The following organizations have provided funding for this Into the Outdoors television series.

All right, let's face it, there are two huge problems with being a kid.

One is you're constantly being told by adults what to do- Come and take out the garbage.

And when parents, teachers, come on, we need a break.

And that's the second problem.

We don't get enough breaks from everyday life to have a serious adventure.

You're with me on this.

Right?

Well, here's one way to bust loose and create your own passport to adventure, where you get to tell parents what they should do.

And it's easier than you think.

(music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” What if I told you you owned fishing access to about 190 million acres with 150,000 miles of streams and two and a half million acres of lakes?

Sounds crazy, right?

But it's true.

It's all part of your US forest.

We the people on them.

Where to find those us forests?

You already surf the net.

So this part easy search, fish, national forest.

Then select the region where you live.

You might be surprised what you find.

(music) (Water Flowing) (Owl Hooing) (music) “When the time comes.” “You'll find me by the river” “I dreamed of the night.” “I dreamed of the sun.” “When I need to sit by the water “Take me to the current” “To keep my calm.” “When I'm made out of glass.” “I'll shatter if you drop me.” “Don't disturb the quiet.” (Music Fades) We enjoy the Pacific Northwest and all that it has to offer.

So any time that we go up camping, hiking, we have a fishing pole so we can throw a line in the water and see what happens.

That's just a great sport to have.

And so having it in my family and growing up with it, it's what I've given to my family to.

That's important.

That's what you do.

You fish.

Love going out to places like this fishing.

The best part of fishing and having the thrill of having a fish on your line.

It's like having pretty much a tug of war with a fish.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

(Water Rushing) One of the biggest motivators for us to be into fishing as a family was the wild areas are very unique and special and the best way to get people to treasure them is to get people to interact with them.

So taking the kids out and creating that connection leads people to place more value in their and their national assets, which is the national forests.

That produces a kinship and a stewardship.

I hopefully will carry forward and in the national forest will be around for a long.

Even if you don't catch anything like you're still out there and you get to be around nature, it's worth it.

It's worth it.

We also get to do fishing and camping trips like all in one.

So those are really fun.

Hang out with family and go camping the next morning at like the break of dawn.

We just go.

Caster pulls in.

Yeah, we had some fish for breakfast.

I've learned a lot about, you know, what's in the water for different fish crawdads and tadpoles.

You know, I've seen small different tiny cod fish eggs.

It's just so many different things.

It's very cool and learning about the forest instead of the water.

It's also been cool.

Learning about the trees and plants.

And I've learned about foraging so that as well.

Having the kids unplug, being out in the wild brings out a different part of them.

And I think it's an important part, a healthy part, and you get your money's worth when you take out into the wilderness for sure.

Oh and it builds character.

It sure does.

How's it going?

My name's Chris.

I'm a fish biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

Chris, nice to meet you.

I'm James, just out here fishing with kids today.

So you guys caught any fish today?

We've got a couple cutthroat trout.

I think they're resident.

We are wondering, though, we heard there was might be some sea run cutthroat up here, but we haven't seen any today.

They're probably not going to be this far upstream just yet.

But if you had a few miles downstream, closer to the ocean, you'll probably find a lot of them down there right now.

What makes cutt throat trout such a remarkable species.

So you have some cutthroat trout that will spend their entire lives in freshwater.

Those are the ones that we call resident fish.

And then you also have some cutthroat trout that will migrate downstream into the bigger rivers and sometimes into the ocean.

And we call those ones sea run, cutthroat trout or blue backs.

What kind of fish can I also fish for up here?

These streams all get pretty robust runs of winter on steelhead fall run Chinook salmon and Coho salmon.

All of those fish show up, typically starting in the late fall and all the way into the early spring months.

What is the Forest Service done to help Habitat?

One of the more common ones that we do is placing wood back in these streams so you can actually stop the gravel from being transported all the way down to the ocean, and you can hold it in place for a little while.

So then it gives those cut their child some time to actually come in and spawn, lay their eggs in those gravels, and produce the next generation of trout.

I don't know what you're up to this weekend, but I was actually planning on taking my kayak down to the Tidewater section and trying for some sea run cutthroat and some Chinook salmon.

So you're welcome to join me.

I would love to.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Well, in that case, I'll see you guys down there Saturday morning.

I'll see you.

Right.

When I was working yesterday, I ran into James and his family, seeing them fishing and catching some nice, resonant, cutthroat trout really got me excited.

It was really awesome to exchange contact information and have everybody meet down here on the lower portion of the stream where we're entering into Tidewater and we have a lot more saltwater mixture down here.

So yesterday we had a great hike and some beautiful scenery, but not a lot of fish.

So today we've come farther down the watershed where hopefully there's going to be more of the resident cutthroat and possibly some fish from the ocean, such as sea run cutthroat trout and some Chinook salmon.

So we'll do a little less adventure today and a little more fishing and hopefully catch some big ones.

This is a little easier for the kids.

They get to spend their day in the boat and they get little more direction from me and I spend some time trawling so they can sit back, relax, eat some snacks, and try to catch some fish.

I'm really hoping that we're going to be able to hook into some sea run cutthroat trout today as a perfect time of year for them to be in this lower part of the watershed.

And there's also a really good chance we might even talking to a fall run Chinook salmon.

So I'm just stoked to be out here enjoying one of my favorite pastimes with a bunch of people who also love to fish.

You know, we have two canoes, and I brought my two person inflatable kayak.

It's really my go to one or two person vessel going into more remote, hard to access areas.

The lower part of the stream here is not going to be more than about 50 feet wide.

So you need small boats that are easy to maneuver in these tight spaces.

The boat fishing is the best, honestly, in my opinion.

I like sitting in the boat and just casting.

You know, you can even if you're at a bad angle, let's say you can move around or if you're not steering, ask the person who is steering, hey can I move to this angle to get a better fishing area?

Today.

I want to catch a 30 inch, maybe like 16 pound fish.

Pretty large fish.

I don't know.

Sounds fun.

Haven't caught a bigger fish in my whole life.

It'll happen.

(music) I've had a lot of good experiences with kayaking and fishing like rivers and like that.

Like, they're definitely my favorite place to fish.

And I'm hoping to catch more than Rowan at least.

I was looking forward to seeing all the wildlife and something that like experiencing something new.

I think the big thing with this type of fishing is because you're in an area that's heavily influenced by tides, it's not really the same as fishing for trout in a freshwater lake or in a freshwater stream.

In a freshwater lake or stream.

You're more accustomed to timing your fishing outings for the time of day.

So early mornings, late evenings, times of low light conditions are going to be the best times to fish when you're in the Tidewater area is the best time to go out is during an outgoing tide.

So the water starts moving back out towards the ocean.

The water levels start to drop and it actually starts to concentrate the fish into the deeper holes in the in the channel.

Fishing on an outgoing tide and lower tide will really increase your chances of hooking up.

Super fun to just go hang out and go fishing and just who knows what you'll catch.

Sometimes you won't catch anything or sometimes you catch something really big.

It's super fun.

That's why I go fishing.

So.

Well, I guess you kind of learn better skills on casting.

That's one thing.

I think I will never forget Rowan's casting accuracy that you never really knew which direction that lure was going to go and he let it fly.

And that was a lot of fun.

I love coming down and seeing just the diversity of different types of coastal cutthroat.

You can come across out here.

You can find the resident cutthroat, you can find the sea run cutthroat.

Sometimes you can come across the cutthroat, the just come down into the bays and hang out in the bays for a few months before they head back upstream.

You really never know what type of cutthroat you're going to hook into.

And man, those hits that they give you on the ride, it's unforgettable.

Like even on like a smaller guy.

Eight, nine incher is going to feel like a 20 incher.

There's a lot of great resources online.

One of the places I often like to go if I'm starting to scope out some potential places to fish on.

Our National Forest is Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife website.

They have a site called my ODFW has a ton of information.

They also provide weekly fishing reports on that site.

In addition to that, if you're looking at local knowledge of waters on the national forests you can always visit our district offices, for example, the Central Coast Ranger District Office here in walled port.

They can provide you some information on access points, species of fish that you might be likely to encounter given the time of year.

Places to set up camp as well.

(Music) So we started fishing as a family as soon as we could get the kids in a car seat.

Being a working parent from 8 to 5 on the weekends, we definitely wanted to be outdoors as a family.

So it's been very important for us as a family to to fish together for sure.

Family fishing.

Just a good way to get your kids outside.

You don't have to catch fish.

There's plenty of things outside to keep their attention.

Catching fish is a bonus.

(music) Wow!

he's huge!

(Music) I just got slimed.

Every time our kids get a fish, it's like the first time watching them.

It never gets old for me.

I just love the sounds of excitement the kids make, or even some of the sounds of frustration the kids make.

They love the fish, the excitement of the catching with public lands and the Forest Service here and the access that we have to the water.

It's just an easy thing to do on the weekends.

Oh!

Get it reeling!

Good job bud!

(Splash Splash) I just sat down and I felt a bite so I just yanked up and there was a fish.

Some of the values family fishing instills patience for sure on everyone's part.

I think it definitely teaches them respect for the natural world as well.

Respect for the life of the fish like this.

It's a great opportunity to learn about nature out here.

Who knows what you're going to see?

You know, we see a little bit of everything outside.

And, you know, of course, the kids are interested in anything.

I like just being with my family and nature.

Yeah, I like the reflections of the water and animals.

Frogs, snakes, fish, chipmunks, squirrels, and spiders and bugs.

See?

I see spider right now.

Don't look at spider.

We're teaching them the life cycle of the fish.

Teaching them what the fish are eating, what the fish are doing.

And I think if they don't remember, they definitely make up their own depiction of what they think the fish are doing or what they think the fish are eating, which is also really cool to watch their little minds kind of process.

So it's pretty neat.

Good.

Good.

How are you?

Good.

You guys having much luck?

Yeah, actually, we're doing pretty good today.

Think the fish can smell that power bait Kenneth?

Yeah, you can smell it, huh?

What color have you had the most luck on?

The green and yellow.

In order for kids usually to like fishing, they have to catch fish.

And so this place is great to bring kids to.

So every year, they have a day that you don't need a license to go fishing.

And they usually stock lakes like this to sort of maximize the success rate for those kids.

Yeah.

Oh, what a pretty fish.

The time of year that you're out here makes a difference this time of year, a little bit earlier, temperatures aren't very hot yet, so you can still have a lot of success fishing from the bank later in the summer.

As it gets hotter, the fish seek the colder, deeper water and you'd want to get out on a boat or a canoe some way to get out there into the deeper water and fish off the bottom a little bit deeper.

The Forest Service role really is managing our streams and lakes like this in a way that's going to provide really good fish habitat.

We want to make sure that whatever actions we're doing on the forest do not degrade the habitat.

And then a lot of places we're actively involved with trying to restore streams to more pristine conditions in streams.

We want to have complex log jams overhanging banks in our streams, we have a subspecies, a native subspecies of rainbow trout called red band trout, steelhead, West Slope, cutthroat trout.

In some systems and in some streams we also have bull trout realized first and foremost that these opportunities are out here.

We have so many amazing experiences.

You just have to take advantage of your of your forests, take advantage of these streams, and then respect those opportunities, respect the streams that we have, leave them in better condition than you found them, or at least as good as you found them.

You go back and forth and get some oxygen and gills here.

Bye fishy.

Good job.

I think it would be fun for my family when I grow up and I can teach them like my dad taught us.

And I think so.

Like because fishing is fun.

I learned that.

I don't know.

Come on, spit it out.

You spit it out.

I already did.

You know, hopefully one day, Josey Kenneth will be the ones dragging Dustin and I along.

And it's just really neat to just see them come into their own with being outdoors and experiencing fishing.

It's great.

I love it.

I can't get enough of it.

Like, right when I hit the water, I got a bite and I wasn't ready.

And then I got another bite.

And then I walked in and it was, yeah, something I'm going to take with me for a very, very long time.

And I hope that they pass down to their kids as well.

I'm looking forward to that.

(music) When I was old enough to be able to hold a poll myself or to have my dad help me roll in the flesh was always exciting.

So now, as a mom with two young kids, I just feel like going above and beyond making these memories for them and giving those opportunities to them so they can take and make even bigger ones when they get to be in my footsteps.

Joesy would stay fishing from sunup to sundown if you let her.

She is all about the fish.

She just loved anything else.

She loved the bugs.

The butterflies.

Fishing turns out to be such a small part of it.

I was actually initially out trying to find Grasshopper, so I saw him jump.

I was like, okay, there's a grasshopper over there.

So I stopped.

So as soon as I got in, I was like, It's not a grasshopper.

So it didn't look like a grasshopper.

And then I looked in and it was a frog.

So I showed my parents.

And then they told me to put him back and leave him in the shade.

But there was a noise trying to squeeze through.

Our kids are at the age now with every season of fishing, they're doing something they weren't doing the last season.

So watching my son Kenneth Cast is so new and he's so natural with it.

So that's been really neat watching him do that.

Um.

He just said to hold the string and then flip the switch and just throw on the first try.

I threw it, like, really far.

I hooked myself on my first try.

Dustin is definitely the fisherman of the family and just seeing how much fun he has for the kids makes it even more fun for me to just be a part of all of that.

I'm kind of like a third kid when I'm fishing with the family.

I ran into the family yesterday fishing out the lake.

They were enjoying fishing for the stop fish that that are in that lake, rainbow trout.

And I suggested they might like to come out to one of the streams on the forest and try their hand at fishing for a wild version of that same fish called red band Trout, which are found in many of our streams up the forest here.

These streams are so much harder to fish with the moving water and the branches and everything that comes with stream fishing in the mountains.

Once I learned to do that, it was really hard for me to go back to a lake.

I just really enjoyed this and it's still, I think, frustrating for our kids and their age, but it's going to be really rewarding for me.

And then when they finally get the hang of it and are able to fish these creeks.

It's always exciting just to kind of sneak in and and try to catch these fish.

They're pretty they're pretty wily.

And you have to be smart when you're fishing for them.

Well, you have to be really quiet sneaking up on the hole.

You've got to be looking for the right place where they might be using the right water.

So, yeah, and it's fun just because you constantly are moving, even if you're not having luck, you just go to the next hole and it's just fun to explore as you're fishing.

So to be successful with this kind of fishing, I would say be pretty lenient on how you define success.

You know, it's not always about catching fish or bringing fish home.

It's successful just being out.

If you can teach your kids or have a good time with the family, it is success.

You know, no service in the mountains most of the time.

So you're not plugged in, you know, in the mountains.

And success is just family time.

Yeah.

Being outside.

The best part of this kind of fishing is not necessarily catching the fish.

It's just being with all the riparian hardwoods.

It's a great time of year to be out in the forest in like the early summer.

There's lots of critters moving around, lots of sounds, listening to the babbling of the creeks and listening to the birds.

And sometimes you'll jump at a donor fawns or a cow and her calves.

And it's just really neat.

Yeah.

You never know what you're going to see fishing a creek or a stream side.

It's fun.

Today, I will share that.

The kids did great.

They were really patient.

They stayed into it, you know, even though the fish weren't biting.

Today, I feel like they didn't lose interest and they still have lots of questions.

They were having fun.

They were being nice to each other.

They weren't arguing over spots.

So that's definitely a victory for the Hallowell family.

Today I learned that I'm good at casting and now I like to fish.

I would say that this is fun and that they can learn more about the woods and nature, and fish and animals.

I think it will affect my life.

Good.

Because I can teach my family and now and they'll probably be as good as I am at casting.

And I think that they'll like it because they get to learn like I did, and I'm going to take them places like this.

Yeah.

People can definitely learn more about fishing the national forest lands just by packing a pole in their vehicle wherever they go, even if they're not necessarily out to fish for the day.

I think just having a fishing pole handy will be a great way as they drive past the stream or creek that they are allowed to fish in for, you know, our state regulations.

But to definitely just get comfortable casting the line into the moving water.

Learning how to avoid vegetation that you don't want your line to get snared in.

I think I casted and got stuck in moss.

So forest service activities that that are ideal for fishing, I think for anything that involve riparian habitats that can improve the quality of the water, the quality of the riparian in general, whether that's putting big, big trees in the creek to slow the water, water down and rebuild the floodplain.

The streams have undergone a lot of stress over the past 150 years, oftentimes negatively impacting our fish populations.

So I love that I get to work towards improving that.

I love that I get to be part of the solution.

(music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” The following organizations have provided funding for this Into the outdoors television series.