Anglers Club Set to Hold Open House and Kids Fishing Clinic

Next month, the Weeki Wachee Anglers Inc. Fishing and Social Club will be holding a pair of events for the public. These occasions will be an open house on April 3 and a children’s fishing clinic on April 13. The open house is a chance for people to learn about the club, while the clinic will present children with the opportunity to learn a variety of skills and lessons about fishing. The group meets at Silverthorn Country Club on the first Wednesday of every month and the first of these two events will be held between 6 and 8 pm at 4550 Golf Club Lane, Spring Hill.

The open house is the first such gathering that club President Ron Auger and company will have held. During the evening’s festivities, there will be a silent auction that will see items that were donated by local merchants and club members being sold, including pontoon rentals, kayak rentals, and nautical-themed curiosities.

Ron Auger started the local not-for-profit fishing and social club in Nov. 2014 as a way to educate those who join on the intricacies of the local fishing environment. Florida’s fish and waterways are significantly different from northern bodies of water, and President Auger aims to educate the public on the details. Auger feels this is why their members join in the first place.

“The fishing is different in this area […] because of the shallow water. The first year I was here – I have been here thirteen years now – I probably went through three or four props on my boat because the water is so low that you need to go with somebody,” Auger said. “Somebody telling you just does not necessarily help you that much. You need to get out there with other people.”

After slowly building their operation and numbers, they were thrown a curveball in 2020. Like many others, the coronavirus pandemic hit the club hard, drastically reducing their once bustling membership of roughly 300. The angling organization was forced to shut down for 13 months. Before COVID, the average attendance per meeting was around 130. Now, it is down to between 60 and 70 people. Fortunately for Auger and the organization, their numbers have recently rebounded to about 160 members since resuming operations.

Auger estimates that between “60 to 70 percent” of their members are now retired but noted that the number of younger anglers in their 50s and 60s is growing. As it is not just a fishing club, the president notes that between 10 and 15 couples “do not even fish; they just come for the social part of it.”

The club will also be hosting its seventh annual children’s fishing clinic on April 13, next month, to help teach the youth various lessons and techniques related to fishing. The club has four “stations,” each instructing the kids on how to tie knots, how to throw a net, how to cast a rod and reel, and about the environment. They feed the children and give them tee shirts as well. They are planning on teaming up with Weeki Wachee High School, which has a bass fishing club, for this year’s event and having those members assist in the teaching of the children attending the event.

Last year, the club held “nine or ten” fishing trips to places like Hernando Beach and Tarpon Springs. This year’s excursion will take place in June and be focused on red snapper. The outing, which will take roughly 12 hours, will see the group travel 100 miles off the Hernando Beach shore in an effort to catch the ray-finned aquatic creature. The club will also feature a guest speaker from the Dixie League Bait Shop who will lead a 30-minute clinic before their monthly meeting in May.

On the second Wednesday of each month, they also meet at Bayport for a picnic and then go kayaking on each month’s third Wednesday. First up on the docket, though, is the open house. The fishing and social club president invites people to come out to learn more about the organization and take part in their auction on Wednesday.

For more information on these events, go to https://www.weekiwacheeanglersinc.com/