A Living Narrative of Michael Scherer
Ethics
To those who know him, Michael Scherer stands as a pillar of the freshwater fishing community in Texas and an excellent example of what ethical behavior looks like. Michael’s passion for the sport of fishing is fueled, not only by his love for fishing, but by his unwavering respect and dedication to our environment. This is evidenced through his involvement with ‘Leave No Trace Behind.’ In conjunction with Scouting America, this program is based on the ethic of minimizing one’s impact on the natural environment by following a set of principles designed to preserve wildlife and natural areas for future generations.
His passion to share his values and ethics with others led him to meet with the student council at a local elementary school, and from that meeting, the Hutsell Elementary School ‘Green Hornets were born. Four times per year, the Hornets meet with Michael at a local park to discuss clean water issues and to do a clean-up of the park. The trash collected is laid out for everyone to see and methods of better educating the public are discussed, thus furthering Michael’s commitment to the sport of freshwater fishing. The Green Hornets are currently enjoying their eleventh year of service to the community.
We all have choices. We can simply complain about a problem, or we can get out there and do something about it. Michael embodies the latter. After a day of catching nothing but trash and discarded fishing line, he penned a guide he called, ‘Prevent Monofilament from Becoming the Next Invasive.’ This guide proved to be a powerful way to share his ethics with others and provide a roadmap for its implementation. Through his guide, he taught others how to build and install a device that would help manage and recycle unwanted monofilament line. This guide is currently used across Texas by such groups as 4-H Clubs, Fishing Clubs and even some colleges. In the past ten years, Michael himself, has collected, recorded, and recycled more than six hundred pounds of discarded monofilament fishing line. Michael’s guide for monofilament line can be found on the TPWD website.
Another of Michael’s visions that became reality is the 2ND Casts Solutions Program. This spark turned into a flame when a neighbor of Michael’s passed away, and his children gave all his fishing equipment to Michael. As he was cleaning and refurbishing it, he began to realize the value and potential in providing refurbished fishing gear to families and organizations that otherwise, may not be able to afford it. This thought led to an action, and soon, Michael responded to multiple requests not only asking for a donation of the refurbished equipment, but to come and pick up donations of unneeded fishing equipment. It is not unusual for Michael to travel hundreds of miles to collect used fishing equipment.
Today, 2ND Casts puts refurbished fishing equipment into the hands of families and groups such as the 4-H Clubs, Nature Centers, and State Parks. Some is also used in a 2ND Casts garage sale to raise funds for family fish camps so that they stay free of charge for families.
The impacts of Michael Scherer’s values and ethics are far-reaching. All of the programs he started, all of guidelines he established, and all of the personal time he selflessly donated were all done for one simple reason; it was the right thing to do.
Leadership and Commitment to Improving Fishing
While many people take on leadership roles, few are born to them. Michael is one of those few. His evolution into a leadership role began at an early age under the example and teachings of his father. Michael’s father had the ability to bring people together and engage them. Michael learned from his father and applied those principles to his passion for fishing.
Fishing is more than dropping a line in the water and waiting for a bite. In 2011, Michael got his Texas Parks & Wildlife Angler Education instructor certification and began teaching this critical skill.
A couple of years later, Michael became a Texas Parks & Wildlife Angler Education Area Chief at the Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas, providing leadership and direction.
Among those most in need of guidance and leadership are our young people. Michael recognized this need and acted decisively on it. He has played a key role in instructing families and communities in the importance of responsible fishing. Because of his efforts he was awarded the Boy Scout District Award of Merit as well as the Silver Beaver Award. They also named him Certified Angler of the Year in 2015, and ‘Tread Lightly Master Educator’ in 2016. Later that year, to honor his leadership and dedication, he was also awarded the William T. Hornaday Badge, a highly prestigious award for conservation efforts for adults. The award is now known as the BSA award.
Fishing’s Future is an organization dedicated to bringing families together by introducing them to the lifetime sport of fishing. Michael serves as Program Director for Fishing’s Future. There are Fishing’s Future chapters throughout the country, including the Katy Chapter, which Michael started in Katy, Texas. Michael recruit’s volunteers, alongside Chapter Lead, Brenda Shaver, and provides Texas Parks & Wildlife Angler Education Instructor workshops to ensure all volunteers are knowledgeable in Angler Education. After their training, the volunteers teach families to fish and educate them on doing so responsibly while maintaining the environment. Fishing’s Future also has a partnership with the Katy ISD Anglers. Fishing’s Future Katy Chapter provides Angler Education to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students as well at Junior & High School Students, preparing them for their fishing experience then assisting them while fishing.
Over a ten-year period, Michael, along with Fishing’s Future Katy Chapter have volunteered over 8,000 hours to the Katy ISD Anglers with over 22,000 students participating.
Because this program has grown so large involving 40 campuses, Michael has recently produced a series of Angler Education instructional videos which are available online for Katy ISD teachers to view with their students. Now, teachers can take the lead in preparing students for their visit to the Kenneth D. Welch Outdoor Learning Center.
In 2020, Covid, and the myriads of repercussions that resulted, forced many people away from their jobs and into their homes. Fishing instruction and field trips came to an immediate halt. Michael’s drive and determination would not allow him to simply wait out the pandemic.
With the help of the fishing gear from his garage, he continued his Angler Education, not in person, but through Zoom calls. With the help of technology, he created an online interactive family experience. His home office became a studio from which basic knot skills, basic fishing equipment and fish identification were taught. Families throughout the state of Texas all took part in and benefited from Michael’s instruction, known as the ‘Interactive Online Experience Family Fish Camps.’ And as a result, Texas Parks & Wildlife issued him permission to do a pilot Angler Education class online.
Today these zoom classes are used to educate and certify hundreds of individuals per year for TPWD Angler Education. Michael’s program positioned Texas as a leader in innovative technologies. Though it began during covid, it is still functioning today.
In a perfect world, everyone would know what to do and how to do it. Ours is not such a world. Michael donates his time and talents to teach our next generation to fish. His words do not lecture; they plant a seed which sparks an interest. Michael believes in “Teaching today to catch one tomorrow.” These words forge the pathway for families and anglers to be able to catch that first fish together.
Michael’s selfless contribution of teaching Angler Education with Texas Parks & Wildlife has involved multiple fishing organizations and has reached over 43,000 youths and 30,000 adults thus far.
Michael has accumulated numerous awards along the way. In 2016, Texas Parks & Wildlife awarded him their much-coveted Angler Education Platinum Award. In 2024, Michael was awarded the first ever ‘Sapphire Award’ by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, for training over one thousand instructors in Angler Education. Michael is the only person ever to receive this award.
Michael is a committee member, and volunteer, for the Coastal Brigade / Texas Brigade. Unknowingly, or perhaps by subtle design, Michael ignites that flame in all of us that makes us ask ourselves, “How can I make a difference, and how can I share my passion for fishing and the outdoors with others?” Once we’ve asked ourselves those questions, Michael can provide the answers.
Ten years ago, a collaboration between Michael and his wife, Elizabeth Scherer, secured a grant from The George Bush Vamos a Pescar Education Fund. This fund supports family fishing perception in a multicultural environment and allows hands-on fishing experience for families. One young student who attended the very first event in 2016 was so inspired that he is now studying marine fisheries at Texas A&M University at Galveston. He credits his passion for fishing and the environment to his experience at that event. His passion will soon become his career thanks to his experience with Michael and his fishing program.
Scope of Impact
The name, Michael Scherer’, is synonymous with freshwater fishing here in Texas, but his programs and influence in this field extend far beyond our state.
Michael was awarded the ‘Steve Campbell Outstanding Educators Award’ by the Aquatic Education Resource Association (AREA). This award recognized him as the #1 Angler Educator in the nation. AREA provides Angler Education and promotes fishing opportunities to a diverse audience in a fun and impactful way.
In 2023, as further evidence of Michael’s national impact on freshwater fishing, he was awarded the President of the United States Lifetime Achievement Award, a national award for over six thousand volunteer hours with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Throughout Texas, Michael has had a direct impact on education by conducting Angler Education Instructor workshops. Michael, as a volunteer, trains other volunteers, teachers, and youth leaders. This exponentially increases the reach of the program far beyond direct teaching time. Michael is building a sustainable, state-wide network of educators.
Michael cements his community and social impact by actively involving diverse groups in events like family fishing, public and private schools, and Special Olympics. One might ask, what does this accomplish?
- Family fishing events create high-quality, memorable experiences that strengthen family relationships and encourage shared outdoor act
- Youth development for family events and public/private schools provide positive, structured outdoor activity that promotes patience, perseverance, and a connection to nature, serving as an alternative to screen time.
- Participation in Special Olympics provides special needs engagement. This participation offers unique, empowering, and meaningful opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities, creating lasting memories for them and their families.
Michael’s impact is also related to future conservationists, and his core goal is directly related to the mission of Texas Parks and Wildlife, to teach participants how to be safe and ethical anglers. Michael does more than just teach someone to fish. He instills values of stewardship and conservation, creating a new generation of informed citizens who appreciate and work to protect Texas’s vital aquatic resources.
Overall Contribution
Michael Scherer’s impact on the sport of freshwater fishing extends throughout the state of Texas. From Galveston to El Paso and Lubbock to Brownsville, fishing organizations, aquatic groups and those who simply love fishing, have benefited from Michael’s contributions to freshwater fishing.
To date, Michael has donated over sixty-seven hundred volunteer hours to conduct more than eleven-hundred freshwater fishing classes. Through these classes, he has reached over forty-three thousand youths and thirty thousand adults. Buried within these numbers are countless stories of kids and their families enjoying their newly found passion of freshwater fishing.
Never wanting to rest on his laurels, Michael became a Certified Kayak Instructor with the American Canoe Association. He also became a USA Level 1 Archery Instructor, and he is a Hunter Education Certified Instructor, and a Project WILD / Aquatic WILD Facilitator.
Michael also created the ‘First Catch Centers’ program with Fishing’s Future and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation. This program reaches more than ten thousand people in Texas and New Jersey.
Michael is also involved with the Nurdle Patrol program. The mission of this effort is to track plastic pollution (nurdles) in waterways and raise public awareness to this growing problem. This is done in conjunction with Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi.
Texas Special Olympics also benefits from Michael’s selfless gift of his time with Chapter Lead, Terry Smith and his Daughter Jennifer. He also volunteers on the TPWD Inland fisheries Advisory Board, in an effort to ensure everyone has an opportunity to learn to fish.
Michael believes fishing is a cure for everything. There’s a lot of truth to that notion. It’s also true that you may not fully know the impact you’ve had on kids and their families from involving them in fishing. It may not come until years later; but it always comes.
Summing up Michael’s impact on the sport of freshwater fishing is not an easy thing to do. While his passion, charisma, and enthusiasm for the sport are beyond words, the multiple awards he has been endowed with speak volumes. Many of us believe fishing to be a steppingstone to the great outdoors, and all it has to offer. Many, thanks to Michael, have discovered this to be true. Of course, Michael knew this all along.
Michael’s son, Simon Scherer, when asked about his father, summed him up in just a few simple words.
“My dad is my hero.”
His daughter, Katherine Scherer, says “Pops!, remember, you taught me!”
Everyday I think how I can make a difference through education and sharing my passion of fishing and the outdoors. I push myself to learn more to share more but staying within my comfort zone of teaching. I create by the knowledge I understand. My true overall contribution to recreational fishing is simple. I make it fun.
I have learned to teach BASIC FISHING with 4 quates which can be exploded in many directions:
- To Learn To Fish, Is To Learn The Fish!
- Only Cast Where The Fish Are!, Do Not Cast Where They Are Not!
- Know Before You Go!
- If You Do Not Know, Let It Go!
Throughout the years Michael has received numerous awards, recognitions, and certifications so he can help others.
• 2008 – Boy Scout – District Award of Merit
• 2013 – Boy Scouts – Silver Beaver Award (Texas Skies District)
• 2014 – Boy Scouts – Certified Angler Instructor #417-14
• 2015 – Boy Scouts – Certified Angler of The Year
• 2016 – Tread Lightly Master Educator
• 2016 – Boy Scout – William T. Hornaday Badge
• 2010 – Texas Parks & Wildlife – Certified Angler Educator #1001210
• 2015 – TP&W Certified Boater Educator
• 2016 – ACA Kayak Instructor
• 2015 – TP&W Angler Education Gold Award
• 2016 – TP&W Angler Educator Platinum Award
• 2016 – Texas Commission on Environmental Quality – Runner up – Individual Award
• 2016 – Project WILD / Aquatic WILD – Facilitator
• 2016 – USA Level 1 Archery Instructor Certified
• 2016 – Hunter Education Instructor
Not only has Michael been awarded and recognized for his outstanding service to others, but also gives his time to serve on various boards and started two new groups
• 2014 – Fishing’s Future – Teaching families basic angler education across the USA through Family Fish Camps. Volunteer
• 2016 – 2nd CASTS (founder) – a Part of Fishing’s Future – Collects used fishing tackle & gear that is cleaned up and issued to families, Scout Camps, State Parks, and local community nature centers.
• 2015 – present – Coastal Brigade / Texas Brigades – Committee Member and volunteer
• 2014 – Founder with Hutsell Elementary School Teacher (Retired) Lynn Banks – Green Hornets Leave No Trace Team – Hutsell Elementary School
• 2018 – present – TPWD Inland Fisheries Advisory Board
• 2020 – Steve Campbell Outstanding Educators Award from the National Aquatic Education Resource Association (A.R.E.A)
2024 – Texas Parks & Wild – Sapphire Award for being the first instructor in the State of Texas and possibly in the USA to have certified over 1000+ Adults how to teach others the basics of fishing and stewardship.
2024 – Presidential Award for volunteering over 6000+ hours
2026 – Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame Inductee – October 2026
The Scherer family has also taken a few hits from mother nature with the loss of their home to a fire in 2009 and then after rebuilding house flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. This did not stop Michael and wife, Elizabeth from putting together a program called “First Catch Centers” with Fishing’s Future and the Recreation Boating and Fishing Foundation. That helped educated more than 10,000 people in Texas and New Jersey. Michael has always been an individual who truly lives to serve
Unselfish Contributions to the Sport of Fishing
“Leaving a legacy”, “Planting a seed” , “Shaping the next generation”, are other sayings that Michael teaches along with “Teaching today, to catch one tomorrow”! But these sayings are not just for Michael to have more fish to catch, but for future families and anglers to be able to catch that first fish together in clean waterways. He always says that the greatest gift after a family fish camp on Saturday, is a text from a family on Sunday with the saying, “We caught a fish today”! Not “I”, but “WE”.
Today, Michael Scherer is the Program Director of Fishing’s Future
