Great turnout at the Wild Acres youth fishing derby
It was a cloudy but fishable day at the Wild Acres Fishing Derby which was held last Saturday. Due to the Covid restrictions, the number of people was limited to 150. Unfortunately, nearly 50 others arrived for the event but had to be turned away. This was the 7th year that the City of Pittsfield Conservation Commission and Lyon Aviation sponsored the event. Last year’s event had to be cancelled due to Covid.
Representing the City of Pittsfield were Becky Manship, Recreation Activities Coordinator and Rob Vanderkar, Pittsfield Conservation Agent. Assisting the anglers were Onota Fishing Club President Fred Ostrander and his team of OFC volunteers. Dave’s Sporting Goods Store and Onota Boat Livery provided the worms and some equipment, Lyon Aviation donated funds for the event and The Berkshire National Fish Hatchery provided the brook trout. The City of Pittsfield provided the chips, cookies, lollypops, etc.
Even though some 300 or so trout were stocked into the pond, they were hard to catch, in fact, only 5 of them were caught. Not a problem, though, for the bass, sunfish and perch cooperated nicely. Just about every kid caught fish. To make things even more pleasant for the smaller kids, the banks all around the pond had a couple of inches of gooey, muck, due to the recent rains. Perfect condition for the tots to slosh in and get their fancy boots all muddied up. Hey! It doesn’t get any better than that! And it was heart-warming to see grandparents once again being able to be out with their grandchildren.
The trophy winners were as follows:
Trout Category: Shayne Clairmont caught the largest trout measuring 10 inches and weighing 3oz. Other trophy winners in the trout category were Parker DeVergilio, Elise Sabolevski, Sandra Kisselbrock and Griffin Sabolevski.
Bass Category: Mila Ostellino caught the largest bass measuring 14 inches and weighing 1 lb 3oz. Other trophy winners in the bass category were Austin Sayers, Gabriel Christman, Alice Christman, Bellah Munson, Valente Lewis,
Chase Jones, Selena Rodriguez, Charlie Guachione, Bryce Santolin, Tyrus Ostellino, Kelsey Santolin, and Lottie Leeco.
Perch Category: Samuel Collins caught the largest yellow perch measuring 11 ¾ inches and weighing 6oz. Other trophy winners in the perch category were Nelson Pelkey and Wesley Willey.
Sunfish Category: Maverick Pytko caught the largest sunfish measuring 7 inches and weighing 4oz. Other trophy winners in that category were Remington Pytko, Lincoln Bohem, Frankie Guachione, and Josie Guachione.
Golden Shiner Category: Kai Scholl got a trophy for catching the only shiner which measured 9.5 inches and weighed 5oz.
A trio of young girls, (Bryer, Ryker and Sandy) collaborated and caught a bullfrog. They kept it in a 5-gallon pail and wanted to take it home, but their parents ultimately convinced them to release it. Another youngster caught a turtle. Sorry, no trophies for the bullfrogs or turtles. All of the fish and critters were released unharmed.
Our hats off to Lyon Aviation, the City of Pittsfield, the Onota Fishing Club and everyone involved for providing the kids with a such wonderful day. I especially want to thank City of Pittsfield’s Becky Manship for her hard work in providing the names of all the winners.
Unfortunately, Harry A. Bateman Memorial Jimmy Fund Fishing Derby cancelled again
A message from Steve Bateman, Chairman of the Harry A. Bateman Memorial Jimmy Fund Fishing Derby: “Sadly this year’s 28th, like in last year’s 27th Annual Harry A. Bateman Memorial Jimmy Fund Fishing Derby had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The event is always held on the first Saturday in June which falls on the Massachusetts Free Fishing Weekend (June 5, 2021). Last year’s event got canceled due to the City of Pittsfield and State COVID-19 shutdown. We then scheduled a date for September 2020 and that event also got canceled. We were hoping that this year’s event would happen but after a conversation with the City Health Dept. unfortunately under the COVID laws it will be impossible to put on a quality event that everyone is use to and what makes this derby such a success. They said the fishing derby can happen because it is considered a low- risk sport, but in Massachusetts attendance for such an outdoor event is set at 150 people. One problem is supplying food which has always been part of the fishing derby. It would have to be served by a licensed caterer and they would have to abide by the restaurant rules. These issues would decrease the derby attendance number and make it impossible to run a quality fundraising event that everyone on the Harry Bateman Committee worked so hard to create. There are just too many negatives, such as making sure all of the attendants are safe by sanitizing, not being sure how many people will actually show up all due to COVID-19, the possibility of turning people away and enforcing the mask and 6-foot separation rule. If someone tested positive, we would have to contact everyone that attended. Then there is the extra cost of hiring a Catering Service, sanitizers and extra signage. All of these things caused us to cancel this year.”
“Our goal is to raise funds for the Jimmy Fund while having a great time at a fishing event. If you ask anyone who has ever attended the Harry Bateman Fishing Derby, they will tell you that they have never seen anything like it or, It’s the best fishing derby that they have ever gone to.” (This scribe will attest to that).
“We will be back and bigger than ever for the 30th Annual Derby next year”. They already have support from many friends, too numerous to list in this column. The derby folks thank everyone for your continued support.
Since Steve’s message, the State did ease up on some of the COVID restrictions, but it was still decided to postpone the event.
If you would like to financially support them, make checks payable to: The Jimmy Fund-In Memory of Harry Bateman, and mail to: The Jimmy Fund Of Berkshire County, PO Box 1139, Pittsfield, MA. 01202.
You can also find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HarryBatemanFishingDerby
Trout stocking
Last week, subject to last minute change, the following local waters were scheduled to be stocked by Massachusetts DFW: Hoosic River (South Branch) in Cheshire and Adams, Dry Brook and South Brook in Cheshire, Hoosic River (North Branch) in Clarksburg and North Adams, Clesson Brook in Ashfield and Buckland, Chickley River in Charlemont and Hawley, Westfield River (East Branch) in Savoy, Windsor, Cummington, Chesterfield and Huntington; Westfield River (Mainstem) in Huntington, Montgomery and Russell; Wahconah Falls Brook in Dalton, Windsor Brook in Windsor and Hinsdale, Hubbard River in Granville and Tolland, West Brook in Great Barrington and Lee, Goose Pond Brook and Greenwater Brook in Lee, Hop Brook in Lee and Tyringham, Housatonic River (C&R) in Lee, Housatonic River (SW) in Pittsfield, Clam and Buck Rivers in Sandisfield, Ashfield Pond in Ashfield, North Pond in Florida, Norwich Pond in Huntington and Windsor Pond in Windsor.
Lots of bears out there
At the last meeting of the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, DCR’s Mountain District Manager Mark Jester commented that DCR parks are being inundated by black bears. No surprise there, ey? Bear boxes were brought in at each site in their campgrounds. Incidentally, he reported that camping season has started with campgrounds opening up with 75% capacity under COVID-19. People looking to camp in state parks need to reserve their dates online via Reserve America
It’s true! It’s true!
Readers may recall that last week I featured a picture of 5-year old Gabriel Christman holding a large fish that he caught. The carp which appeared to be half of his own weight checked in at 21.5 lbs. There was some scuttlebutt that no way could he have caught such a large fish alone. I saw his dad Joshua at the Wild Acres Youth Fishing Derby last weekend and asked him about it. Joshua then proceeded to show me a cell phone video showing young Gabriel fighting and hauling that fish in. Joshua then netted it after the fish was brought close to shore.