City kids have fun fishing at Cheesequake State Park

By natalie m. vena

OLD BRIDGE — On a cloudy morning, children with smiling faces and fishing poles scurried toward the lake at Cheesequake State Park, hoping to snag a fish or two.

The Summer Outreach Fishing Program, working with the Division of Recreation and Cultural Affairs of Newark in conjunction with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), began its fourth year of bringing children from throughout the state to the lake to enjoy a day of fun and fishing.

"We want to show the children the benefits of nature through recreation and fishing," said Jim Faczak, park naturalist in charge of the event.

Donnell M. Redding, Newark Recreation and Cultural Affairs Special Events coordinator, brought a group of 15 young people to the park on Monday.

"We bring our kids out to be part of something special," Redding said. "[The fishing program] gets students excited, to be able to come out of Newark and see something important."

With the help of volunteers, children are brought to the park to fish, enjoy nature and learn a little bit about preserving the environment and open space.

The event was organized through the efforts of husband-and-wife team Lynn and Tim Murphy, volunteers with New Jersey State Parks.

Community support plays an important role in the program, noted Faczak. Bait for the program was donated by Fred’s Bait and Tackle on Route 35 in South Amboy and two teen-age boys volunteered to help bait hooks. The teens were completing a community service requirement in accordance with their religious instruction program at St. Ambrose Church, in which confirmation candidates are required to complete 15 hours of community service.

The bait consisted of meal worms and night crawlers. A few of the children happily let the adults bait their hooks. Before fishing began, the children watched a half-hour video at the park’s nature center and then watched volunteers cast their poles into the water. The volunteers gave fishing advice to the youngsters, expressing the importance of keeping an eye on the fishing bobs, and then let the children experience fishing on their own.

This was the first year the theme "Hooked on Fishing, not on Drugs," was part of the program, explained Lynn Murphy, who also teaches fly tying and surf fishing for the DFW.

Jahkwei Farley, 9, caught the first fish of the day. Jahkwei was excited about snagging a sunfish, but was too cool to let it show. When asked how he felt about catching the first fish, he responded, "Fine." The fish was too small to keep, so it was taken off the hook and thrown back into the lake.

Experienced fisherman David Lewis, 10, caught three fish before lunch time.

"I fished with my dad in Florida non-stop," he said. "We would catch a lot of fish, skin them, cook them and then eat them."

In fact, David said that one time while fishing with his father, he caught the only fish of the day — known as the "meal of the day."

The lake is stocked with trout, carp, sunfish and freshwater eels, noted Briana Deedmeyer, a three-year lifeguard at the lake. "Last week some guy pulled a huge large-mouth bass from the lake," Deedmeyer said.

The Murphys and their son Patrick, 8, sometimes spend their vacation time doing volunteer work for the parks system.

According to Lynn Murphy, it is hard to get kids interested in nature and the environment in an age of computers and video games.

"But once you do it, they really take off," she said.

She contends that the best sound of the day is to hear a child yell, "I’ve got one."

An example of the benefits of the program occurred on a rainy day, when Tim Murphy said he witnessed a youngster, who had participated in a fly-tying class taught by Murphy’s wife, show other students how to tie a fly.

"Instead of playing video games, the children were interested in this one student and how to tie a fly," he said.

Robert F. Sommers, director of the Interpretive Center at the park and longtime participant in the fishing program, agrees with the Murphys.

"This is a great program for kids; they really enjoy it," he said.

After fishing, the children were taken on a nature walk, where they discovered the wonders of the natural salt marsh at the park. They nibbled on a sea pickle, an edible plant found in the salt marsh. During the tour, Faczak explained the wonders of the marsh to the children and the importance of protecting the wetlands.

"The earth’s water supply is constantly being recycled," Faczak explained.

Several more groups of children are expected at the park to participate in the fishing program. Upcoming dates are today, Friday and Aug. 7.