High water affects ‘Go Fish’ youth urban fishery | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Current Conditions Cloudy  3.2°C

Kelowna News

High water affects ‘Go Fish’ youth urban fishery

Hall Road fishing participants in 2016.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED

There’s some good news about this year’s ‘Go Fish’ urban youth fishery program.

Approximately 500 young rainbow trout will be stocked late this week in the Hall Road fishing pond in Mission Creek Regional Park ready for youngsters to once again experience some fishing fun starting this Sunday, April 30th.

Unfortunately due to the unprecedented high water level in Shannon Lake Regional Park, the program there has been postponed by a week. The Grand Opening is now anticipated for Sunday, May 7.

Communications Officer Bruce Smith says, “We’ve never seen Shannon Lake so high and as a result, the net that’s used to keep fish in for the youth fishery, isn’t long or deep enough to do the job this year. Our Peachland Sportsmen’s Association volunteers are busy making modifications and plan to put the net in soon. Then if the lake level cooperates, we anticipate the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC and Summerland Trout Hatchery will be able to stock the fishing area in time for the May 7 kickoff.”

Starting this Sunday and continuing each weekend until Father’s Day, June 18, youngsters can experience ‘Go Fish’ from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Hall Road pond. Youth 15 years of age and under may try to catch 25 - 30 centimeter long rainbow trout and are allowed to keep one each day, without a fishing license. From May 6 to June 18, the program will run each weekend at Shannon Lake.

On Sunday’s, Regional Parks staff will be at the Mission Creek Regional Park fishing pond and starting May 7 at Shannon Lake to help youngsters try their luck in this popular youth urban fishery program.

Staff from the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC will be on hand each Saturday starting May 6.  Volunteers from the two local outdoor recreation partners will also help, with equipment and expert fishing guidance for youngsters as they try their luck.

The Society also offers special ‘Learn to Fish’ field trip programs for school groups at each fishing location on Thursday’s and Friday’s.  And each Wednesday evening (6:00 – 8:00 pm) from May 10th to June 7th at the Hall Road pond it offers a special ‘Learn to Fish’ program for families.

The Go Fish program is possible thanks to the support of the Peachland Sportsmen’s Association, the Kelowna and District Fish and Game Club, Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, the Summerland Trout Hatchery and the Ministry of Environment. 

Everyone taking part in the Go Fish program is asked to please respect our park neighbours by parking only in the designated areas or where directed by staff. While participants age 15 and under are not required to have a fishing license for this program we ask that they bring their own fishing equipment if possible, as a limited number of rods and reels are available to borrow at each site.


FYI contains information submitted from the public and is displayed exactly as it was received. Information is clearly attributed in bylines and not created by iNFOnews.ca staff. For more information, please contact the referring organization. If you have questions about FYI, or would like to submit information to FYI, please send directly to fyi@infonews.ca.

News from © iNFOnews, 2017
iNFOnews

  • Popular kelowna News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile