Savenac Nursery joins nationwide kids fishing day
The Savenac Fishing Pond in Haugan was alive with families Saturday for the annual Kids Fishing Day sponsored by the Forest Service and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. (Monte Turner/Mineral Independent)
Every year, campground hosts set up a chow line with hotdogs, chips and beverages for the annual Kids Fishing Day at Savenac Nursery in Haugan. Just like the fishing poles, bait and loaded tackle boxes to take home, lunch is free. (Monte Turner/Mineral Independent)
Fishing with your kids in Montana is Heaven on earth. It makes lifelong memories and the more you take young’uns out fishing the better they become, the more fish are caught and a healthy obsession to a sport might be developed.
At the Savenac Nursery last Saturday, the Forest Service sponsored their annual Kids Fishing Day and there were a few participants that were holding a fishing pole for their first time.
Josh Schulze, West Zone Fish Biologist with Lolo National Forest, said the day is probably as much fun for him as it is for kids who caught fish. Kids that participated were given everything they needed for the three hours, and it’s theirs to keep.
Many of the closed faced reels have USFS on them but Schulze was showing open face reels that they purchased for the more experienced kids and even pink and blue ice fishing outfits for the youngest and least experienced ones.
A tackle box filled with lures, weights, Snell hooks and other fishing gear was theirs to take home and while they were fishing, Forest Service employees were baiting hooks, tying on swivels and helping with decisions such as using maggots, earthworms, Power Bait or tackle.
“We had a grant from the state to do a dual-purpose project that would improve fishing here, this day being the main reason, and also to improve habitat for other wildlife,” he said.
The plan was to dredge the entire pond so the water would be cooler and fish more protected from osprey and other fish-eating wildlife, but they hit bottom — literally. Bedrock was discovered underneath the floor and the grant wasn’t large enough to cover the expense of heavier equipment and resources needed to bust through and deepen the 1-acre pond.
“We did the best that we could and this is what we’ve got,” he explained.
They were able to deepen an area, but what is noticeable are the trees laid in different areas along the floor with branches coming through the surface.
“Birds can perch on them while critters can crawl under it and hide and have shelter from the sun. This added a little complexity because the rest of the pond is all pretty much the same,” Schulze explained.
Redwing blackbirds were observed, a family of Canada geese were swimming and a Kingfisher was sitting on service berry bush branch. No mosquitoes, however.
He went onto say that FWP stocks Savenac and the St. Regis Pond on the same day, which happened to be less than 24 hours from the event, but accessibility is so much better at Savenac to accommodate more people.
It's not a secret that pulling kids away from screens to get outdoors to enjoy all the recreation opportunities around here is difficult, but Schulze said the Forest Service knows this and the annual event has no intentions of going away even when only a few kids participate.
“And that’s a big part of the day is to get them excited. You can tell by watching them when they have the focus that this just might become a lifelong thing for them. Getting those that are reluctant to be here to catch their first fish is exciting,” he said. “But there’s nothing wrong with them rolling around in the grass after five minutes of no action. It’s getting them out here is what we’re after.”
This fishing day is actually a Nationwide Family Event held during the first couple of weeks in June across the country.
Eileen Henry is another Forest Service fishery biologist who was assigned to the Lolo National Forest last year but had spent time in New Mexico and Alaska.
“Depending on which state, they designate a National Kids Free Fishing Day where we do what we can to make the day fun and enjoyable wanting to get the next generations of anglers out to have a positive experience and hopefully catch some fish.”
She has been involved with other fishing days and said it’s a cooperative effort with the state and Forest Service. Hotdogs, chips and beverages are courtesy of the event and this tent had a couple of campground hosts doing the honors.
Around 11:15 a.m., a father and son from St. Regis reported back for lunch and said that they had caught four fish in a matter of minutes as they saw the school of fish swimming toward them which looked like a cloud and the hit was on.
