Fishing, Families and Fun

World Bird Sanctuary has been receiving Trout from Bennett Spring Trout Hatchery near Lebanon, Missouri, for over 30 Years.  We receive the culls or the fish that have recently passed.

We feed the Trout to our Bald Eagles, Condor, Vultures and our White-tailed Sea Eagle--great nutritious food for our birds.

Every year WBS brings birds for display at this popular event

The staff at Bennett Spring has been gracious enough to work with us all these years and our way of saying thanks is to bring birds to display for their Kids’ Fishing Day.

This youngster gets a really close look at an Eastern Screech Owl

At this great event each child is allowed to catch four Trout.  I consider myself lucky to have been able to participate in these days.  I've attended, with WBS birds for display, on three occasions.  I love the festive atmosphere of fishing, families and fun.

Bennett Spring Trout Hatchery and State Park is such an amazingly beautiful park—and what a great place to catch fish  …and do we catch fish.  Yes Yes Yes!

The young fisherwoman in the foreground sports a turkey feather in her hat while fishing for her four trout

For this special Kids’ Fishing Day event the Missouri Conservation Department stocked the “kids only” fishing area with 2,200 trout—30 of them lunkers.  In addition, they stocked the rest of the park with 1,500 fish.  Kids were welcome to fish in any portion of the park, but hatchery staff wanted to give the kids a more than fair chance of catching a fish.

The children may fish anywhere in the Park, but have a specially stocked area set aside for kids only

In addition to Bennett Spring State Park, the Missouri Conservation Department holds a Kids Fishing Day every May in the other State Park Trout Hatchery streams.  The Kids’ Fishing Day Event is held at Bennett Spring State Park, Maramec Spring State Park, Montauk State Park and Roaring River State Park. 

For this and other events check the Missouri Conservation Department’s calendar of events http://www.missouritrout.com/events.html

Thanks to the Missouri Conservation Department for allowing the World Bird Sanctuary to be a part of this and other events and for donating their surplus fish to feed our birds.

Story and Photos submitted by Mike Zieloski, World Bird Sanctuary Director of Education