Youth Fishing League Kicks Off At Sloper
- Philip Thibodeau
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
“Hey, look at that!” shouted Jeff Barton, founder of Southington’s new Youth Fishing League. Where he pointed, a young child, half as tall as his pole, was reeling in an orange-bellied sunfish from the waters of Sloper Pond. “Someone knows how to fish over there,” he said.
A strong wind blew puffy clouds overhead Sunday morning as dozens of children with parents in tow stood patiently on the shores of Sloper waiting for the tell-tale tug on their lines. Barton beamed with satisfaction at the turnout for the League’s first event, a fishing derby. He was a child himself when he first learned the sport. “My father taught me,” he said. “We used to go deep sea fishing to catch bigger fish.”
The idea for a youth league came to him after he spent a day casting lures with players from the Blue Knights Football team, which he helps coach. “I’m a football coach,” Barton said. “I brought the players out to go fish, and seeing the fun that they had, I said we’ve got to figure this out.”
The derby was designed to add an element of fun and competition to the mix: “Today we’re doing prizes for biggest catch, most catches, and winner of the casting competition. Mt. Southington and other businesses donated prizes, and we’re going to package them up. There’s about $200 value in all the prizes.”
While the event had a $35 registration fee, the fee was waived for the first 75 kids to sign up thanks to a generous donation from the family of the late Jhonatan Jiron of Bristol.
Now that the first derby is in the books, Barton is planning to hold them on a regular basis. “We’re trying to do one a month,” he said. “I’ve been waiting to announce other events until this one was over with. Now that I know people will come, we can book out the schedule.”
Asked whether Sloper Pond is his favorite local spot, Barton said it was one of several. “Sloper, yes. Crescent Lake is great too. I’m also working with Aqua Turf, they have a pond that is stocked where they let us fish. Lymans Orchards is another. The Town of Southington wants us to do events through Recreation Park, so we’re working the details out for that.”
Barton observed that dredging of the bottom of Sloper a few years ago has improved the experience for fishermen. “Dredging really helps it. Pond weed in Connecticut is a big problem right now. The more shallow it gets, the more weedy it gets. So dredging helps with that, it helps with the fish population.”
He recalled attending Camp Sloper when he was young, and learning the legend of the giant snapping turtle said to inhabit its depths. “Since I was a kid there’s been a legend of Mama Cass, a big snapping turtle out there. I remember that since I was a kid here. They’d tell the story of Mama Cass coming out of the water. Every kid was terrified.”
On Sunday morning, however, the only bites were from sunfish, crappies, pickerel, and bass that sparkled in the sun before being returned to the water.
Once the derby ended and the results were tallied, three winners were announced. Dylan Donaruma received the award for most catches - an impressive 31. Chase Marcy won the award for biggest catch. Finally, Grant Ramey went home with a certificate proclaiming him the winner of the casting competition:
The Youth Fishing League Facebook page can be found here. The League's Instagram account offers detailed fishing reports for Southington, updated each day.
