The St. Cloud COP House Fishing Program Is Helping Kids Land A Future

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Community Outpost is getting big-time recognition for wetting a line with kids looking for guidance.

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The COP House fishing program is in its third year. The team gets seven kids referred to them by community resource officers in area schools who show an interest in the outdoors. Officer Andrew Gronli, with the community engagement division, is one of those in charge of the program and tells KNSI News they hope to teach kids life-long lessons and guide them. “They sometimes don’t have the opportunity to learn skills like going out fishing, and sometimes can use a little bit of extra mentorship to keep them moving forward in the right path and to challenge them to be the best that they can.”

The team has been fishing on Lake Pepin, Carnelian Lake, and Grand Lake in Steans County. Officer Gronli says the kids are having success on the water. “We’ve been very fortunate. Every single time we’ve gone out we’ve caught lots of fish. The last time on Grand was probably the worst that we’ve ever done and we still caught seven to nine fish.”

The program starts in June after school is out and runs through August. Kids get a chance to head out on the water twice a month. Two more local lake trips are planned, and then the team will go up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a final camping and fishing trip.

The group caught the eye of the popular hunting and fishing TV show Minnesota Bound. The crew followed the team on a recent trip to record an episode that will air on September 17th at 10:30 p.m.

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