Contact:
Jenny Cope
Fisheries Biologist
Phone: (907) 262-9368
February 13, 2015
The Division of Sport Fish Aquatic Education Program’s annual ice fishing event is scheduled for Wednesday, February 18th. The event is for Kenai Peninsula Borough School District elementary school classes that are participating in Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s "Salmon in the Classroom" program. All classes must preregister. The event is not open to the general public.
The event will be held at the Sport Lake Public Access from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 18th. Up to 140 elementary students per hour may be fishing. Approximately 550 students will be attending and fishing at Sport Lake during the event.
During this hands-on event, students are taught ethical angling practices, such as proper harvest and catch-and-release techniques, bag limits, how to use ice fishing gear and learn a fun winter outdoor activity at the same time. Holes are predrilled and ice fishing rods and tackle are supplied as well as portable ice fishing shelters/houses. Sport Lake is stocked annually with landlocked Chinook salmon catchables and rainbow trout fingerling from the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery.
Volunteers from each classroom and ADF&G staff will be assisting during the event. Parents of participating students are encouraged to attend and share in the ice fishing experience. If you are 16 and older, and plan to fish, a current 2015 fishing license is required.
Other hands-on components of the “Salmon in the Classroom” program include collecting salmon eggs in October, raising salmon eggs in classroom aquariums, releasing the salmon fry in May, a school district wide “Salmon Celebration” and classroom salmon dissections. To learn more about how much fun ice fishing can be, go to the Department website and search under ice fishing.
For more information, contact Jenny Cope at (907) 262-9368.