Our Story
The Shane Pinard Future Fishermens Foundation was formed to provide the opportunity for children and young adults to experience and learn about fishing. Mindy Robiner-Kling, Shane’s mom, and Kera Pinard, Shane’s step-mom are co-founders. Since Shane could pick up a pole, he had always had a passion for fishing. He started off fishing from the canal side. As he got older, he wanted to get out on the lake to fish more often than he had the chance to. We asked John’s (Shane’s dad) cousin Bob to take him out on the lake. At probably about 10 years old, he got up at 4:30 on a Sunday morning ready to head out on the lake. As he got a bit older, he started to fish with Bob and his friend Eric pretty much every Sunday morning. Whether it be walleye on the lake, steelhead on the river, or ice fishing in a shanty. As Shane grew as a fisherman, he became not only passionate about his fishing, but also passionate about bringing others fishing and teaching others as much as they wanted to know about his passion. He wanted to give kids the chance to feel what it was like to have a live one on the line. He wanted to be the mentor to others that Bob and Eric were to him. Just a few months before Shane had passed, he and Kera had a conversation about the fact that there really weren’t any fishing programs or clubs for kids to get into. We had learned that there are schools that have fishing teams that compete in tournaments. Shane was interested in learning more about that and possibly seeing about getting a program started in the school, so that other kids, who might not have the opportunity to fish at home, could have the opportunity to do it through the school. He talked about doing this once he graduated from Morrisville college where he had planned to attend this fall. This is the purpose for starting this foundation, to build a program or programs that will afford others to have opportunities to explore fishing and maybe even live out the passion of fishing as Shane did.
Our Foundations Intentions
The foundations intention is to build a program or programs that will afford others the opportunities to explore fishing and maybe even live out the passion of fishing as Shane did.
The board has established and approved an educational program for students in grades 7-12. This program will cover:
1. Environmentally friendly fishing
2. About local waters including Oneida Lake, Chittenango Creek, Cowaselon Creek, the Old Erie Canal, Reservoirs of Madison County, Salmon River, Canastota Creek, and others.
3. The rules, laws and regulations in accordance with the most updated NYS DEC handbook.
4. Basics and advanced ideas including but not limited to; knots, lining reels, casting, fish identification, fish cleaning and harvesting, lure and bait selection, fishing safety, lure/fly making and fly fishing, the history of local fishing, fish stocking, wading safety, shore and boat fishing, and much more.