Another successful Kids Fishing Day

We had one of the best Kids' Fishing Day (KFD) events ever last Saturday. The temperature was cool (in the low 80's) and no rain. There was also a record attendance for the fall KFD event with 1,265 kids. The previous record was in August 2005 with 1,214 attending. The biggest fish (7.44 lbs.) and the biggest stringer (12.3 lbs.) of the day was caught by Lee Ann Iott, age 14 from Summersville, Mo. The biggest fish (6.56 lbs.) in the boys division was caught by Wesley Iso age 13 from Dallas Texas. He and his father learned about Roaring River's Kids' Day on the internet and decided to come up from Dallas to attend.

Another interesting story was that former Roaring River Park Superintendent, Kevin Bolling, who is now Kansas City Operations Manager for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) brought around 30 inner city Kansas City kids down to attend Roaring River's Event. Kevin made the comment "The volunteers were wonderful, they spent some quality time with the kids we brought down. A couple of them came to me and commented on how good it was to have our group and they thoroughly enjoyed being able to help the kids fish." Most of Kevin's group did catch fish. They were also treated to a fish fry by Gary Shoemaker, retired Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) employee, at Camp Smokey.

We have wonderful volunteers and staff from both MDC, DNR, and Roaring River Concession help. Our volunteers come from as close as Cassville and as far away as Louisiana. Everyone works very hard and basically owns and takes responsibility for the event. They care deeply and believe in our Kids' Fishing Days. Parents, Grandparents, and others spend quality time with their kids during the day. Our classes and events plant the conservation seeds, as well as a better understanding of fishing, and spark an interest in many other outdoor activities in the kids.