| This young angler tries his hand at fishing. |
Kids young and old participated in the Kids Fishing Event at the Huntington Game Farm Pond on May 3. More than 125 young anglers sunk their worm and came up with fish. Derris Jones from the division of wildlife resources reported that the kids had a great time and some of them stayed and fished from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and caught over 50 fish which they returned to the water.
Ten fish were marked with a hole in the tail and the fishermen who hooked these fish was presented with a new rod and reel. Jones said, “It is fun to watch the kids get excited about fishing. Shakespeare donated about 20 rods to the kids and we purchased rods to have available for use and to give away. At the end of the day any prizes not won were given away in a raffle.”
Jones also gave a DWR update to the Emery County Commission at a recent meeting, he said that the legislature had approved an increase for fishing license fees. The intent language of the legislation is to earmark $250,000 for the creation of community fishing ponds. The DWR would like to work with Emery County to find property to locate these ponds just outside of communities. “It’s a good thing for the community and the division to create future license buyers. I remember as a kid riding my bike to a local fishing pond and spending the day there. It helped keep me out of trouble,” said Jones.
The DWR will also be involved in a marketing campaign to increase license sales. There will be radio spots and newspaper ads statewide. The division lost one million dollars in revenue sales last year due to the drought and buyer resistance to fee increases. A lot of the marketing will be focused on fishing with kids.
Jones also mentioned that the antlerless numbers had been set and there would be 1,400 cow tags on the Manti. “The lower ranges are in tough shape due to the drought and the army cutworms. They are eating everything all of the native vegetation. We avoided a dieout on deer due to the mild winter and we didn’t loose a lot of deer, but we need a lot of moisture to restore their winter ranges.”
The division is putting together a wolf management group to write a wolf management plan for the division. The group will be made up of representatives from the following organizations or professions; biologist, political scientist, Utah wolf forum, sportsmen, elk federation, department of agriculture, farm bureau, wool growers, Ute Indian tribe, Utah Association of Counties, Audubon society and the wildlife federation.
Jones also reported that the Duck Fork reservoir would be retreated again this summer to assure that the non-native species have been removed from the reservoir.