Nine Hazen Union students, with their teacher and fly-fishing mentor Jay Modry, visited The Bend Road pond of Jane Hoffman and Ellen Celnik on June 5 for what became a morning of learning how to fly fish and then catching some trout. The students are participating in a J-term course run by Modry.
Ira Karp fights a trout on June 5 in Greensboro at a well-stocked private pond. He and other Hazen Union School students learned to fly fish during a J-term outing with their teacher, Jay Modry.
For two weeks in June during June Term (called J-Term), Hazen Union School students immerse themselves in learning, sometimes in unexpected ways. It is a chance to explore a new subject or dive deeper into a subject that piqued their interest. This group had chosen fly fishing and found themselves at a pond on a day when the weather was slightly overcast.
They found spots on the pond’s shore and started casting.
Initially several lines received nibbles but as the students honed their techniques and remained patient, within a half hour the trout started to bite.
The pond on Hoffman and Celnik’s property has a silt filter so the water coming in is always clean and moving. A few years ago they stocked it with brown and rainbow trout.
While a few trout got away, students hooked and landed four large rainbows, ranging from five to 11 pounds, that were promptly put in ice.
The students filleted their catch at the school kitchen the following day and cooperated with Arne Hagman’s barbeque class to grill two large fillets, feeding over a dozen students and adults.
Madden Austin displays a 6-pound male rainbow trout he caught during a June 5 J-term fly fishing outing to a pond on The Bend Road.
Seville Murphy holds an 11 pound female rainbow he caught on June 5 at Jane Hoffman and Ellen Celnik’s pond on The Bend Road in Greensboro.
Lewis Lapierre prepares the catch for cooking. The rainbow trout were caught by Hazen Union School students during a J-term fly fishing outing at a well-stocked private pond in Greensboro.
The remaining 10 pounds of trout was divided among the class to take home and share with their families.
