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HOW THE DRAWING PROCESS WORKS:
Application Deadline:
School groups must apply online before 5:00 p.m., Friday, September 18th, 2009. Submitting your application is just the first step in the drawing process and is not a guarantee that your group will receive a program.
The Drawing:
All school group applications will be placed in a random drawing proces that will occur within one week after the deadline date. The applications selected in the random drawing will be forwarded to our two state contracted, sport fishing instructors, who will begin contacting those selected applicants to schedule a program. Our sport fishing contractors will only be contacting those applicants who were selected in the random drawing and those will be contacted within 30 days after the deadline date.
What happens to those applications not selected in the random drawing?
All applications that were not selected in the drawing will be sent to the appropriate Regional office of the Arizona Game and Fish Department depending on the location of the school. Regional employees and local volunteer instructors will review the applications and try to schedule as many school applicants as they are able. Regional office staff and local volunteer instructors will select those applicants that have provided dates that coincide with the availability of Regional staff and volunteer instructors.
If you are not contacted by anyone (to discuss scheduling a program) within 30 days after the deadline date, then you will not be receiving a Sport Fishing Education program this school year.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department would like to be able to provide a Sport Fishing Education program for every applicant but the Department continues to receive many more applications than our staff and resources can accommodate. You are welcome to apply again next year. Please consider taking advantage of our loaner programs.
Equipment Loaner Programs:
Whether your application was selected or not, you can always take advantage of one our loaner programs. There are no charges for any of our loaner programs, which is an amazing deal. The equipment is loaned out for up to a week and is scheduled on a first come first serve basis. You must call ahead to check on availability and to schedule a pick up date.
- The Rod Loaner Program provides you with up to 100 rods/reels and a tackle box. You must provide the bait and we can advise you on the best baits to use depending on your fishing location and species of fish available. We also provide a set of fishing related handouts for each student to keep. Remember that anyone under 14 years of age does not need a fishing license and you do not need a fishing license to take your students fishing as long as they are the ones fishing.
- The Backyard Bass Casting Box comes with a bundle of 10 rods that are rigged with plastic casting plugs and the box that contains 31 plastic fish that are about a foot long. The fish are randomly placed 15 to 45 feet in front of the casters. The casters cast the plugs past the fish and reel the plug up the back of the fish until it gets caught in a raised part of the gill area of the fish allowing the caster the “catch their fish”. Each fish has a picture of a fish found in Arizona that is glued to the bottom. Once the fish is caught, the casters can use the Fishing Regulations to identify their fish, determine whether it is a native, protected or sport fish along with many other interesting things about Arizona’s fishing resources.
If you have any questions about our Sport Fishing Education Program, the drawing process or loaner equipment, please call Doug Thornburg, Sport Fishing Education Coordinator at (623) 236-7240 or Pam Ostwinkle, Conservation Education Administrative Assistant at (623) 236-7219.
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