25th annual fishing derby held at Lake Park
CCSA members Skip Lawrence, Kendall Woods and Ray Rogers offer small prizes to a young fisherman who had just had his catch measured at the CCSA Fishing Derby on May 6 at Lake Park. Jen Jones | Beacon
COSHOCTON – The cold temperatures didn’t keep away the county’s smallest fishermen on May 6. The Coshocton County Sportsman’s Association’s annual fishing derby was held at Lake Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The lake was surrounded by kids and their parents trying their luck at catching the biggest fish.
Bob Bigrigg is the treasurer of the CCSA and the chairman of the fishing derby. “I just called Mike Bechtol at WTNS and told him the kids were catching all kinds of fish,” he said. “We have 125 kids registered already and are sure to get more when the soccer games are over.” He said the derby usually has around 400 children register.
Any child, aged 3-16, was welcome to join the fun. As they registered, each participant was given a raffle ticket and another ticket for a free meal. “Three years ago, Bob Evans started donating all of the food we needed – hamburgers, hot dogs and the extras. They even cook it for us. This has made having the derby so much easier on us and we can’t thank them enough,” Bigrigg said.
Thanking local businesses was at the top of every volunteer’s mind. “We couldn’t do this event without the help of the community. All of the food, prize money, and door prizes are all donated by local people,” said Bigrigg. Skip Lawrence, a member of the CCSA, said, “We are so lucky to live in a community like this one.”
All children registered were divided into five groups – boys (3-6), girls (3-6), boys (7-12), girls (7-12) and ages 13-16. At 2 p.m. a ticket was pulled from each bucket and the younger children won a bike. The 13-16 year old group winner was a nice fishing outfit. After the grand prize winners were drawn, all the names were put into a barrel and door prizes, such as fishing and sporting equipment, were given away.
Every fish that was caught was brought to the shelter for measuring. Any fish that was over 9” in length earned the fisherman a $10 bill. Each fish was written down and at the end of the derby the largest three fish in each class won prizes of $25, $15 and $10. Skip Lawrence, Kendall Woods and Ray Rogers were waiting to officially measure the fish and write the child’s name. Lawrence said he was “having more fun than any kid here.”
Bigrigg said the CCSA, Park District and Friends of the Park work together to stock the lake with fish from Fender’s Fish Hatchery the day before the derby. “A total of $2,300 in fish was put in the lake yesterday. Several types of fish, such as bass and crappie, were put in.”
The grand prize winners were: Boys (3-6) Gage Hammond; Girls (3-6) Madilynn Carpenter; Boys (7-12) Calob Patterson; Girls (7-12) Patience Gephart; and Ages (13-16) Hunter Bowman. There were also 53 prize winning fish (larger than 9”) caught during the derby.
All fish were immediately returned to the lake after being measured.
Category: People & Places
