(Soldotna) - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Division of Sport Fish Aquatic Education Program is hosting its annual Kenai Peninsula Borough School District ice fishing events at Sport Lake and the Homer Reservoir. The Sport Lake ice fishing event will be held on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, and Thursday, February 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. A separate ice fishing event will be held for Lower Kenai Peninsula Schools on Thursday, March 7 at the Homer Reservoir from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The scheduled ice fishing events are for local elementary school classes that participate in ADF&G’s "Salmon in the Classroom" program. All classes must preregister. The event is not open to the general public.

During the scheduled event, around 110 elementary students will be ice fishing every hour. Over the course of the three days approximately 720 students will have been out ice fishing at the two locations. During this hands-on ice fishing event, ADF&G staff teach students ethical angling practices, such as proper harvest and catch-and-release techniques, bag limits, and how to use ice fishing gear, while learning 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. Sport Lake is stocked annually with landlocked Chinook salmon catchables and rainbow trout fingerling from the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery. In the Homer Reservoir students will be fishing for naturally occurring dolly varden.

“Our staff looks forward to this ice fishing event every year,” stated Soldotna Fishery Biologist Andrew Waldo. “This is a great opportunity to not only get kids outside and introduce them to ice fishing but it teaches them responsible angling techniques for catching fish.”

ADF&G staff and volunteers from different agencies and classrooms will be assisting during the event. Parents of participating students are encouraged to attend and share in the ice fishing experience. Just a reminder, if you are 18 years of age and older, and plan to fish, a current 2019 sport fishing license is required.

Other hands-on components of the “Salmon in the Classroom” program include collecting salmon eggs in October, raising coho salmon eggs in classroom aquariums during the school year, releasing the salmon fry in May; in addition to, a school district wide “Salmon Celebration” and classroom salmon dissections.

For additional information, please contact Andrew Waldo at (907) 262-9368.

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