Wizard Falls Hatchery sponsors kids' fishing day

Billy Layne Shoemaker of Terrebonne hauled in a lunker at Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery.

Everyone in the state was invited to enjoy free fishing day last Saturday, June 9 -- no license required. At Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery, however, some lucky youngsters had a chance for something even more special.

As water circulates through the hatchery's rearing tanks, inevitably, a few tiny fish are washed out in the discharge and into the hatchery settling pond.

Having thus escaped, these fish sometimes linger there for years and grow to become huge lunkers.

Adding to their good fortune is the fact that the pond is closed to all fishing -- except for one day each year; and that day was last Saturday.

Children from all over the state were offered the rare chance to land one of those really big fish.

"We've been doing this for at least 10 years," said Hatchery Manager Steve Hamberger. "The first year, we had about 20 kids."

Those numbers are up -- considerably.

In fact, official estimates of the numbers ran upwards of 700 -- and that's just the children. Add to that the numbers of parents, grandparents and other onlookers, the crowd descending on the hat chery was closer to 2,000 and turned the place into a zoo ... literally.

In addition to the pond fishing, other highlights included an aquatic zoo of insects and fish, a functioning stream model, fish education, a casting clinic, a fish painting station and the huge inflatable "salmon tent."

Inside the salmon tent, U.S. Forest Service employee, Cindy Glick, told fish tales in the native tradition.

After the stories, children had the opportunity to dress up in costumes portraying the characters in the story.

But everyone's attention was eventually trained on the big fish that could clearly be seen finning around the hatchery pond.

Sometimes shoulder to shoulder, excited children -- flanked by equally excited adults -- eagerly awaited the tug of the "big one."

Not everyone left with a salmon-sized trout, but everyone had a good time; and each child was entitled to a fish.

Smaller children not up to the challenge of the pond were even permitted to fish directly from the rearing tanks.

For Mike Riehle, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, the event serves as early childhood conservation education.

"This gives the kids a chance to catch their first fish and develop an interest in fishing," he said. "The more you understand fish the more you'll enjoy and protect them."

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