On Saturday morning, fishing lines hit the water promptly at 8 a.m. for the fishing rodeo competition.
Despite the storm the night before, the sun shone, and the temperature rose, but the heat and humidity didn’t stand in the way of some fishing.
Nearly 200 kids registered to compete in the rodeo and free shirts were given to the first 150 participants.
The big and little catfish winners for the day were Brenton Bennet, reeling in a 31-inch fish, winning the prize for the largest catch for boys. Paisley Songer caught the biggest fish for the girls, measuring in at 27.5 inches. Delilah Brown caught the littlest fish for the girls at just five inches. And Ryker Barry brought in the littlest fish for the boys at just 12 inches.
Ariya Lambert-Williams was the only lucky angler to catch an albino catfish that day and received a cash prize. Of the 1,300 pounds of fish in the pond, there were about five white colored ones.
Several door prizes went out to random anglers whose names were drawn from a hat, and one boy and one girl were randomly chosen for the bicycles donated by Walmart.
It was a fish-catching frenzy all morning long. Children of all ages were seen reeling in fish of all sizes, catching hundreds of catfish. Many of the kids took their fish home, while many others released them back into the pond to make for more fishing adventures.
Parks director Andrew Dwyer gave a special shout out to the Oldeen family for helping to pay for the fish, gave a special thanks to Joe DeSmit for all of his help and continued efforts and displayed a banner in remembrance of Joe DeSmit’s late stepson Justin Crockett.
Dwyer also reminded residents and signs have been posting that only kids 16 and under can fish at the Windmont pond for the remainder of June.
