What started out as a wager between a student teacher and an eighth grade student has turned into a popular fishing club for students at the Poplar Bluff Junior High School.
"We got to talking about fishing one day and we made a deal," said eighth grader Tyson Huddleston.
"I promised Tyson if he worked hard, we'd start a fishing club at school," said Brett Russell, Huddleston's student math teacher.
And he kept his word.
Russell pitched the idea to Principal Candace Warren and said she was "enthusiastic" about it, and an informational meeting at school saw at least 150 students attend.
"It was such a cool idea to me," said Russell. "Well over half of the students have never fished, and some of the best memories of my life were spent fishing."
And that is what he's hoping to pass along to his students, Russell said.
"My job is to provide students with skills that will benefit them over the course of their lives," he said, "and I hope they'll get the same opportunities I've had."
Still in its infancy, the club has about 35 members with signed permission forms, Russell noted.
Help comes from the Missouri Department of Conservation's "Discover Nature -- Fishing" program, administered locally by Fisheries Management Biologist Salvador Mondragon.
"We do a lot of after-school fishing clubs, scouting events and things like that," Mondragon said. "It's all about angler recruitment."
Fishing equipment and bait is provided by MDC on a loaner basis, so each club member has what they need to successfully catch fish.
The club, Russell said, will meet once a week throughout the month of May at the pond behind New Covenant Church in Poplar Bluff, where Mondragon will provide lessons on topics such as the parts of a rod and reel outfit, fishing regulations, safety, fish identification and more before members fish for a couple hours to test their skills.
Members met Tuesday for their first foray together, and just as Russell had hoped, many were successful in catching fish.
"I've fished before with family," said member Dalton Markham, who noted he joined the club because he just wanted to have fun. "This is pretty cool."
For Huddleston, the club is a way to get him on the water more often.
"School activities are usually just about sports," he said, "so this is something different."
"I hope in the future we can start to learn more about ways to fish and enjoy the outdoors, and to provide students with more skills that will keep them going outside for the rest of their lives," Russell said. "Besides recruiting more students for the club and pursuing the goals we already have, it will depend on what the students themselves want to get out of the club. Whatever the students want to learn and experience, we'll do our best to make it happen."