Kid Fishing Day reel fun at Clear Lake

More than 940 youths registered to take half-hour shifts last Saturday to cast a line during Kid Fishing Day at Clear Lake.

Virtually all of them caught fish. Some hauled in catch worthy of feeding trout dinner to the entire family.

And every child went home with a new fishing rod and reel for future trips to the nearest lake.

The annual event is supported by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Spokane Hatchery and dozens of volunteers, most of whom are anglers from local sporting groups.

Volunteers devoted several evenings to setting up approximately 1,000 fishing rod-reel combos with line, hook and bobber before the event.

More than 60 volunteers showed up at the Fairchild Air Force Base recreation facility on Kid Fishing Day to tackle all sorts of tasks, including handing out gear, baiting hooks – keeping kids unhooked –and netting fish.

The Fish and Wildlife Department stocked 9,000 rainbows ranging from 9 inches to about 5 pounds in special net pens along the docks and shore for the kids to catch.

“It was a great event this year,” said Randall Osborne, district fisheries biologist. “Great weather, great participants, great volunteer base, and fish that were hungry all day long. Can’t ask for more than that.”

Families who wanted the exposure to fishing but not so much the fish were able to donate their catch to the needy.

Jim Kujala and his crew — Dave Ross, Chris Helgeson and Jordan Briggs — cleaned fish for a steady line of kids from 8:30 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. A couple of volunteers from the Spokane Walleye Club stepped in to give the crew a break, but Briggs, a first-time volunteer, was undaunted. “He already signed up for next year,” Kujala said.

By the end of the day, the crew had cleaned and packed 251 pounds of donated trout. In the past the fish have gone to the Union Gospel Mission, but in recent years Crown Foods has offered to package and store the fish so members of the local Safari Club International chapter can distribute them to local food banks.

Meanwhile, most of the fish caught at the event went home with the families. “More people took their fish home than any previous event,” Kujala said.

Many kids catch their first fish at this event.

Volunteers say helping a kid catch a fish is as sweet as catching a big one themselves.