Diana Jorgenson
Portola Editor
7/29/2009

    Packer Lake proved to be the place to go July 18 if you were a kid or related to a kid or just liked to fish. The joint efforts of the Sierra County Fish and Wildlife Commission, the U.S. Forest Service – Tahoe National Forest, and the California Department of Fish and Game produced the 11th annual Kids’ Fishing Day, a fun and educational event for all age groups.
   Families were encouraged to make a day of it and there were plenty of activities in addition to fishing to occupy them. There were displays of wildflowers and booths set up to help identify snakes. Insects and fish types were also identified, and there was an abundance of DFG and U.S.F.S. personnel to answer any fish or wildlife question.
    There was even a 30-foot forest display of a colorful cloth fish that children could enter and get a lesson on fish anatomy from the inside.
     Children made fish prints on free T-shirts, hanging the shirts up to dry while fishing for new specimens; made wildlife paw prints from stamp replicas and examined water bugs up close and personal. But, mostly, the day was about fishing and introducing kids to the pleasures of fishing.
    DFG prepared the way by stocking Packer Lake with 2,000 pounds of brook trout. At the last minute, they brought in another 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout.
    DFG is currently preparing environmental reviews on many of its lake stocking programs, resulting in a backlog of fish in many of their hatcheries. Lakes exempted from review, such as Lake Davis, are receiving extra fish in the meantime, and Packer became one of the recipients as well.
    Packer Lake is a small lake, and overstocking last year resulted in many of the fish dying so the best answer is to catch them and catch them quickly. Adult fishermen and osprey were on hand to benefit from the trout abundance that day.
    For children who did not have a fishing pole, extra poles were available to borrow. No child went home without winning a new fishing pole of her own. Avid trout fisherman and Commissioner for the Sierra County Fish and Wildlife Commission Mark Flatter said that was due to the generosity of Scheel’s Sporting Goods in Reno, Nev. who donated all the fishing gear.
    Each child was given a drawing ticket for attending, but since there were more than enough prizes, there were no losers.
    The event also tagged 100 fish for $10 prizes and one fish for $100. Although no one caught the $100 fish, four youngsters caught tagged fish worth $10 apiece. The children caught 36 fish, and a few more that got away.
    Whether the kids went home with a cooler full of fish or went home fish-free, they had fun.