BETHEL – There were more fish than people at Saturday’s Family Fishing Festival at the BIG Adventure Center off Route 2 and North Road.
A day-long deluge limited attendance to 50 people from 15 families, event co-organizer and Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce member Wende Gray said on Saturday afternoon.
“Things are going OK, considering it’s not the most beautiful day,” said Linda Walthers of Otisfield and a member of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Chapter members helped run the festival.
“This is very disappointing, but what can you do?” Gray asked.
“I think we would have had 10 times the people if the sun had been shining,” she added.
The free event was held on the banks of the Androscoggin River at the center and Bethel Outdoor Adventure, which is on the opposite side of Route 2.
Free casting workshops were taught by instructors from Trout Unlimited’s First Cast program. Rods and reels for children and adults were provided by Maine’s Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs program.
The only person to actually catch one of the 100 brook trout released into the center’s Covered Bridge Pond was 9-year-old Kyler Walker of Newry, Gray said.
It was a 1-footer and he took it with him when he and his dad, David Walker of Newry, left that morning.
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife public relations representative Bill Pierce said the brookies measured up to 15 inches.
Maine Guide and Chamber member Rocky Freda, who owns and operates Sun Valley Sports in Bethel, said adults who tried their luck failed to get even a nibble from the trout.
“The fish aren’t even touching worms. They’re not touching anything,” Freda said.
“I think they may be traumatized from the water. It may be too warm,” he added.
Children were given free pocket-sized tackle boxes, complete with bobbers, sinkers and lures. Additionally, donated prizes and merchandise were raffled.
Walthers said the rain prevented Trout Unlimited’s fly tying instructor from attending due to water in his basement.
Maine Guide and Trout Unlimited member Nate Wight of Harrison filled the void, teaching children how to tie versions of caddis flies using alpaca hair fibers from Sunday River Alpacas of Bethel.
Owners Maureen Libby and Jeff Erickson brought and displayed three of their alpacas in a pen at the center, much to the delight of children.
Other displays were provided by the fisheries department, Trout Unlimited and the Maine Conservation School at Bryant Pond village in Woodstock.
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