York River Public School release fish into Paudash Lake

July 2, 2019

By Chris Drost

When the school bus pulled into the parking lot at the North Beach on Paudash Lake, 20 excited Grade 3 students emerged to help release the fish they had hand-raised in their classroom.
Denis Brown, volunteer with the North Hastings Community Fish Hatchery, explained that the hatchery had supplied the classroom with a special aquarium back in early May along with fry (very small fish) that were only one-gram. Now, under the guidance of the Grade 3 class and their teacher, the now seven to 10-gram Lake Trout (Jewel Trout) were ready to be released into the lake. Brown said the trout raised entirely at the hatchery are larger as they are fed 24 hours per day and are in larger tanks.
Earlier in the morning the students had visited the fish hatchery on Hysert Rd. for a tour of the facility. Vance Motors very kindly arranged for the funds to provide the school bus to take the children to Paudash Lake for the release.
Before releasing the 17 young trout, Brown called to the children to come and said goodbye to them one more time. They all gathered around the pail and said their goodbyes before heading to the lake edge to watch Brown scoop them into the lake.
Before everyone gathered for a parting photo, teacher, Mike Love said, “This is a really nice way to finish off the year.”