Community Corner

Kids Get 'Hooked' on Fishing

Police take kids, parents out for annual fishing trip at Crystal Lake.

 

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One way to keep kids off drugs is to take them fishing. 

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At least that is the idea behind the West Orange Police Department’s program Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs, or HOFNOT.  

Officer Tim Groves, who runs the program, was fishing at Crystal Lake with more than a dozen children and parents under clear, cool summer skies early on Monday morning.

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The program was originally a state-run, but has been taken over locally in recent years. When state funding fell through, Grove said he thought the program was worth keeping around. 

“It is an excellent way for the kids to get to know the police officers on a one-on-one basis,” said Groves. “And it is an excellent opportunity for kids, who have never fished before, to get acclimated to the outdoors and the fishing, as well as the kids that do have an interest and background in it.”

Kids and parents fished for large-mouthed bass, catfish, sunnies and crappies yesterday. Today kids and parents will help state officials restock the lake with fish. 

The program concludes on Wednesday when they all travel to the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center in Hackettstown, where the state raises the fish that will restock its waters. Kids will spend the day learning how fish are raised in the hatchery, and of course fishing. 


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