{"id":3852,"date":"2015-06-30T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T18:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/03\/30\/learning-on-the-fly\/"},"modified":"2024-07-23T15:05:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T19:05:03","slug":"learning-on-the-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/learning-on-the-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Poon \u201916 brought her new graphite fly rod to Furman Lake for the first time Wednesday. It was her first time fishing at the lake, or anywhere for that matter.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s feeling a bit nervous, but she lines herself up and makes sure everything is ready for her to cast the line. She\u2019s ready. She flicks her wrist and the rod bends, and stops. It bends again and stops. The nymph snags on a branch in the water, but she\u2019s able to wriggle the fly loose and try again.<\/p>\n

Her first afternoon of fly fishing is challenging, but Poon\u2019s determination quickly pays off. She and her classmates are fishing on the Saluda River the next day when she gets an unexpected surprise: an 8-inch-long brown trout at the end of her line.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeeling that unexpected, sharp pull on the fly line was exhilarating,\u201d said Poon, an Asian studies major.<\/p>\n

Poon is one of a dozen students from diverse majors who spent three weeks taking Fly Fishing and River Conservation, a May Experience course taught by Douglas Koppang \u201976 and Associate Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Mike Winiski \u201989, and assisted by Anna Riethman \u201915.<\/p>\n

The idea came about after Koppang, an avid fly fisherman, read an article in Furman<\/em> magazine about May Experience courses. He had recently read about the death of George Harvey at age 93, a renowned fly fishing pioneer who taught the first college accredited fly fishing course at Penn State for four decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they could teach fly fishing at Penn State, why not at Furman?\u201d thought Koppang, who called then-Alumni Director Tom Triplett to ask about the possibility of offering a new fly fishing May X course. Fly fishing, with its emphasis on \u201ccatch and release\u201d ethics fits well into the EES curriculum, which focuses on sustainability of natural resources, Koppang said.<\/p>\n

\"FlyFishing_MayX_012\"<\/a>

Fly Fishing Lures<\/p><\/div>\n

The first Fly Fishing and Rivers May X course in 2014 was sponsored by Professor Emeritus Frank Powell and Koppang, one of Powell\u2019s former students. Offered once again this year, the course has remained a successful collaboration between Furman faculty, staff, and alumni.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of the class is taught outdoors along riverbanks, on lakefronts and in streams, where students learn how to \u201cread\u201d the water to locate fish and can practice their fly casting and tying skills.<\/p>\n

In addition to the history of fly fishing, watershed geology, stream structure, and river conservation are discussed. Students learn about trout biology and behavior, aquatic insects and other species. They also consider their roles in nature and how humans interact with their environment.<\/p>\n

Trips to fishing spots, including the Saluda, Davidson, and Chattooga rivers, Jones Gap State Park and Pisgah National Forest are all part of the experience for the philosophy, religion, history, business, and Asian studies majors, many of whom are fly fishing for the first time.<\/p>\n

Students learn about the gestalt of fly fishing and supplement their outdoor experience with selected fly fishing literature from authors such as Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Maclean, who wrote the classic novel, A River Runs Through It<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Koppang, a life-long fisherman, and an avid fly fisherman for the past 20 years, first picked up an Orvis catalog and taught himself the basics. He now takes vacation time from his job as Senior Vice President of Business Development at Cardiovascular Care Group in Nashville, Tenn., to share with Furman students what he has learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cFly fishing is a great way to engage the natural world in a responsible manner, and to gain an appreciation for the fragile nature of these mountain stream ecosystems,\u201d Koppang said.<\/p>\n

Students learned about the stream conservation efforts of Trout Unlimited, an organization dedicated to preserving and restoring healthy stream habitat for trout. \u201cTrout need very clean water to survive,\u201d said Koppang. \u201cIn order to maintain a healthy environment for humans we must preserve the natural habitat of trout that live in these clean mountain streams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koppang said he wants to demonstrate to students that fly fishing is not as complicated, or difficult as some people think. By teaching them the basics in order to enjoy fly fishing, he hopes to encourage a younger generation to become engaged in a sport that involves a lifetime of learning, and to continue to serve as good stewards of the environment.<\/p>\n

Matt Consolo \u201918, had considered taking a computer science course, but after his friend, J.P. Burleigh \u201918, told him about the chance to learn fly fishing at Furman, Consolo said he changed his mind.<\/p>\n

At first, he felt a bit intimidated since it was an all-day course and he had limited experience with fishing. Soon, with the readings and outdoor instruction, he felt at ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about catching fish. It\u2019s about loving the sport,\u201d Consolo said. \u201cYou can\u2019t beat being outside all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

After taking the course last year as a rising senior, Riethman enjoyed it so much she stayed at Furman after graduation to help with the course as a Teaching Assistant.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I wasn\u2019t hooked on it,\u201d said Riethman, who describes fly fishing as her lifelong hobby. \u201cNow, I really enjoy being out on the river. It\u2019s such a peaceful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of the class for Poon was their trip to Pisgah National Forest, where she caught her first rainbow trout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was gorgeous. It\u2019s one thing to see a rainbow trout in pictures, but to see it in person and in the water is incredible,\u201d said Poon. \u201cI now know why fly fishermen (and women) describe this sport as addictive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of opportunities to spend three weeks of your life learning how to fish,\u201d she said. \u201cI already know that I\u2019ll be asking for a fly rod for Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poon, a resident of Tampa, Fla., said she looks forward to sharing her love of fly fishing with family and friends. \u201cTaking this class has introduced me to a new sport that has no age limit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Learn more about May Experience<\/a> at Furman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Poon \u201916 brought her new graphite fly rod to Furman Lake for the first time Wednesday. It was her first time fishing at the lake, or anywhere for that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":3853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,37,54,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-centers-and-institutes","category-earth-environmental-and-sustainability-sciences","category-may-experience","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33195,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3852\/revisions\/33195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}