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66 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 27, 2004 Lake of the Woods to host event for youth anglers By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune LAKE of the WOODS — When kids cast worms for big trout Saturday at this High Cascades lake, their grins and giggles of excitement can be traced directly back two years ago to a stuffy Central Point conference room where money talk turned to kids. Lindsay Ball, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, came to explain the agency’s budget shortfalls and ask hunters, anglers and others if they would support an ODFW budget that included higher license and tag fees. What Ball heard surprised him. "They said, ‘We’ll support your budget, but what are you going to do for the kids?’ " Ball says. "Kids need to be fishing, so where’s the opportunity? Those kinds of questions kept coming from the audience. "I told them that’s something I want, too," Ball says. "We ought to be able to make something work." Advertisement That extra something will play out Saturday at Lake of the Woods, the next venue for a pilot Youth Angling Enhancement Program hatched from that ODFW public meeting in Central Point in April 2002. The ODFW on Tuesday stocked more than 500 extra rainbow trout — including 200 "lunker" trout running 14-18 inches long — at the Lake of the Woods Resort’s dock in hopes of drawing young anglers from both sides of the Klamath/Jackson county line for an event Saturday. Though the fish can legally be caught by anyone, organizers hope adults take a step back and give the kids the chance. "I think it’s going to be pretty cool," says Roger Smith, the ODFW fish biologist in Klamath Falls who organized the event. "Those fish will be very vulnerable and the kids should be able to hammer them." This event is separate from the June 12-13 Free Fishing Weekend. Oregon angling regulations allow kids 13 and under to fish for free, while kids 14-17 need a juvenile license. Similar events were held across Oregon, including in April at Whetstone Pond at the Denman Wildlife Area. "From what we see, it’s going real well," Ball says. "When you create something for kids, it’s not a one-day thing. Get these kids out once, and they start coming back." That was a message Ball brought back from the April 2002 meeting in Medford as well as similar town hall-style sessions statewide. "We heard it elsewhere, but it was strongest in Medford," Ball says. Ball and others liked the idea of special kids’ events other than Free Fishing Weekend, but there was no money in the ODFW budget for such a program. Ball began talking about it in Salem, and a group of legislators drafted a bill that eventually earned the program a two-year pilot status as well as $50,000 — provided the money got matched in the private sector. The Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation pledged the match, and the program opened this spring at Denman. In some areas, experienced anglers were on hand to help neophytes. One thing ODFW organizers saw, however, were that the kids who came to places like Denman on the Youth Angling Program event came back the next weekend — and the next — to fish some more, Ball says. "We’re going to try to catch as many kids with this as we can," Ball says. After next year, the program will be evaluated and report back to the Legislature. "If it works well, maybe we can find $300,000," Ball says. "Then we’ll have a program we can really do something with." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times