Heavy winds whipped around a rainy Clark County on Friday morning, but at least the fish were biting.
Friday was the first day of the annual Klineline Kids Fishing Derby, held at Klineline Pond in Salmon Creek Park. The weather didn’t deter the crowd. More than 500 fishers signed up for the first day, and Allen Jaffe, retiring president of the Klineline Kids Fishing Nonprofit, said he expected more than 700 on Friday, including walk-ups.
“We come every year,” said Alexander Nihipali, 5, of Vancouver. “I wanted to catch a big fish. This is the biggest one I ever caught.”
Alexander and his mom couldn’t walk more than a few feet without someone coming over to admire the 23-inch, 6-pound trout he caught earlier on Friday. It took about five minutes for Alexander to reel in the trout that was almost as long as one of his legs. His mother, Leilani Nihipali, said he lost a few fish before reeling in the large trout. She was excited for her son, and excited to take the fish home.
If You Go
• When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
• Where: Klineline Pond at Salmon Creek Park, 1112 N.E. 117th St., Vancouver.
• What: The annual Klineline Kids Fishing Derby, which is open to kids ages 5-14, costs $5, which gets kids a fishing rod and T-shirt. The preregistration spots are sold out, but there will be about 50 walk-up spots every hour. For more information, visit www.klineline-kf.org.
“We usually give them back, but I think we’re going to keep this one,” she said.
At the derby, which has been around for 30-plus years, fishers get their fish measured, weighed and cleaned by volunteers. Then they can take them home or donate them. Jaffe said all the donated fish go to Share, and the event usually donates around 500 pounds of cleaned fish to the nonprofit.
The event costs about $200,000 to put on, Jaffe said, adding that the money comes from donations and grants. Clark Public Utilities donated the 14,000 fish put into Klineline Pond for the event. The Klineline Kids Fishing Nonprofit buys all the rods and reels for the event. Earlier this week, volunteers put together 3,600 rods and reels for the event.
With the $5 registration fee, kids get a fishing rod and T-shirt. There are also prizes every hour for each group of fishers. The fisher who hauls in the biggest catch gets a trophy and a $40 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Second place gets a trophy and a scooter and third place earns a trophy and tackle box. The fisher who brings in the smallest fish each hour gets a tackle box and coupon for an extra large pizza.
“We give them the extra large pizza because their fish is too small to feed a family,” Jaffe said.
Alexander won the first-place finish during the 9 a.m. fishing round on Friday, and second place went to Jayden Lynn Wolford, 3, of Vancouver, who caught a 3-pound rainbow trout with some help from her father. The two regularly go fishing. Jayden had a fun Friday, and her two favorite parts were “building a boat and fishing with daddy,” she said with the remnants of an ice cream sandwich smeared around her mouth.
Along with fishing, local businesses and organizations have booths during the derby. Home Depot was in attendance on Friday, and at that booth, kids could assemble wooden sailboats.
Due to the heavy wind, some vendors left a little early, or took down their tents. Jaffe said the event wouldn’t stop due to weather unless there was lightning.
He is hoping for calmer weather Saturday, when he expects more than 3,000 kids to attend the derby. It runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with new fishing rounds starting every hour. Each hour has 300 slots to fish, and every session is fully booked. There is also room for 50 walk-ups each hour.
“We’re growing,” he said. “This is the first year we’ve sold out the 2 and 3 p.m. sessions.”
One thing that helped the event grow was allowing online sign-ups, which started three years ago, Jaffe said. He’d like to see the first day of the event, which is reserved for special needs participants, grow even more in the future. Last year, the special needs day brought in about 600 fishers.
Jaffe said the event doesn’t turn any kid away.
“The kids who can’t afford it, we do offer scholarships,” he said. “We don’t want to turn any kid down. Every kid is important.”
The event is run by volunteers, who do everything from sign kids up to help them catch and clean the fish. Friday had about 250 volunteers and Jaffe expects 350 to 400 volunteers Saturday.
Endeavour Elementary School second-grader Walter Ferrante, 7, had some help from one of the volunteers while fishing on Friday. He caught two fish.
“It was hard to reel them in. They were heavy,” Walter said, adding he’s been to the event a few times. “This is the first time I’ve caught fish here.”
