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By: Mark Elkins
The only thing I like better than catching fish is being around a group of exuberant young fisherpeople while they catch fish. I never cease to get excited when I witness a young person who is getting involved with the sport of fishing. On Saturday May 6th the City of Newark in Alameda county held it's bi-annual Kid's Fishing Clinic. I had heard many good things about this program and was lucky enough to be invited by 2 of the sponsors to attend and help out with the days program. We started about 7 am by setting up a booth where where we would help the kids get their tackle set up and baited, ready for some serious fishing. We set them up with baits that varied from traditional red worms to Berkeley Power Bait and Trout Pellets. By 8am we had crowd of around 150 - 200 kids ready for a chance to catch any of the 1500lbs of trout donated by the DFG and the Mt. Lassen Trout farm. The Dept. of Fish and Game planted 1000lbs of catchable trout to 2lbs and 500lbs of trophy trout that I was told even included 2 14lb'ers. Many of these trophies were in the 5lb - 7lb range. |
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I even had the pleasure and was very proud when my 4 yr old son Tyler caught his first fish, a beautiful 10" rainbow trout.
One of the volunteers from the Tri-City Anglers Fishing Club was getting plenty of exercise as he raced around the small cove netting these big fish. Each time he passed the booth all he could say was "Did you see that one?!" and then he sped off to net another. The kids fished until 12pm when the lake was opened up to all who wanted a chance at the trout. This was followed up shortly after by a hot-dog BBQ with all the fixin's which was sponsored and funded by Jim Rothman, Linda Gonsalez, Dale Bodtker and the City of Newark employees.
Although I could never list all of the names of kids who caught trout, I wanted to mention a few of the more notable catches: 3yr old Devin Strouse 7lb trout
This fun event is held twice a year at The Lake in Lakeshore Park Newark, Ca.You can contact the City of Newark by calling David Zehnder, Recreation Supervisor or Rich Lagevin, Parks Department Supervisor, at 510-742-4405 or you can e-mail recreation@newark.org. Kids can bring their own tackle or the city will provide loaner rods and reels with complimentary tackle boxes for each kid that participates. This is a wonderful event for any kid who wants to get exposed to fishing as a recreation sport.
I also want to thank all of those who sponsored this event or donated time on their Saturday morning to make this event happen, without them the kids would have not been able to have the outstanding experience they did. The following sponsors donated money, products, services or their time: Alameda County "Fishing in the City Program"
Remember, with more kids hooked on fishing there are less kids hooked on drugs. Take a kid fishing today!
More Articles On Kid's Fishing and National Fishing Week |
Shortly after we started we were hearing constant screams of pleasure and "fish
on!" These kids were as focused on the task as any adult I've ever seen. With a little direction and a lot of moral support the kids started pulling in trout that averaged 1.5 lbs and went to 10lbs. Let me remind you these are kids, some
of which, have never fished before. I took several pictures of fish that had been caught only to find that the smiles on their faces were almost as hard to get in the frame as the monster trout they were catching. One young man came by
with a very tired look on his face and I didn't realize why until I saw him straining to hold up a 4 trout stringer of 5lb - 8lb trout! No wonder he was tired!
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