CHURCHVILLE -- Twenty-five students from four Augusta County middle schools received a respite from their academic labors Wednesday, spending much of the day fishing for trout at a pond near Churchville.

Organized by the Staunton-Augusta chapter of the Izaak Walton League, the second annual Kids' Fishing Day was about more than recreation, teacher Angela Craighead said.

"It's good for the students' social skills," she said.

Craighead said the students frequently are wary of starting a conversation, but are more likely to do so in such a relaxed setting.

"They feel comfortable with classmates and teachers," she said.

There are other benefits. Wednesday's activity offered the opportunity to see the outdoors.

Paul Bugas, a fisheries biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in Verona, said kids everywhere are spending too much time on computers and other types of electronics.

Wednesday's outing offered possibilities.

"They can discover a lot of other things than the mechanisms of fishing," Bugas said.

In addition to the annual Kids' Fishing Day, the Staunton-Augusta chapter wants to offer disabled veterans fishing opportunities, spokeswoman Patricia Case said.

The Izaak Walton League is a national conservation organization based in Gaithersburg, Md.

Bob Stuart writes for The News Virginian in Waynesboro.