Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis hosts students for Hooked on Fishing event

DEXTER — Recently Ridge View Community School fourth-graders participated in the annual Dexter Kiwanis “Hooked on Fishing” event at a private pond in town. A week before the event the pond was stocked with 100 rainbow and brown trout. Each student had the option of releasing or keeping the fish they caught.

If the fourth-graders decided to keep a fish (only one permitted per student) it was cleaned by Laurie Calhoun, a member of Dexter Fish and Game, packaged with ice, placed in a cooler and returned to the student at the end of the school day to be taken home. Several of the students caught some fish that had wintered over from the previous year and were more than 18 inches in length.

This program was made possible by donations from Dexter Fish and Game and the Maine Highlands Credit Union. Toots Variety donated all the fishing supplies. Kiwanians were there to help bait hooks and untangle lines as well as community volunteers including Kevin Wintle, James Roy, and Gary Morin from the Dexter Police Department, Ken Irvin, Roco Palumbo, Phil Wright, Leo Lemay, Jim Ellis, Bill Jones, Peter Haskell, Laurie Calhoun, and Maine Game Wardens Will Shuman and Josh Beal.

Contributed photo
GONE FISHING — Kelsie Nelson’s grade 4 class at the Ridge View Community School in Dexter, pictured with Game Warden Will Shuman, were among the students taking part in the Dexter Kiwanis’ annual “Hooked on Fishing” event at a private pond in town.

Contributed photo
NICE CATCH — Ridge View fourth-grader Abagail Trafton holds her fish.