Although there were fewer young fishermen than before, the annual children’s fishing race held at McPhelmy Park on September 2 saw no fewer than 26 fish caught by 49 children.
Fishing lines were cast at 10am after a pancake breakfast provided by the Buena Vista Optimist Club, and finished at 11am. Prizes received from Walmart were distributed to the four hunting derby winners before the families received a hot dog lunch served by the Optimist Club.
Among this younger crowd of hunters was 9-year-old Kaitlin Tiki, a newcomer to this hunting derby. Tiki sure was having a great time after she caught her first catch, a 10-inch salmon.
Back after last year, 11-year-old Rowan Krina also brought in a 10-inch fish within the first 10 minutes.
“Usually my dad is here to pick it up, so this is the first time I’ve ever had one on the beach myself,” Krina said.
Meanwhile, six-year-old Nathan Campbell is no stranger to catching fish and enjoys the competition. About halfway through the derby, he had already caught three fish and was eager to catch more. He explained that night-crawlers are best for catching trout such as those found in City Lake.
He said, “I am a great hunter.” “I’ve been doing ice fishing and boat fishing. I’m great at the whole thing.”
“It’s great to see the kids get out and get involved in fishing,” said Bill Dvorak of Trout Unlimited. “The whole idea is to see if we can get a new generation of hunters and hopefully we can get a new generation of people who want to uphold conservation… and get access to public lands. That’s the main thing we’re trying to do. Just go further. people on their devices.”
And Dvorak also recognized the younger crowd this year.
“There were a lot more young kids there, not many in the older age group like 6 to 15,” he said. “I’ll have to analyze that and see what we can do, see if we can reach that age group. Maybe it’s more about social media or something.
After the siren announced the end of the hunting derby, numbers were sorted and prizes distributed. Four-year-old Theodor Mertz won the first fish caught in the junior division (1-6 years old) with a time of 8 minutes 30 seconds; 7-year-old Harvey Mertz won his first fish caught in Division I (ages 7-14) in 45 seconds.
The longest fish caught in the junior division went to 4-year-old Ida Hegström for a fish measuring 11 inches. In the first section, the longest fish caught went to 10-year-old Gavin Campbell with a fish measuring 13 inches.
During this year, his seventh year in Derby fishing, Gavin has caught about six fish. This is the first year he’s won an award, which makes him very excited and proud of himself.
“(Fishing) is my favorite sport, except for baseball,” he said. “It’s a fun sport.”
