Chico's free "Hooked on Fishing" kid's event will be May 22
The state's biggest children's fishing event will take place in Chico on May 22 from 7:00 AN to 1:00 PM at Horseshoe Lake in Upper Bidwell Park, and the operative word is "Free". The organizers will be providing free bait, free loaner tackle, and even free fish cleaning. Thousands of pounds of channel catfish will be stocked [limit one fish per child], and all area kids age 14 and under are welcome. Adults may assist their kids in the endeavor, but can't fish on their own.

The Chico Bass Club is responsible for rigging up the 600 free loaner rods that are available for every child to use. Each of the loaner rods will be set up with an "Enviro-Quest Steel" sinker, in keeping with the lead-free fishing regulations of Bidwell Park.

Perhaps the toughest job is provided by the membership of the Chico Sunrise Rotary. The organization does yeoman work by staffing the "fish cleaning tables", which allows the young rookie anglers to bring their fish home in an easy to prepare condition.

To minimize impact on the local fish population, the bass club will also donate a free rod and reel to any child who catches and then releases one of Horseshoe Lake's wild largemouth bass, carp, bullhead, or even a turtle.

Sacramento River
Striped bass fishing on the Sacramento River continues to be very good, although the hotspots down in the Colusa area have been very crowded this week. "the river has been crowded, but the striper fishing has been great", observed local guide Kevin Brock. "We have been getting easy limits of mostly four to six pounders on live jumbo minnows, every day near the Meridian Bridge. On Thursday, we even released a 20-pound hen striper."

A little closer to Chico, Phil Peeples at the Tackle Box reported, "There are numbers of stripers as far up as Princeton, and on Wednesday night we got a report of two keeper stripers being caught on cut bait off the bank at the Washout.'

Peeples added, "A few shad have been caught as far up as Princeton. Some people have been trying for shad at Road 48, but we have not gotten any definite reports from there yet."

Salmon regulations
The California Fish and Game Commission has scheduled a "make-up" meeting for 9:30 AM on May 20 [Thursday] to finalize several decisions that were left over from its previous meeting. Among the agenda items is setting the Central Valley salmon fishing regulations for 2010 in the Sacramento, Feather, and American rivers. The meeting will be conducted as a "teleconference call", and will be audible to the public at the Resources Building, 1416 Ninth Street, Room 1320, Sacramento.

HOFNOD volunteers
The Chico Hooked on Fishing, not on Drugs event is in need of volunteers on two separate days. From 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM on Thursday night May 20 at the Rod and Gun Club at Horseshoe Lake, the 600 loaner rods will be rigged and repaired. Anyone with nimble knot-tying fingers is welcome to join in.

On the day of the May 22 event, experienced anglers who can show the kids how to put a nightcrawler on a hook, how to cast, and how to reel them in are needed. The main volunteer orientation is at 6:30 AM at Horseshoe Lake, but late arrivals are welcome, as the early volunteers begin to tire at around 10:00 AM. Even if you can only spend a few hours helping kids [who may have non-fishing parents] learn the joy of fishing, your assistance will be most appreciated. For more information, call 891-4757.

Trout plants
The DFG planted catchable-size rainbow trout this week in the following area waters: Butte County- Paradise Lake; Trinity County- Trinity River; Shasta Lake- Lower-Middle Burney Creek, Baum Lake, Middle-Upper Hat Creek.