Want to learn to fish and eat some good food? Check out this metro-east fishing derby
Metro-east children and their families can learn to fish, enjoy good food and get to know some officers from the Illinois State Police on Friday at the annual fishing derby at Frank Holten State Park in East St. Louis.
The Southern Illinois Urban Fishing Program event starts at 11 a.m. and continues until 3 p.m., but organizers and supporters hope the enjoyment of fishing and positive connections with officers stays with them after the day ends.
Children as young as 6 and as old as 18 will have an opportunity to learn to fish or to enhance their fishing skills. The event is open to the public. It’s free, and so is the food, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jarran Riley said.
“We want them to get to know the people who work in their communities,” Riley told the BND. “We eat hamburgers just like they do. We just want to hang out with them and teach them about fishing. It’s a fun sport.”
All fishing rods, reels, baits and other equipment are provided for all participants.
Everyone at the event will have the chance to play games, socialize and meet new friends.
The Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Natural Resources are putting on the event.
Riley and other Illinois State Police officers and agents donate their time “to give back to the community” and show kids and their families that law enforcement officials care about them. They don’t just come to the community to respond to crime. Officers want people to see that they are just like them, Riley said.
Tiffany Williams went to the fishing derby last year for the first time, and she and her three boys had “ a really good time,” she said.
“It was just wonderful. My boys had a great time, and I did too. It was like a family get-together,” she said. And of course, she will be at this year’s event, she said.
Dee Toombs, a conservation education representative for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, says her motto is “Get hooked on fishing and not on drugs.”
This is the message she wants the young people to grasp.
Toombs’ job with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Southern Illinois Urban Fishing program is to teach safety, and how to use rods and reels, she said. And she also teaches this to the young people who participate in the fishing derby.
“The program is not just for children. The program itself (Southern Illinois Urban Fishing Program) is for adults, seniors, camp churches, groups. If I can teach you to learn how to fish, you’ll never be hungry,” she said. “ It’s fun. It’s relaxing. It’s a hobby. Of course we know every hobby is not for everybody. But, you can’t knock it until you try it.”
Toombs said she loves interacting with the young people at the Fishing Derby at Frank Holten State Park.
When someone catches a fish for the first timem their eyes light up with excitement, Toombs says. She enjoys their excitement and joy.
“‘It gives me joy and excitement to see them catch. It reminds me of when I started at 5 years old,” she said. “It was a thrill of a lifetime to see the bobber go down or you are fighting reeling in a fish.”
“ You don’t know what’s on the other end because you don’t see it. To see what I am teaching them actually works for them gives me great joy. It also gives them great pride. For me, there is nothing better,” Toombs said.
Tiffany Gholson, director of Parent & Student Support Services of East St. Louis School District 189, has been participating in the event for three or four years.
“I love opportunities for our kids to stay safe and engage in structured activities,” she said.
She said middle school boys are most vulnerable. “This is something that draws that age group.The kids in the community belong to all of us. That’s why I help to push them into safe engaging activities,” she said.
“High school kids can get jobs. Some have cars. They have more independence. Little kids are easy to please. But the middle age group are at an age where they can go different ways,” she said. “ Some of them have fathers or uncles who are incarcerated. They may have been in a car where someone was riding dirty. They have the experience that we see on TV.
“ We all panic when a cop is behind us. Kids have more experiences in those ways,” she said. “ To see the police in the way they see them at the fishing derby, helping them and showing them how to fish shows the children police are human like them, and they do care about them and their safety is awesome.”
Gholson said Toombs, of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, “ commands the room.”
“She gives the lessons and the children enjoy the way she does it. She helps them put bait on the hook,” Gholson said.
Gholson said she wants as many people as can attend to come out to the fishing derby to enjoy the good food, fishing, the family like atmosphere and the engaging conversations.
“It is a really good time and a great event for our community and the young people,” she said.
This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 8:31 AM.
