Young anglers awoke to a cold morning for the 9th annual Timmins Fur Council (TFC) Kids Fishing Derby on Feb. 17 at Porcupine Lake. Like years past, the cold weather didn't deter the hopes of these young anglers of landing the ‘big one’.
TFC members believed that there were some of the parents in attendance this year who had never been ice fishing before that wanted the experience and introduce their child to the sport.
During the day, a young girl froze when she had a fish on her line. Parents nearby tried to grab her rod as it started heading down the hole. In a gallant effort, one parent unsuccessfully reached down the hole in hopes of grabbing her rod.
This year’s winner, Kyle Chartrand landed a whopping 25" pike that nudged out second place winner Riley Parker’s 24" pike. Capturing third place was Kai Trepanier that landed a 21.5" pike.
Honourable mentions go to Gavin Riopelle and Jayden Tessier, who both landed 20" pike and Amelia Scalabrini, who had the first catch of the day with a 19.75" pike.
Each year, interest in this event continues to grow. With over 130 kids participating this year and an additional 100 emails, the TFC had to stop registering kids for this year's event.
Due to the overwhelming interest in the derby, the TFC plans to increase the number of kids they can accommodate next year. To make this happen, the TFC is hoping to wrangle more volunteers. Coordinator for the derby and current TFC president Kim Bielek stated that you don't have to be a TFC member to volunteer for this event. Everyone is welcome. If interested in volunteering for next year, please contact Kim at [email protected].
The Timmins Fur Council would like to send out a huge thanks to all the participants, volunteers, and the sponsor support. Without you, none of this would be possible.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this year's derby, so I would like to thank Kim Bielek for sending me the information for this article and Kaileigh Russell for the pictures.
