Fish 'n' Kids - Kids fishing derby at Troy fishing pond Saturday, June 20
<p>And with a mighty tug and a little help from her father Mike, Kirsti Jellesed, 4, landed her second rainbow Saturday during Kids' Fishing Day at Troy's Roosevelt Park.</p>
<p>Jesse Johnson admires his catch Saturday during Kids' Fishing Day at Troy's Roosevelt Park.</p>
<p>Cameron Foote, right, helps Makayla Brant unhook her fish as Farrahl Johnson looks on during Kids' Fishing Day Saturday at Troy's Roosevelt Park.</p>
The annual Troy Kids’ Fishing Day will be held this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Troy Community Pond at Roosevelt Park. This year’s event will mark the 13th time Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have sponsored the event.
Jim Dunnigan, the Fisheries Biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has been helping out with the event for 12 years. “It’s a great event. Typically we have anywhere from 60 to 80 kids show up,” Dunnigan said. Typically the kids range from three to 13 years old. For some kids it’s the first fish they ever catch.”
The Troy Community Pond was constructed 13 years ago when the Fish Wildlife & Parks
partnered with the City of Troy to help construct the pond. That’s when Dunnigan said the event started. “The Troy Pond is a nice convenient place to have fishing days for the kids. We’ve been hosting the event since the pond was constructed and we started to stock it with fish.” Dunnigan explained.
“Employees help out and the Forest Service and the Libby Dam have employees that come help out as well,” Dunnigan said.
The kids will be fishing for rainbow and cutthroat trout. There will be prizes for the three largest fish of the day. Dunnigan said there will be more prizes though. “Every kid that shows up gets something during the meet and greet. There will also be random door prizes that include fishing poles and tackle boxes.”
The fishing is the main event, but there will be a casting competition. “We are going to do a casting competition that will be based on age groups. There will be prizes for that,” Dunnigan said. The age groups for the casting competition will be determined the day of the event.
Each kid will go home with a prize, but they will also have the opportunity to take home a meal. “We also clean and package all the fish for anybody that wants to harvest a fish and take it home for dinner,” Dunnigan said.
For Dunnigan it’s one of his favorite events of the year. “It’s a great event and personally for me it’s a fun one. I like to get involved with the kids,” Dunnigan explained. “It’s an opportunity to get kids out there and teach them the sport of fishing and watch everybody have a good time.”