MIllcreek youth fishing rodeo produces big fish, bigger smiles

Light rain didn’t do anything to dampen Grant Russell’s 13th birthday, to judge by the smiles all around.

He and his three brothers – Ethan, Alex, and Carson, of Reinholds, Lancaster County – were among 210 or so youngsters ages 4 to 15 who fished the annual kids fishing rodeo hosted by Millcreek Rod & Gun Club in Newmanstown on May 8. The club stocks about 1,000 brook, brown and golden rainbow trout in its pond for the event, which is free to the public.

Young anglers – who register the night before at the pond or via Facebook – fish in “flights” of about 40 at a time. Pulling numbers from a can, they’re assigned a particular spot around the pond, each marked by painted lines in the grass and black numbers on yellow plates. They then get 75 minutes to catch and keep three fish. Most didn’t need anywhere near that long, though.

“The first flight started at 8:30 and by, what, maybe 8:50, most of them had limited out,” said Scott Adams, Millcreek’s tour nursery manager. “I’ll tell you, they were catching them.”

That was true of the Russell brothers. All had their fish in short order. Grant enjoyed that for one reason. Carson had another.

“I like catching them and seeing how big they are,” Grant said.

“I like eating them,” Carson said.

The fish stocked for the event were big enough to satisfy both desires.

“There’s trout in there right now that are going 28 and 30 inches,” Adams said. “Last year, the biggest one that was caught went 28 inches and it was 10½ pounds. It’s a real draw for the rodeo.”

Savannah Espinosa of Lebanon caught one this year that rivaled it. She got a golden rainbow big enough to make any adult trout angler happy, and yet it was dwarfed by the brown trout she caught that went a little over 28 inches. She had to stand on her tippytoes, with her arms extended straight up in the air above her head, to hoist the fish high enough that its tail didn’t drag the ground. Add in her third trout and it was quite the haul.

“I’m not going to be able to carry all these,” she said, all smiles and giggles. “They’re too heavy!”

Volunteers from Millcreek helped with that, and in other ways. Some cooked egg and sausage sandwiches for the young anglers; others doled out Italian ice and t-shirts with the names of the event’s sponsors. Still other filleted all of the trout caught so that the youngsters go home with fish ready for a meal. Adams passed out $15 McDonald’s gift cards – “golden arch” cards – for everyone who caught a golden rainbow.

“They like that,” he said.

The good fishing continued throughout the day. Typically, Adams said, children fishing in the later flights – they run into mid-afternoon to accommodate everyone – do just as well as those who get in the water first.

Volunteers work hard to make sure every young angler gets a taste of the action.

Seth Strunk, a director of the club, helped those young enough or inexperienced enough that they were struggling to catch fish to land a few. This was Strunk’s second year helping out and he seemed as happy to be there as the kids.

“We can’t leave any kid without a fish,” he said. “Because seeing them smile, that’s exactly what I want. That’s why we’re here.”

Hunter McMullen, another volunteer – one of several who was netting fish for the young anglers – agreed.

“We got one boy who showed up with something like six minutes left in his flight,” McMullen said. “He was super late. But we got him his three fish.”

The rodeo has undergone changes over time. Adams said organizers switched to having kids fish in flights when COVID hit. They’ve maintained that model since because it seems to work so well. The rodeo’s grown from hosting 125 kids to as twice as many in some years.

The goal has remained the same, though. That’s to get kids outside, interested in fishing and conservation.

“The rodeo is really important to us to get the kids to come in and fish and get to like it,” Adams said. “It’s a good, good thing.”