The Fox Valley Park District is set to host its annual free Youth Fishing Derby starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 27, at Jericho Lake on Aurora’s far West Side.
The four-hour event, which is set to go off rain or shine, will offer what a press release from the Fox Valley Park District called “an outdoor classroom where experienced anglers, first-time casters and curious families gather” to enjoy fishing.
Fishing will be held from 8 to 11 a.m., followed by a hot dog lunch and then the awarding of prizes and raffle drawings, organizers said.
Prize categories will include largest and smallest fish caught, as well as the greatest number reeled in during the event.
Stephen Schuler, the maintenance manager at Blackberry Farm in Aurora and one of the event’s organizers, said the Youth Fishing Derby “is about much more than catching fish.”
The event, he said, has continued to grow steadily over the years with nearly 70 participants a year ago.
“I started doing this about four years ago, but this has been held for a number of years by the district. Our first year when I was in it, it was a joint effort between us and the (Illinois Department of Natural Resources), and we wanted to provide a bit more than they were offering,” Schuler said. “We took the whole thing on ourselves and it’s been growing since then.”
Schuler said the event has been gaining traction over the years.
“It can be challenging for some people to go out and try out fishing that have never done it before,” he said. “Getting out and kind of figuring it out themselves is a much higher risk for them than coming to an event like this where we have staff that will walk people through like how to cast a pole or how to put a worm on a hook and that sort of thing.”
Schuler estimates that nearly a third of those who come out each year “have never held a fishing pole before.”
The press release said around 30 members of the Fox Valley Park District’s Operations Team will be on hand to help. Sporting navy blue shirts and safety vests, staff members will be stationed around the lake to record catches, snap photos, help bait hooks, remove fish, troubleshoot equipment issues and answer questions, organizers said.
“We’ll have staff guiding young, beginning anglers into the sport,” Schuler said in the release. “We’ve also taught whole families in which no one has ever had the opportunity to fish before. We start with the basics. I give them a rod and reel and say, ‘Let’s just practice casting here in the lawn before we do anything else.’”
He said the park district enjoys being part of the event.
“We think it’s very important. Ultimately, we are a park district providing opportunities for people to fish and, you know, kind of feel the outdoors,” he said.
Jericho Lake is well-stocked with bluegills but also contains largemouth bass, black crappie, catfish and carp, district officials said.
The event is free and there is no advance registration required. All those who do participate must check in at the pavilion at the southwest corner of the lake in order to be eligible for lunch and the raffle prizes, according to organizers.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
