The Public Safety Bass Club hosted the eighth annual Kids Fishing Rodeo on June 10th, 2006 at the Bartram Forest Pond #5 on Carl Vinson Road.
Despite some really hot temperatures, 354 children registered for a day of fun and fishing. The sponsors for the Kids Fishing Rodeo are the Public Safety Bass Club, the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the Milledgeville Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Wal-Mart of Milledgeville.
The 354 children who came from all around central Georgia and registered --118 of those fished the rodeo for the first time--were treated to a fantastic day of fun and fishing. The annual fishing event awards trophies to the children catching the biggest catfish and catching the most catfish by total weight. They managed to catch 1,072 catfish for the day. The children are divided into three age groups of 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15.
Vernell Jackson, a Conservation Ranger with the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division has worked tirelessly for several years to secure catfish that are stocked into the pond before the event. Jackson will be retiring from WRD later this year and his hard work and efforts on the part of the Kid's Fishing Rodeo will be sorely missed. I will also personally miss Jackson, whom I have known for several years. He has always been a valuable resource and counsel for this outdoor writer.
There was some shade around the pond when fishing got underway at 10a.m., but by mid-day the children, parents and grandparents were searching for some shade and something cold to drink. Once the children had caught their limit of five fish, they brought their fish to the weigh-in scale where volunteers from the Public Safety Bass club weighed and tallied the results.
The look on the children's faces told the sotry of a fun filled day. I heard some fantastic stories from the children about their fishing successes and, of course, a few related how some of their fish got away. You could only conclude from the children's smiles of enjoyment and their wild excitement from catching fish, that this was a vary successful and wholesome event for all the children that attended.
A special thanks goes to those parents, grandparents and friends who took the time to bring the children. I saw a lot of love, fellowship and patience extended around that pond last Saturday. It was very hot, but other than a few red faces from the hot sun, I don't think anyone let the weather interfere with the fun.
The winners in total weight and big fish in the three age groups were: * In the 4-7 age group, Christian Morris from Eatonton finished in first place with 2.22 pounds and he also caught the big fish what weighed 1.18 pounds. Chase Collins from Stillmore fisnished in second place with 2.20 pounds and third place went to Chase Self from Milledgeville with 2.14 pounds of fish.
* In the 8-11 age group Timothy Chatman Jr. from Gordon finished in first place with 3.57 pounds and he also caught the big fish that weighed 1.11 pounds. Trey Bridges from Gordon finished in second place with 2.28 pounds, and Nathan Patel from Milledgeville finished in third place with 2.28 pounds.
In the 12-15 age group, first place went to Jatavius Wright from Milledgeville with 2.39 pounds, and Jamaris Cooper from Milledgeville took second place with 2.39 pounds and third place went to Joy Davis from Milledgeville with 2.29 pounds (Joy Davis has been a regular attendee for several years and has competed in all three age groups. In 2000 she caught the big catfish in the 4-7 age group and last year she won the 12-15 age group). The big fish trophy in the 12-15 age group went to Javoris Ford with 1.09 pounds.
The Kids Fishing Rodeo would not be possible without the dedicated work of its five regular sponsors. First to be recognized is the Public Safety Bass club and its president, Bob Schneider, and club members who plan and coordinate the annual event. Club members weighed all the fish and provided the children's trophies for the event. The Public Safety Bass club member's wives handled the registration of all children. Year after year through the hard work of the Public Safety Bass club the event has continued to grow.
The Georgia Forestry Commission provided the beautiful facility and much work went into getting the site ready for the fishing rodeo. Thanks to John Gormly from the Georgia Forestry Commission for also being at the rodeo. Gormly always walks around the pond during the event and encourages the children. Last Saturday he immediately spotted a family whose child was using a fishing outfit that would have made catching any fish very difficult. He immediately talked to the Public Safety Bass Club and a representative from Wal-Mart and acquired the child a better fishing rod and reel to use.
The Georgia NR provided the catfish for the pond and Conservation Rangers always attend the event. As I mentioned earlier, Jackson, a WRD Conservation Ranger has worked tirelessly each year to secure catfish for the event but will be retiring later this year and we all wish him well in retirement.
Sally Harrington, of Wal-Mart, came to the event and brought many rod and reel combinations and other fishing equipment that was given away as door prizes. Names were drawn from the registration slips so every child was eligible for a prize.
The Milledgeville Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and a large number of club members and their wives attended the event. They cooked the hotdogs, hamburgers and handed out the food and drinks for everyone. The "Lets Get Wild" event presented by Naturalist Steve Scruggs and his wife Sharon was one of the highlights of the rodeo. He demonstrated many of Georgia's native snakes both poisonous and non-poisonous to the children and allowed the children to touch and even hold some of the non-poisonous snakes. Scruggs held the children's attention --believe me, the children kept their eyes glued on the snakes -- for a whole hour.
Thanks to everybody who helped to make the 2006 Kids fishing Rodeo a positive, family oriented event.
Good fishing and see you next week. This article was copied from The Union Recorder newspaper and was written by Bobby Peoples an outdoor writer and avid fisherman. Photos taken by Bobby Peoples and used by permission.
There were many people in attendance who were responsible for getting the word out and supporting the Rodeo.
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Mrs. Peggi Joyner from Eagle Ridge Elementary School, Bobby Peoples an outdoor reporter at the Union Recorder, Henry Boyle with Colonial Bakery, The Baldwin Bulletin, DNR Wildlife officers,
Coke Cola, and Jessicia and Sandy who worked dispensing drinks all day. Brian Wall of Cox Media and
President of the Wild Turkey Federation, Milledgeville Chapter, Marvin Joyce and Hunter Calhoun,
and Daniel Peterson, and Charles Price who provided the hotdogs and hamburgers, and
Henry Boyle for the bread he has provided every year.
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Special thanks go to Mrs. Rose Williams, Warden of Scott State Prison, who was kind enough to provide an Inmate detail to clean the parking area and the area around the pond. This was extremely hard this year because no rain in the past month. The detail officers were very professional and efficient in their duties as the area was beautiful after it was cut. Many of the officer’s families from all the local prisons attended and enjoyed the day.
