Vermont’s Summer Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 9

By -

Grand Isle Family Fishing Festival, Bass Opener both on Free Fishing Day

 MONTPELIER, Vt. –Vermont’s annual, statewide Summer Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 9 this year, and it will be highlighted by a free family fishing festival in Grand Isle as well as opening day of the state’s regular bass fishing season.

“Vermont’s Free Fishing Day gives resident and nonresident anglers the opportunity to go fishing without a license for the day in Vermont lakes and streams,” said Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter.  “Fishing is an activity that can be shared with friends and family or easily taught to newcomers while enjoying quality time together.”  

Free Fishing Day in Vermont also will be celebrated at the “Grand Isle Family Fishing Festival,” to be held at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station at 14 Bell Hill Road in Grand Isle.  The festival will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Designed for young anglers and families, this exciting event offers basic fishing instruction and the chance for kids to catch big trout in a hatchery pond.  No prior fishing experience is needed, and Vermont Fish & Wildlife will be supplying fishing rods, reels and bait for use by participants.

The festival will also highlight the newly updated Ed Weed Fish Culture Station visitor center, so fishing festival participants will be able to see the new educational exhibits and learn how to identify Lake Champlain fish species in the exhibit aquariums.

Vermont’s regular bass season also opens on June 9, marking the start of some of the hottest bass fishing action in the northeast.  The season opens each year on the second Saturday in June and extends through the last day of November. 

Fish & Wildlife also has teamed up with Vermont State Parks to offer the ‘Reel Fun Fishing’ program to be scheduled by park interpreters on Free Fishing Day and during the summer at some state parks.  The program provides loaner tackle kits and fishing clinics free of charge to anyone interested in fishing at a Vermont State Park.  Fishing licenses are required for anyone 15 or older except on Free Fishing Day.  Information on Reel Fun Fishing can be found at https://vtstateparks.com/fishing.html.

To learn more about fishing in Vermont or to purchase a fishing license, visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com.

For Immediate Release: May 8, 2018
Media Contacts: Louis Porter 802-828-1454
Eric Palmer 802-535-7635, Bret Ladago 802-485-7566

Popular posts from this blog

Vermont Angler Completes First-ever ‘Master Angler Sweep’

By -
Image
COLCHESTER, Vt. – Drew Price of Colchester, VT, has completed the state’s first-ever ‘Master Angler Sweep’ by catching at least one trophy-sized specimen of all 33 eligible fish species that are part of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s Master Angler Program. Price spent eight years in his quest to be the first to catch and enter all 33 species in the Vermont program.  “This is a remarkable achievement,” said fisheries biologist Shawn Good, who founded the Master Angler Program with fisheries biologist Jud Kratzer and currently administers it.  “He called me from the lake moments after landing his final species – a 30-inch pike-pickerel hybrid.  He was kind of deliriously happy and I don't blame him.” Price, who started fly fishing in 1993, said “Once I found fishing, I was like ‘this is it, this is my calling.’” In 2010, he began entering fish in the department’s new Master Angler Program, spending the time he wasn’t working as a full-time school ...
Read more

Public Hearings Set for Deer, Moose

By -
Image
Hunters, landowners and anyone else interested in deer and moose should plan on attending one of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife public hearings being held in March and May. The hearings will include results of Vermont’s 2017 deer and moose seasons and prospects for hunting next fall as well as an opportunity for people to provide their observations and opinions regarding deer and moose.  The hearings will also include a review of the proposed 2018 moose hunting season and an opportunity for the public to comment.  On February 21, the Fish & Wildlife Board preliminarily approved issuing moose permits for the 2018 season.  The Fish & Wildlife Department’s big game team recommended that only 14 permits for bull moose be issued for the October hunting seasons.  The permits would be for WMUs E1 and E2 in the Northeast Kingdom, where moose numbers are close to biologists’ density goals.   The number of moose hunting permits was reduced from 80 in...
Read more

Release of Aquarium Fish or Plants is an Environmental Threat

By -
Image
ESSEX, Vt. – Keeping an aquarium with tropical fish and plants can be fun and educational.  But, releasing these fish or plants outdoors can be harmful to native species and is prohibited by Vermont law according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.  Many of the common tropical fishes and aquatic plants kept in home aquariums originate from Central and South America, Africa and southeast Asia.  While some are imported, others are raised here, most notably in Florida.  Unfortunately, some exotic fishes are released into the wild each year by their owners.  People may not be able to take their fish with them when they move, or they may simply lose interest in maintaining an aquarium.  Some tropical fish also can grow too large for their aquarium.  There are several good reasons not to release aquarium fishes and plants into the wild.  If they survive, and reproduce, they are difficult, if not impossible to control or eradicate...
Read more