Hooked on fun
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
August 1, 2007 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION
HOOKED ON FUN
BYLINE: By ALEJANDRA CANCINO Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 356 words
Soon after the captain turned on the motor of his 65-foot boat, Terrina Barnes felt dizzy. She had never been on a boat before and the rocking was new to her.
Despite the queasiness, the 13-year-old from Lantana ran to see Chris Vincent’s first catch, a 9-pound bonito.
Then she went to the back of the boat to see Terrance Lowe’s second catch, also a bonito. She drank an orange Gatorade, ate some crackers, sat inside the cabin and then went back outside to feel the breeze. She still felt dizzy, but a smile never left her face.
“There are some crazy fish out here; they are big, really big,” she said.
Barnes, Vincent and Lowe were three of about 150 children who participated in Tuesday’s opening day of the Palm Beach County Fishing Foundation Kids Fishing Day. In its 20th year, the three-day event hosts about 400 children from Palm Beach County.
Event coordinator Tom Twyford said that after this year’s batch, about 9,000 children will have participated - a new milestone.
The children go on a two-hour drift-fishing trip and then spend another two hours in Lantana’s Bicentennial Park, where they have a meal, learn about marine life and fish some more.
All kids go home with a free fishing rod and reel. The lucky ones take home some fish.
Nahum Hyacinthe said he went home last year with some Rainbow Runners, which his mom fried and boiled. This year the 11-year-old wasn’t so lucky.
“I don’t want to go home without catching nothing,” he said moments before the captain turned on the motors to head back to Sportsman’s Park in Lantana, where the Lady K is docked.
Standing next to Hyacinthe was Jessica Ramos. The 9-year-old caught and released a sailfish.
Her eyes widened as she saw the fish in the air.
She went home without the big prize but sported a big smile.
As the boys and girls from For the Children, a Lake Worth after-school and summer program, returned to the park, another group was getting ready to leave. Lady K makes four daily trips to the Boynton Inlet.
“They are going home with some wonderful fishing memories,” Twyford said. “This is the most meaningful program we do all year long.”