Environmental news

FWP in Kalispell teaches kids ice fishing safety

Posted: Feb 16, 2012 9:52 PM by Dax VanFossen (KAJ News)

KALISPELL- Kids were reeling in the rainbow trout Thursday morning at Pine Grove Pond north of Kalispell, and they were implementing some very unique fishing techniques.

"First you do fishy fishy fishy....and then you wiggle your pole, And then you bob it up and down for seven times, then you catch one."

Montana FWP's John Fraley says it's all part of the hooked on fishing series hosted by Kalispell Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP).

"We have about 1,400 kids in the hooked on fishing program, across northwest Montana, and we're lucky to have this Pine Grove Pond that was donated by Robin Street and his family, right here in Kalispell, and you can just see how great everyone is doing and everybody is catching fish and they're happy, pretty unusual for Ice Fisherman to catch fish this fast."

But it wasn't just about the ice fishing, is was also about the ice. Ice fishing can be a dangerous sport, especially if done wrong, the lesson I took out of it, was "If the ice isn't thicker than your thumb, you're really dumb."

Montana FWP game warden John Obst showed the kids some tips on how to be safe on the ice.

"This Guinea pig man, is actually my son Andrew whose helped me do a lot of ice rescue classes, so we're gonna show you and we're gonna demonstrate some stuff to you, what would happen if you did fall through the ice."

Andrew got his workout Thursday demonstrating how to spread your body out on the ice to rescue yourself, another game warden demonstrated using picks to crawl on the ice. But at the end of the day, Brandon Watne just wanted to know what time he would be on TV.

"I'm going to go to my grandma's tonight and watch this, cause this is pretty amazing, what time is it going to be on?"

Just a reminder... Pine Grove Pond is typically closed during the winter season, but will open for family fishing in the spring.