BROOKINGS — This marks the 30th year of the annual Trout Extravaganza. It’s a bit of a family event and could serve as a rite of passage to fishing in South Dakota and elsewhere: “Kids Fishing, the Trout Extravaganza”; and it’s “Free for Kids 14 & under.”

The gear needed for the fledging anglers to snag the big ones is ready. “All furnished,” explained Phil Hogie, a member the Brookings Optimist Club. “We have about 140 fishing rods and tackle. Bait is all provided by Porters Bait: minnows and night-crawlers.”

“Between the Brookings Optimist Club and the Brookings Wildlife Federation, it’s a joint venture,” Hogie added. “The Brookings Wildlife started this the first year or two and then the Optimists joined them and they’ve been organizing it ever since, volunteers from both groups.” Add to that duo multiple other sponsors, contributors and volunteers that bring it all together.

“We’ll be having around 2,000 trout; they’ll be coming from Cleghorn (State Fish) Hatchery out in Rapid City,” Hogie said. The trout are provided by South Dakota Game Fish & Parks. 

As to a limit of trout per angler, Hogie explained, “Because we get so crowded, we kind of go for two trout each.” That way as many kids as possible get the opportunity to haul in some trout.

He also noted that the “whole team” of volunteers will be cleaning the catches. That means those tasty trout will be ready to take home and put on the grill.

Hogie is requesting that kids who will be fishing register when they arrive, so that a headcount can be furnished by GFP. “It goes along with their kids’ fishing program. They include that as part of their yearly numbers of kids having the opportunity to fish. That supports this; that’s why they furnish the fish.”

“The pond has been a challenge, with cattails,” Hogie said of the pond. “This year we had a couple of geese that decided to make a nest there, too. They just hatched (Monday morning). We were wondering what we were going to do with those eggs. It’s not a problem anymore.”

“It’s been fun,” he said of the event that has been around for three decades. “We’re having parents now that are bringing kids to experience where their parents fished. We’re hearing some good stories.”

Hogie pointed out that it takes a lot of sponsors and volunteers “to come and help make this a good experience for kids.”

The extravaganza’s reaching out includes kids living in “the rural communities,” he added. “We have visitors from all over. This year we’re hoping for the Optimist International president to come by on Saturday as she tours around the country.”  

The extravaganza takes place at the Indian Hills Pond at Main Avenue South and Trail Ridge Road, on May 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and May 19 from noon to 4 p.m.