To the newest club at Oswego State, a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day of college classes.
Oswego State freshman, Josh Collette, founded the fishing club to share his passion and promote the sport of fishing, according to club secretary Derek Sexton.
Much like Collette, Sexton shares a strong passion for fishing and looks to increase attention for the club. Right now their only official members are Collette, Sexton, vice president Dan Eggert and treasurer Andrew Graff.
“We don’t really have a set number of members yet because we’re a new club, but we are hoping to expand our numbers with interest as we go along,” Sexton said.
The club became official on Feb. 12, but according to Sexton, since the club became official so late, they cannot not get funding from Student Association until the spring 2014 semester at the earliest. This setback is not stopping them from planning their fishing trips though.
“As a club, we hope to make several recreational trips to the Oswego River, as well as official club trips to Sandy Pond and Salmon River,” Sexton said. “We are aiming to start going on official trips soon and have them about every two to three weeks. Since we became an official club later than expected we will be able to only fit in about five official trips this semester. In the future we are aiming for six club trips per semester.”
Once the club receives funding from SA, it plans to buy all of the needed equipment for the trips, Sexton said. Right now they believe to have enough equipment and Collette can bring more equipment if needed. They also encourage members to bring their equipment they may already own, especially once membership starts to grow. The only item required for the club is a fishing license.
Entry into the club is not limited to experience as well. Members will get to experience fishing with various levels of other fishermen. According to Sexton, members will have the experience of fishing for species such as trout, salmon, walleye and bass, depending on where and when they go fishing. They are also not opposed to venturing out to try and catch other varieties of fish.
The club currently does not have access to a boat, nor do they plan on purchasing one with their future funding. Currently they do not have a trip set up that would require the use of a boat, but Sexton said that they would appreciate if a member were to offer the use of their boat and allow them to further expand their trips.
According to Sexton, the club plans on having their meetings every other week on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. They held their first meeting Feb. 21 and plan on holding their next one in Campus Center room 258, but room numbers are subject to change.
“We welcome everyone, both men and women, who enjoy fishing or would like to learn more about fishing,” Sexton said. “Whether fishing is your passion, or you enjoy going once a year, we want anyone and everyone who finds fishing enjoyable to join us.”
