It was a few years ago when Sally Petre was trying to determine the impact of an urban fishing initiative on Fountain City Lake.
Petre, a biologist in the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Region 4, had been part of the program that stocked the lake with 350 trout.
“When we did the stocking (once a month for three months − December, January and February), there was a little boy (grade school-age) who was going around asking everyone what bait they were using,” Petre said. “I went back every week to talk to the anglers and that boy was there every time. After a while, he was pretty confident in what he was using.”
Seeing that boy develop from someone completely new to the experience to a fellow hooked on fishing was proof that the investment was paying off.
This is the sixth year the TWRA has conducted its urban fishing program. The cold weather months feature the infusion of trout, and the rest of the year the stocking is catfish.
“This is an effort to bring the fish to the people,” Petre said. “There aren’t a lot of fishable waters near city centers. This is a way to get it done.”