Kids' Fishing Day to Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers

The 10th Annual Kids' Fishing Day is happening at Mills Fleet Farm stores throughout Minnesota on Saturday, July 9, from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Kids' Fishing Day activities are free. They are geared for children but should inspire and educate young, old, potential, and seasoned anglers. Participants will have fun learning to cast a line, tie knots, identify fish, and, thanks to a three-year collaboration, to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species across Minnesota.

"The Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!^TM partnership is delighted to be working with Mills Fleet Farm on Kids' Fishing Day again this year," said Doug Jensen, Aquatic Invasive Species program coordinator for the University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program. Jensen says that children really like the jars of "pickled" specimens that the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! partners use for show-and-tell and the temporary tattoos they hand out.

Look for Minnesota Sea Grant's Marte Kitson and Dave Herbst at the Kids' Fishing Day events in Brainerd and Blaine. Organizations partnering with the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! campaign will staff the invasive species displays at Fleet Farm stores in Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Oakdale, Owatonna, St. Cloud/Waite Park, and Winona.

Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! partners for this event:

• The University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program
• Wildlife Forever
• Canon River Watershed Partnership
• Douglas County Lake Association
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Sauk River Watershed District
• Minnesota Master Naturalist Program
• Minnesota Waters

Posted on June 15, 2011