06/08/2026
Wow! Saturday was a beautiful day for our fishing derby and we had a wonderful turn-out to show for it! 🐠 thank you to all the parents and grandparents who brought the kids out for a fun morning!
The kids caught 167 fish…
159 Bluegill
4 Largemouth Bass
2 Perch
1 Catfish
1 walleye
Honorable mentions: one painted turtle 🐢 and one bullfrog 🐸 also caught 😅
We presented five prizes…
First fish: (it was too close, so there were two) William Wenell & Lukkah Pinney
Longest fish: Michael Japenga with a 16” Largemouth Bass
Shortest fish: Wesley Martz with a 1.5” Bluegill
Most fish: Mason Herman with 17 fish caught
We also drew three names for additional tackle box prizes:
Calum Toner
Lincoln Hittle
Avery Gustafson
A huge “thank you!” to the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club for donating a brand new fishing pole to each child that participated! 🎣
Thank you to Adam the naturalist from Pocahontas County Conservation for spending the day with us, giving the kids a safety lesson before the derby, and providing poles for children to use during the derby!
Thank you to the City of Laurens and the DNR for getting the park and pond ready for our derby!
Finally we would like to thank every person and business who donated their time, food, bait, or prizes. We could not have done it without each of you!
Chad Cleveland
Garrett Heater
Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club
Dan & Alice Pomeroy
Hwy 10 Hardware
Pocahontas Mutual Insurance Association
7/10 Lanes
Rick & Kerrie Woodley
Randy & Carla Gustafson
John Pohlman
Keith Hoffman
Al Sandvig
The Chamber Board (and their spouses😉)
