Fishing derby Saturday set for St. John

There will be 205 trout swimming around downtown St. John for the specific purpose of getting hooked by children age 12 and younger. The fish are the center piece of a fishing derby hosted by Heritage Hardware, but all the St. John businesses are participating with sales and specials during the event.

The fishing derby will be Saturday, April 14, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Heritage Hardware on Front Street in St. John. An 8x20 foot pond has been constructed next to the store with pallets as the frame. The pond was filled by the St. John Fire Department and stocked with 200 catchable trout and five brood trout which are much larger.

“They have been really, really supportive of us doing this,” said Heritage Hardware’s Denny Hinds of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife which is providing the fish.

The free event provides the fish, pole and bait for the young participants. Hinds said there will be no hold overs, so all the fish need to be caught.

“We’ll have everything that they need (for fishing),” Hinds said. A cleaning station will be set up to gut the fish and return it to the angler in a plastic baggie to take home or give to someone else.

There will also be other activities including a casting contest, fish-shaped cookies to decorate, food and ice cream. Hinds hopes to have a fly-tying demonstration table set up for St. John’s own Birch Brown, 11, whose flies are available for purchase at the store. There will also be fishing poles and supplies in the store for purchase and to be given as prizes.

According to Hinds, the hope is to get more people out fishing on Rock Lake and encourage kids to take up fishing. He hopes this is just the first of many future fishing derbies.