All ages show up early for trout stocking
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Mikah Mann’s net-full of trout was so heavy that he needed help from his grandfather Rick Davenport to lift them from the hatchery run and getting it into a tank.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail freshman Kedda Bissman presented Gene Lavelle, longtime program manager of Western Clinton Sportsman’s Association’s Laurelly Fork Fish Hatchery, a check after the 9th grade student took on three fundraisers for the hatchery.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Ryan Stimpson of Lock Haven nets out trout before being loaded into tanks where the fish are the taken to one of seven area streams.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Mikah Mann’s net-full of trout was so heavy that he needed help from his grandfather Rick Davenport to lift them from the hatchery run and getting it into a tank.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Bucktail freshman Kedda Bissman presented Gene Lavelle, longtime program manager of Western Clinton Sportsman’s Association’s Laurelly Fork Fish Hatchery, a check after the 9th grade student took on three fundraisers for the hatchery.
KEVIN RAUCH/FOR THE EXPRESS Ryan Stimpson of Lock Haven nets out trout before being loaded into tanks where the fish are the taken to one of seven area streams.
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NORTH BEND -- If you think that young kids don't like getting up before daybreak, you would have been pleasantly surprised Saturday morning at the scene of the Western Clinton Sportsman's Association (WCSA) and their Laurelly Fork Fish Hatchery along Young Woman's Creek.
Over a dozen kids, the majority under ten years old, showed up to help the WCSA volunteers as they stocked approximately 9,000 brown trout as well as some palomino into seven area streams ranging from Hyner to Cooks Run. On average the trout measured 8.2 inches in length, and were placed into area waters as a supplement of what the PA Fish Commission stocks the area waters in preparation for this coming Saturday's statewide opening day of trout season.
Both the WCSA and Fish Commission stock throughout the season as well.
The kids that show up at the Laurelly Hatchery use long nets to scoop out the trout in the hatchery run, where they are then placed into holding tanks onto the back of pickup trucks and taken to selected designations.
For their part, the adult drivers are typically the same each year. The process is so finely tuned that over the first hour after 7 a.m., the majority of trout are already on their way to creeks.
Even Saturday's wind and rain proved no match for all of the volunteers, as with each scoop of fish, the young anglers' anticipation only grows for what they hope to catch on their lines on opening day.
The smiles and struggles of watching the children try and lift a net full of trout typically proves contagious to the adults and WCSA members on hand, as they end up laughing along with their young helpers.
Not all of the young volunteers are elementary age, such as Kedda Bissman, of Hyner. The Bucktail freshman has aspirations of becoming a marine biologist and has been a welcome addition to Laurelly.
Kedda and her family, including grandmother, Elizabeth Haley, are often on scene helping to raise and feed the fish, and have also taken on three fundraisers for the WCSA. On Saturday, Bissman presented a check to the organization in the amount of $1,053. A very appreciative club thanked the freshman, and hopes she will be an asset for many years to come.
The WCSA has also recently received a $1,200 grant from the PA Fish Commission -- something only achieved by having inspections that prove Laurelly is running well and producing healthy trout.