Matthew Linn, far left, along with Jim Sittler and Aaron Voirol from the DNR, help the kids who came out to fish. They helped to bait hooks, reel fish in and remove fish from hooks.
SYRACUSE — For the second year in a row, the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation and the Department of Natural Resources teamed up to provide a family fishing event between the lakes on Wednesday morning, July 3.
Heather Harwood, executive director, and Pam Schumm, education coordinator, from the WACF were present, along with other volunteers to assist with removing fish from hooks, getting families set up with fishing poles and identifying fish. Matthew Linn, Jim Sittler and Aaron Voirol from the DNR were also walking between the families assisting where needed.
“They really seem to be able to handle all these kids fishing,” Harwood commented, referring to Linn, Sittler and Voirol. They brought more poles this year which was good with the approximately 30 children who showed up to fish with their families. The area between the lakes seems ideal since the kids have the space to spread out and stand around the fishing area.
A large fish tank was kept near the sign-in sheet so families could see the number of fish that had been caught as well as the various species, including bluegills, perch, yellow bullhead catfish, warmouth and even a few pumpkinseed sunfish.
Watching the families fish, Harwood observed, “There’s almost always a fish coming out of the water.”
Approximately 30 kids came out to fish Wednesday morning, July 3, along with parents, grandparents and other family members.