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HomeNewsClarksville Youth Fishing Rodeo a big hit with the Kids

Clarksville Youth Fishing Rodeo a big hit with the Kids

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency - TWRAClarksville, TN – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) in partnership with the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation, Grandpa’s, Walmart, Boyles Bait, First Baptist Church, and Yellow Creek Baptist Church worked together to give the youth of Clarksville an opportunity to enjoy a day of free fishing in Liberty Park on Saturday.

The annual Youth Fishing Rodeo is held on the second Saturday in June to coincides with Tennessee’s Free Fishing Day and 16 and under Free Fishing Week. “This is the 12th year that we’ve joined together with the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation, and all of our sponsors to bring the outdoors to young kids who may be fishing for the very first time,” said Montgomery County Wildlife Officer Dale Grandstaff. This year, there were 380 kids gathered around the fishing pond at Liberty Park to have a great time in the great outdoors!

The 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park
The 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park

Grandstaff continued, “The TWRA holds this event on Free Fishing Day because we for this one day we don’t have to worry about checking anyone’s fishing licenses. For Free Fishing Day, the TWRA stocks lakes across the state with fish, and invites the public to bring out their children in the hope that these events will instill a love of the outdoors in them.”

This year the TWRA stocked the lake with a total of 1,500 pounds of farm raised catfish. “Liberty Park has a new creel limit on catfish of 5 catfish per person per day. That is to keep a quality fisheries here with the catfish. They do not reproduce in this pond. So it’s a put and take system,” said TWRA Officer Jeremy Odom. “So between the partnership with TWRA, the City of Clarksville and the Chamber of Commerce, we all work hard to providing quality fishing at the Liberty Park Pond.”

Mark Tummons the Director of the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation shakes hands with Clarksville City Councilman Geno Grubbs who was volunteering at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo.
Mark Tummons the Director of the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation shakes hands with Clarksville City Councilman Geno Grubbs who was volunteering at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo.
A young man with his first fish of the day
A young man with his first fish of the day

Mark Tummons the Director of the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation who was on hand to watch the kids fishing. “It’s a great Day. We have hundreds of people down here, and they are all catching fish. The kids are just having a blast. It’s exciting to me to see this many using our new expanded pond and just enjoying the day. We have beautiful weather,” he said. “We appreciate all the partners and sponsors who make the TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo the great success it is. TWRA does a fantastic job, they just do phenomenal work. Our partnership with them is just incredible. We appreciate that. Plus all the others ranging from Grandpa’s to the Friends of the Blueway.”

He remarked on the hard work that the Parks and Recreation crew had put into getting the park back open so quickly after the flooding six weeks ago, “We have a fantastic crew down here that works very hard to keep this park so nice and clean. They take a lot of pride in what they do.”

Jackie Langford, who described herself as the current grandma of the Grandpa’s sporting-goods store has sponsored this event since the very beginning, “My Dad, Owen, and members of the Clarksville Bass Club got together with the TWRA roughly 10 years ago and started this wonderful event.”

Two boys fishing at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park
Two boys fishing at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park

When Jackie looks back over the years that this event has been held, she is amazed at how much it has grown, “It was originally held at a farm pond, and now it is held every year right here at Liberty Park. The kids now have access to this fabulous pond, and it is as the kids would say, Awesome! Every year we contact all our suppliers and asked them for donations for this event, and they are happy to provide all of the stringers, nets, fishing line, fishing poles, and the paraphernalia that takes to fish.”

It seemed as if even the fish wanted to ensure that the kids had a great day fishing! From the time the first line was tossed into the lake it only took 60 seconds for the first fish to be reeled in. Most of the people who fish on the uses either worms or chicken livers which ever works the best, and on that day the worms were clearly on the menu.

Darlene Hall was on hand fishing with her kids, “I think having this opportunity to bring the kids out to fish in the TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo is great! We need something like this in Clarksville which gives every child the opportunity to catch fish and get involved in the sport.”

Siblings at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park
Siblings at the 2013 TWRA Youth Fishing Rodeo at Liberty Park

Owen Schroeder, the Outdoors Correspondent for the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle newspaper gave me some first hand perspective on the origins of the Youth Fishing Rodeo in Montgomery County, “The event started years ago with a gentlemen named Charlie Bumpus. Charlie was well-known local angler who fished on the professional Bass fishing tour for several years, in fact he was one of the old-timers on the old Bass Anglers Sportsman Society Tour. Charlie started the original kids fishing rodeo many years ago and ran it for several years until it kind of faded away. Roughly 10 to 11 years ago the TWRA and the Clarksville Department of Parks and Recreation got together and re-instituted the tournament, and it’s just been a tremendous success ever since. I think that I’ve been here for every one of the Youth Fishing Rodeos, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the kids really have a lot of fun! Now they have this new fishing lake at Liberty Park, and so they’ve have a lot more good fishing area.”

Results

Prizes were awarded awarded for the biggest and smallest fish caught by the boys and the girls, the biggest creel (most weight caught), as well as a variety of door prize drawings. Prizes usually include gift certificates from area businesses, as well as fishing equipment and other sporting-goods from Grandpa’s.

Tionna Scott with the Largest Fish
Tionna Scott with the Largest Fish

The final results were as follows:

Largest Fish

  • The biggest fish was caught by Tionna Scott and weighed in at 5.98lbs.
  • The smallest fish was caught by Rylie Hadden and weighed .02 lbs

Largest Creel

  • The Biggest Creel caught by a girl was by Tionna Scott with a total 14.20lbs.
  • The biggest creel caught by a boy was James Grimes with a total of 10.44lbs.

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Bill Larson
Bill Larson
Bill Larson is  is politically and socially active in the community. Bill is a member of the Friends of Dunbar Cave. You can reach him via telephone at 931-249-0043 or via the email address below.
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