The kids had an absolute blast catching hungry and feisty rainbows. - FWS photo

The 5th Annual Keeweebaw Bay Indian Community Kids Fishing Derby. - FWS photo

Frank Stone had scheduled a day of boat electrofishing to help transfer largemouth bass at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC).  In previous years, this fish transfer (to Lighthouse Pond) had been a big success during the KBIC annual Kids Fishing Day.  However, due to the concern of transferring fish pathogens, the relocation was cancelled.  The Ashland FRO then called on the kind folks from the Genoa NFH to save the day.  Two hundred catchable size rainbow trout (disease certified) were soon transported to Keweenaw Bay for three different fishing activities that took place over a three week period.

• The Second Annual Baraga County Lake Trout Festival is a lake trout and salmon fishing event on Keweenaw Bay.  The staff from the KBIC were asked to support the event by stocking brook trout into a portable tank so visiting children would have a chance to fish.  The rainbow trout provided by the Genoa NFH were a big hit with the kids!  When the "smoke cleared, there were 110 fish left over.  The donation of these fish allowed KBIC to retain a larger portion of their wild brook trout broodstock for other inland conservation stocking purposes.

• The Houghton County Bridge-Fest is a very large event with the Hancock Lift Bridge being the focal icon.  For the past few years, planners of this event have asked the KBIC to also provide brook trout for their "kids fishing tank.”  This has in the past been a very nice cooperative agreement between the tribe and the community.  This year, the Bridge-Fest received a mix of the rainbow trout provided by Genoa NFH as well as brook trout from the KBIC.  Unfortunately by the end of the event, very few fish had been captured by the kids, and most of the trout were again returned to the KBIC facility for yet another fishing event the following week. 

• The 5th Annual KBIC Kids Fishing Derby is a popular event that attracted over 170 kids who participated in this years fishing derby.  Needless to say, every fish was taken home!  At the end of all three fishing events, Gene Mensch (KBIC –NRD, Fisheries & Wildlife Biologist) made the following statement; “The kids had an absolute blast catching those hungry and feisty rainbows....it was interesting to see that by the end of the KBIC event, thanks to the folks at the Genoa NFH, we used only 100 of our wild brood stock for these events when normally we would have had to commit three times that many.”