talking more with my friend tonight, we think getting alumni involved is a really good idea that were going to try to do because then we would be able to get more tommies out there fishing... it also would be a very good for networking with fellow tommies in the working world

[Ralph Wiggum]

[to all you Johnnies, I don't wanna hear it]

Your mistake, not mine

[wayne123]

I know they have a fishing club at St. Kates.

[fishinfey8]

Here's some questions I think you ought to consider(i'm playing devils advocate and i think the idea is great)...is it more work than it's worth? I mean your fall fishing is pretty much gone and I think it's going to be hard come the ice season to round up enough gear (multiple portables, rods, heaters, modes of transportation. Also you have to think about what happens next yearin regards to who will take over this league? If you are focused on teaching people how to fish rather than compete then I would think that the wish is that this program to continue beyond your years at UST. I know you have plenty of open water boats and equiptment for this year but what happens when you, jboy, and chase all graduate this yr? I really think it's a good idea, I just think that you should consider the long term options (i'm sure UST will want to know them as well if they are willing to fund it).

Oh yeah and what is the rules about kids from other universities that would want to join?!?! Seriously if you guys decide to do this, I want in! I have a lot to offer when it comes to gear(especially ice gear).I wish that I could get this to fly at Northwestern, but unfortunately I beleive there wouldn't be enough interest and not near enough equiptment for winter...

I think it's great that you are willing to devote your time and gear to help others learn how to fish. I hope this is established so many people can get out for the fall bite yet!

[nofishfisherman]

I went to UST and have some experience in the formation and maintenance of clubs at UST.

Setting up the club is not all that difficult. A few signatures and a finding a faculty to be your club adviser is about all you need. You will need to submit a budget in order to get funding. I believe most clubs get $500 a semester without much question but if you want more then that you'll need to have a detailed plan of how you'll spend it. And there are rules about what you can spend it on but travel expenses are usually ok.

I was apart of the formation of 2 clubs while at UST, one was no problem getting started or getting funding, the other one it was a constant battle and we actually didn't get funding until our 3rd year which was after I had graduated. It shouldn't be a problem but don't assume it will go smoothly because it doesn't always.

If you want this club to make it past this year you'll need to get enough students interested and most importantly you'll need underclassmen to get involved so that next year when you are gone you'll have someone to take over running the club. Each semester there is work that needs to be done to keep the club running and funding coming in so you'll need to select a couple people to run the club next year and then teach them what they need to know. And in turn that person will need to pass it down to someone else when he leaves. Thats how you get clubs to stick around year after year.

Fishinfey8 brings up a good point about the school year having limited open water. Most of the school year is during the ice season so I'd probably think about that and make sure enough ice gear can be found. Most people that would want to join likely would have collections of gear themselves so you'll likely be ok in that area but if people are bringing all that gear on campus you'll need a place to store it. I know that when I was living in Ireland Hall I didn't have enough room to store a portable or even a 5 gallon bucket full of poles.

But just because there is limited open water to access I wouldn't let that stop you. I was part of the Ultimate Frisbee club team when I was there and our seasons were spring and fall which gave us precious little time to practice and attend tournaments but we still made the best of it. That club started my junior year is 2002 and its bigger and better then ever now.

If you are serious about the club my advice would be to hold an informational meeting on campus for anyone who is interested. Post signs of the meeting, maybe chalk up the sidewalks (all that needs to be approved by the school before posting anything by the way) and let people know about it. When you find out how many people are interested you can all sit down and figure out what you want the club to be. You'll have more success if you make the club what the members want instead of making it what you want and then hoping other people like it.

But if you are seniors this year I'd be thinking about who you want to run it next year right away so they can be involved in the formation of the club.

Good luck I hope it works. I see some potential hurdles you'll need to cross but it can work. It just takes some hard work.

[jwmiller33]

Your mistake, not mine

i was waiting for you to chirp in ralph!

[CJH]

Another thing to consider is your time management. You may have a good handle on things, and I hope that you do. I know it was a while ago now, but I remember my senior year I hardly had any free time. Between capstone classes, work, homework/projects, interviewing/finding a "real" job, and trying to take in as much of college before you get booted out into the real world. You just may want to sit down and figure out how much time you are going to have to put towards it.

I think its an interesting idea, just think it through.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

I'd try to have everything locked up before 1:00 PM on October 17. There will be many unhappy people at UST by late afternoon.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I'd try to have everything locked up before 1:00 PM on October 17. There will be many unhappy people at UST by late afternoon.

That's what I'm talking about

[CJH]

The one shining day of the year for you guys, the rest of the year you get a smack down!!!

[Chode2235]

Not sure how formal it should be, but I think there is a great opportunity to take advantage of the great fishing around UST and network with some outdoors folks at UST.

Yes, I am an alum who still lives in the neighborhood. I would be happy to help with this. Shoot me an email it is my user name @gmail.com

Ice fishing could be a really great way to get this going, as it is a lot easier to coordinate more than a couple people when you dont have to worry about boats.

[Tom Buckles]

I think this is an awesome idea. I graduated from UST in 2005 and I would have joined the club in a heartbeat. I used to keep my boat parked in the parking garage under Morrison Hall. Good luck getting it started.

[jwmiller33]

To all the UST Alum who expressed interest in joining the club, well we have officially started the club with St Thomas and we have funding and everything. We had our first meeting this past Tuesday and there were a good number of kids who showed up. We are going to be very informal with the way we run the club and our fishing events. Its the first year so we need to figure out the best way to communicate with the club and organize fishing events.

We started a HSOforum. Its ustfishingDOTcom. You guys should check it out. We also started a forum and its ustfishingDOTcomSLASHforum. We are using the forum as our main ways to communicate with members and organize events. It would be cool if some alumni came out with us on a local lake sometime!

[Mike Wallace]

jwmiller,

You asked if there were any other things you could do as a club. Had you considered a mentor program with a St. Paul school to take a city kid fishing? Fun to do and good PR. Yes, could be some extra work, but could also mean extra money for trips, gear, etc.

Just a thought. If you decide you want to get stuff going with the alumni, the head of the alumni assoc. is a buddy...and a fisherman.

Mike Wallace, Class of '93 (and the Johnnies know what they can do with it...)

[GatorBait]

That's a great idea to add to this already great club that was created. Keeping the kids interested and giving them the opportunity to learn from the big college kids would have a life impacting affect on them. Keep up the great work.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Mike Wallace, Class of '93 (and the Johnnies know what they can do with it...)

Is that supposed to be insulting???

Get back to flipping your burgers.

[fishguyd]

If I can help in any way shape or form, let me know, Good Luck, Capt. Josh

[mainbutter]

I wish my college had a fishing club!!

Great idea, hope it works out!