The Public Safety Bass Club hosted the eighth annual Kids Fishing Rodeo on June 10 at Bartram Forest Pond No. 5. Despite some really hot temperatures, 354 children registered for a day of fun and fishing. The sponsors for the Kids Fishing Rodeo are the Public Safety Bass Club, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Milledgeville Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Wal-Mart of Milledgeville.

The 354 children who came from all around central Georgia and registered — 118 of those fished the rodeo for the first time — were treated to a fantastic day of fun and fishing. The annual fishing event awards trophies to the children for the catching the biggest catfish and catching the most catfish by total weight. They managed to catch 1,072 catfish for the day. The children are divided into three age groups of 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15.

Vernell Jackson, a Conservation Ranger with the DNR's Wildlife Resources Division has worked tirelessly for several years to secure catfish that are stocked into the pond before the event. Jackson will be retiring from WRD later this year and his hard work and efforts on the part of the Kid's Fishing Rodeo will be sorely missed. I will also personally miss Jackson, whom I have known for several years. He has always been a valuable resource and counsel for this outdoor writer.

There was some shade around the pond when fishing got underway at 10 a.m., but by mid-day the children, parents and grandparents were searching for some shade and something cold to drink. Once the children had caught their limit of five fish, they brought their fish to the weigh-in scale where volunteers from the Public Safety Bass club weighed and tallied the results.

For full story, please see the June 17, 2006 edition of The Union-Recorder.