The Annual Youth Fishing Derby, hosted by Kemmerer Parks and Recreation, was a great success this year, with overwhelming support from local residents and businesses. Over 65 kids registered for the event and the competition was on point. Kids caught hundreds of fish at the action-filled event.

Wyoming Game and Fish (WGF) stocked the Kemmerer Community Pond with 1200 rainbow trout, 100 cutthroat trout and 400 arctic grayling just in time for the derby. Many fish were already 11 to 14 inches in size, making for some great encounters on fishing lines.

The derby started at 8 a.m. Saturday morning with the first catch happening soon after by 11-year-old Carter Wood of Kemmerer. Wood caught a 10.2-inch rainbow trout earning him a bucket of prizes; a trip for two on a Fossil Safari Dig, a basketball, a boomerang and a nice T-shirt.

WGF kept busy as the kids lined up at the table, each one eager to measure their catch. Troy Laughlin, WGF Fisheries Biologist from Green River, and WGF Dan Bryant measured and recorded each fish and congratulated everyone on a job well done.

For those who were willing, many of the fish were donated to the community fish-fry which happened later that day. Laughlin and Bryant cleaned and gutted the fish as several City of Kemmerer employees grilled them up alongside some tasty hot dogs for everyone to enjoy.

Konner Gregory, age 13, and Raegan Simpson, age 9, were neck-and-neck in the lead with the most fish landed about halfway through the derby.  Although Riley Meyers, age 8, was slaying fish at a pretty good rate herself, with the help of her little sister Kayley, age 3, none of them ranked higher in size than 10-year-old Maddy Ritter’s catch. Ritter caught a 14.1-inch arctic grayling.

West Ritter, age 5, at first seemed as if he had it in the bag for this year’s biggest fish award. For a good part of the day, West was holding his spot with a beautiful 14-inch cutthroat trout. He even had the second biggest fish on record with a 13.9-inch rainbow. But sibling rivalry took over, and his big sister Maddy snagged the prize, beating her brother’s fish by just one-tenth of an inch. Maddy won for biggest fish at last year’s derby as well. Looks like we may have friendly competition in the making for next year.

With the help of several local businesses and residents, there was a plethora of prizes to be given away at the event. Every child that registered went home with a door prize as the volunteers from the City of Kemmerer gave out prizes throughout the day keeping everyone attentive and excited to hear their names called out. Considering the number of fish that WGF stocked, there are still plenty of fish to catch out there. Come on kids, grab your fishing pole and head out to the community fishing pond. Summer is short and there are fish waiting for you!

See the Gazette homepage for more photos of the Kemmerer Youth Fishing Derby.