Moosehead Region Fishing Report: June 19, 2007
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has adopted the “Hooked on Fishing – Not on Drugs” program as one of its youth educational tools. This is an ideal program to promote youth and family togetherness through fishing within the State of Maine.
On June 5th, members of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis and volunteers held a Youth Fishing Day at the Kiwanis Park Pond in Dover-Foxcroft. Over 80 fourth grade students from the Morton Avenue Elementary School attended the one-day event. The class was broken into 4 groups of approximately 20 students. A short presentation was given to each group regarding the stocking of the pond and another one on the importance of “saying no” to drugs and alcohol”. The students were then given the opportunity to fish for about an hour. Many of the students were successful in reeling in a trout or two, and a few were lucky or skilled enough to catch more.
Before the fishing started, each group was asked if there was anyone that had never fished before. Surprising to me there were several that said this was their first time fishing. This event was their first time out and I’m happy to say that many of these kids caught their first fish. What a great feeling to see the expressions on some of the faces and the screams of “I’ve got one” as they felt the tug of a fish on the end of their line. There were plenty of plastic bags and ice on hand for any students wishing to keep their catch. The fish were cleaned and placed in a bag with ice and each students name was marked on it. At the end of the day the fish were taken back to the school and given back to the students where they got strict instructions from Mr. Ellis not the open the bags on the bus!
There were lots of worms that made the ultimate sacrifice that day. A few trees were left with some souvenirs. The weather cooperated and the bugs were not bad either. Students seemed to really enjoy this event. A special thanks goes out to Jim Ellis for spear heading this outing, one that he hopes we can make an annual event.
