DETROIT — No worm in the foam bait box was safe from 5-year-old JaKari West.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he said as he dug through the box of soil. He gave each fat wriggling worm a name, like Hulk or Canchy, before volunteer Heather Mayernik sent it off on its journey to be hooked and cast into Belle Isle's Lake Okonoka.

West and his aunt joined dozens of families at Lake Okonoka on Saturday for a free fishing lesson from We Fixin To Fish, a nonprofit that teaches people how to enjoy the thrill and serenity of fishing. Volunteers helped the new anglers learn how to fish safely, how to bait a hook, to cast and reel in a big one. Participants left with a rod and tackle donated by local sporting goods stores and bait shops.

"I love it, I never did it before in my life," West said of learning to fish. He had a successful day, reeling in a pumpkinseed before 11 a.m.

Tracey Webb founded We Fixin To Fish in 2020 alongside her sister Deborah Webb and their five siblings. They grew up in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood of Detroit. Fishing was a big part of the family culture, but Tracey said she wasn't really hooked until she was an adult and watched her sister reel in a giant largemouth bass at Kensington Metropark in Milford.

Years later, she got hooked on spreading the joy of fishing to Detroiters when she was fishing with her grandson on Belle Isle. Kids ran from the playground to watch them cast into Lake Muskoday. She gave them a fishing lesson and "bawled" when a young girl thanked her for teaching her to fish.

It's still emotional to watch a kid get their first bite, Deborah Webb said.

"It does something to me each time when a child catches that first fish," she said. "That self-accomplishment, the patience it took to catch that fish. There's a whole lot more that goes on in fishing than just fishing."

We Fixin To Fish has taught more than 7,000 people, mostly kids, how to fish in just six years. The organization provides participants with the equipment they need to fish. In addition to hosting events like Saturday's fishing lesson on Belle Isle, We Fixin To Fish visits schools and child care centers to teach kids about fishing and play games that teach kids the skills of casting a rod. The organization is expanding with a community garden called We Fixin To Grow on Marlborough Street in Jefferson Chalmers.

Detroit fishing group brings relief from a noisy world

In addition to giving people the skills and equipment they need to start fishing, We Fixin To Fish also helps build connections, Deborah Webb said. All kinds of people connect over their love to fish, and fishing helps people connect with nature.

Fishing brings people relief from a noisy world, Tracey Webb said. It also teaches kids valuable life skills — namely, patience.

"When they get upset I have to tell them 'you know, it teaches patience. We have to be patient and wait,'" Tracey Webb said. "It's called fishing, not catching."

She didn't have to say that to 9-year-old Kyree Shelton. He was having a successful morning Saturday as he fished with his siblings Kaleb, 8, and Kaylee, 10.

Their mom Deja Shelton, of Redford, brings them to every We Fixin To Fish event. Her kids love fishing but Shelton is not an angler herself, so the group's hands-on lessons have given them a new outdoor hobby.

"They get to learn it at a young age," she said. "They really enjoy it. It's therapeutic."

After seeing her kids fish along the shore of Lake Okonoka on Saturday, Tanisha Stewart did not need further convincing that fishing would be in the family's future. She brought her 5-year-old twins Ryan and RJ Stewart and her 8-year-old Raymon Stewart to We Fixin To Fish's event on Saturday.

"It's our first time fishing, it's almost like they're naturals," she said, pausing to warn one of her sons not to mess with a snake. "This has motivated me to go get a fishing license, to come out here and fish and have fun."

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