Kids Mandatory

Fishing

Adults are welcome to cast their bait into a new fishing hole in Kennewick, but only if they take a youngster fishing with them.

Columbia Park Lagoon, where water once served mostly as a water hazard for golfers, is being transformed this spring into a seven-acre family fishing hole.

The pond is just west of the main bridge spanning the Columbia River between Kennewick and Pasco.

Dozens of volunteers and corporations have joined with the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to deepen the pond and installing screens to keep planted fish from swimming into the Columbia River.

Fish habitat is being created by anchoring rocks and woody debris on the pond bottom.

Eventually, floating walkways will lead from shore to an island and 7,000 trees will be planted in the park surrounding the pond.

The pond will be stocked with rainbow trout, bass, channel catfish and other warmwater fish species, state officials said.

Youngsters 14 and under can fish year-round without a state fishing license.

Anyone older must buy a license to fish, and must be accompanied by a juvenile when at Columbia Park Lagoon. , DataTimes