Kids, parents turn out for fishing derby

Mar 7, 2010

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“Look what I caught, mom!” The fish were definitely biting at Maricopa’s Pacana Park on Saturday. The “thrill of the catch” netted prizes for several skillful anglers during the 6th Annual Parent-Child Fishing Derby.

Teamed up with their family members, 150 anglers were out fishing and enjoying the great outdoors together.

The anglers cast their fishing lines in the hopes to catch a variety of different fish stocked at the lake at Pacana Park. Brenda Campbell, the city’s administrative assistant and special events coordinator was on hand to oversee this year’s derby. She said the lake contained mostly catfish, but also several additional varieties of fish.

“We stocked the lake with catfish.” Campbell said. “And there may be blue gill and catfish from prior years, as well as white ames and other fish to control weeding and snails.”

Daniel Moore, 12, was the leading angler on the day, pulling in 18 lunkers.

Campbell said the event benefits the city of Maricopa in a few different ways. She said the derby provides an educational opportunity for children to learn about fishing and spend the day with their families in an outdoor setting. Getting out of the house and being active can be difficult at times, especially in a society dominated by television and video games, she said.

Campbell thinks this event is so successful because of the amount of generous sponsors who enable the city to hold the derby at no cost.

“Each participant receives a fishing pole compliments of Fry’s Marketplace and a tackle box and bait compliments of Chitwood Feed & Hardware.” Campbell said. “In addition, a barbecue was provided by Fry’s for the participants and their families.”

Individual prizes were handed out to the winners of the event. “The child who caught the most fish in their age bracket received a medal,” Campbell said. This year’s winners in each age category were as follows:

Age 5: Danielle Pedro, 3 fish caught
Age 6: James Sundeen, 6 fish caught
Age 7: Tyson Temple, 7 fish caught
Age 8: Zoie Lintz, 7 fish caught
Age 9: Delwyn Bedonie, 6 fish caught
Age 10: (tie) Hailey Petersheim, Chance Burback and Hayley Ireland; each caught 2 fish
Age 11: Hunter Lintz, 6 fish caught
Age 12: Daniel Moore, 18 fish caught