A sellout crowd turned up for the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation’s beginners’ fishing clinic held in Washington on Saturday.

Seventy people, aged under 7 to over 70, attended the clinic while another 30 names on a list waited to get in.

“It was a basic class and attracted a wide range of people,” said PTRF’s Outreach and Development Coordinator Kelly Jochim.

The clinic focused exclusively on fishing the western Pamlico, but according to Jochim, the real draw was the learning environment.

“With this clinic we found that there was more of people getting their questions answered directly,” Jochim said. “We had 45 minutes for questions, but people had about an hour’s worth of questions.”

The topics covered included an introduction to various types of rods, reels, fishing lines, tackle and bait by Peter Boettger, author of “Fishing on the Western Pamlico;” an explanation of where and when to fish and the types of gear and equipment that work well on the Pamlico was given by long-time fisherman Mack Simpson; and a question-and-answer session with N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Garry Wright covered licensing requirements, as well as fish parasites.

The Beginner’s Guide to Fishing the Pamlico was PTRF’s third clinic that teaches the community how to fish in the Pamlico-Tar River.

Jochim said PTRF is looking at the possibility of adding another clinic — this one in the summer — to the schedule. Those interested in future workshops should contact Jochim at 252-946-7211 to be included on the PTRF notification list.