Savenac Pond welcomes young anglers
Superior Sisters Akasha and Trina Azure and Ki Woolley are all smiles with a stringer of fish caught in Savenac Pond. (Photo by Robert Webb).
Friends of Savenac volunteer, Robert Webb serve Cam and Ben Thompson from St. Regis, a hot dog during FWP Kids Fishing Day at Savenac Pond. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
ON SATURDAY, June 17, Fish, Wildlife and Parks hosted “Kids Fishing Day at Savenac Pond” with hot dogs, fishing gear and plenty of trout.
CHARLES ANDERSON, 12, holds up trout he and his brother Thomas caught in Savenac Pond.
OTTO LORAS, 5, gets help from mom, Lauri Cotter, during Fishing Day at Savenac on June 17.
Families gathered around Savenac Pond on June 17, to enjoy a day of fishing and fun sponsored by Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Haugen, MT. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent).
DOMINIC MANCINI casts a line into Savenac Pond with hopes of catching one of 200 trout released into the pond during Kids Fishing Day. (Kathleen Woodford photos/Mineral Independent)
It was a day of sunshine, fun and fish on Saturday, June 17 as Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) hosted “Kids Fishing Day at Savenac Pond”.
“The last time this was did was about five years ago,” said John Hanson, a FWP fisheries biologist. “We had a good turn out today and hope to keep this going and do it every year.”
Superior District Ranger Carole Johnson said over the past few years they couldn’t get a schedule worked out and they couldn’t get the fish in the past but now they would like to make it an annual event.
It was a sunny day with mild temperatures as families dotted the banks of the tiny pond that welcomes guests as they come through the entrance of Savenac, which is a historic tree nursery located in Haugan, MT. The event ran from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and participants were treated to a lunch of hot dogs, chips and drinks. The cooks for the day were Friends of Savenac volunteers, Robert Webb and Bill Richardson.
Everything was free of charge, even fishing poles and gear donated by Cabella’s, Fish Wildlife and Parks. Josh Schultz, also a fisheries biologist with FWP, said the fish were biting on worms, power bait, lures with a rooster tail and spinners.
They had stocked the pond on Wednesday, June 14 with 200, ten inch rainbow trout. The fish were from the Arlee fish hatchery. He said they are specifically bred to be sterile and so they cannot reproduce in the wild. The fish are genetically designed to be caught and they can’t have a negative effect on fish populations once released. The pond in the St. Regis town park was also stocked on June 14.
Anyone can fish in the ponds, but this day was specifically geared toward kids. Charles Anderson, 12, and his brother Thomas, 14, from St. Regis held up their stringer. Each had caught one so far that day and said they were having a good time. Superior sisters Akasha and Trina Azure and Ki Woolley were also full of smiles as they held up a stringer full of fish.
Three-year-old Otto Loras and his twin sister, Elle, had help from their mother, Lauri Cotter, who also works for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, “they’ve been practicing casting for the last three days off our balcony at home and they’re pretty good at it,” she said.
The twins hadn’t caught anything yet that morning, but the fish were jumping all around and their prospects looked good. Five-year-old Dominic Mancini was also getting help from his dad and managed to get a few bites and reeled a trout close to the shore, only to have it shake the lure and disappear into the watery depths. Whether a fish was caught or not it was a great day to be out with the family to enjoy the summer sun.