Nebraskaland Magazine
LINCOLN, Neb. – Summer is here, and people all across Nebraska are fishing. Why not introduce someone new to fishing, snap a photo of the adventure and register in the Take ’em Fishing Challenge for a chance to win a prize?
This is the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s second year offering the challenge, which encourages experienced anglers to take a pledge to go fishing with a beginner or someone who hasn’t fished in several years. Anglers who take a photo of themselves taking someone fishing can enter an online drawing for dozens of prizes, including two $500 Scheels gift cards, a fishing kayak, or a two-night stay in a Nebraska state park. All participants will be featured on the agency’s Facebook page and will receive a Take ’em Fishing decal.
Last year, more than 4,710 entered the challenge.
“Everyone remembers that time someone took them fishing for first time,” Game and Parks Director Jim Douglas said. “It is important for anglers to pay it forward and teach someone else. The result can be lifelong memories and friendships built around fishing.”
Fishing allows groups of friends or family to spend time together while engaged in the same activity, no matter the fitness or skill levels of the various participants. It requires only basic, inexpensive equipment that can be found at any sporting goods store. Game and Parks stocks ponds and lakes across the state with sport fish, which means that just about everyone can find a good fishing spot close by.
Fishing is also crucial to the conservation of our natural resources. Money generated through the sale of fishing permits and aquatic habitat stamps is used to maintain healthy fisheries in Nebraska water bodies, and to improve access for anglers. We need more anglers to ensure the health and vitality of Nebraska’s aquatic resources for generations to come.
The benefits of fishing are numerous. Anglers report feeling more satisfied with their mental health, more inspired at work and closer to their families than non-anglers, according to the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation.
Visit OutdoorNebraska.org/takeemfishing to take the pledge (encouraged but not required), register, view rules or get more information. The Take ’em Fishing Challenge will run through Oct. 31, 2020.
