Families from all over the Pontiac enjoyed some morning fishing by the Mill Dam Park creek in Shawville on Saturday for the annual kids fishing derby.

Organized by the Municipality of Shawville, the event featured door prizes, as well as a touch-a-truck, with a backhoe provided by the municipality and fire trucks from the Shawville-Clarendon Fire Department.

The event was held during Quebec’s annual Fête de la pêche weekend, during which all residents of the province can fish without a permit.

According to Wes Tubman, organizer for the derby, the event is held on the same weekend to prevent any compliance issues with fishing regulations, as well as promote the sport.

“It’s pretty big for the community, you know,” Tubman said. “I’m gonna say there’s probably must be close to 60, 70, people here right now, if not more.”

The municipality stocked the creek with almost 700 trout ordered from . . .

Cedar Creek Farms, including both rainbow trout and speckled trout.

Ten-year-old angler William Oliver Draper caught the first fish of the day above the beaver dam where the fish are put into the creek, which according to Tubman, means it wasn’t one of the 680 trout introduced to the water over the weekend.

“I love catching the fish,” Draper, who has been fishing since he was three years old, told THE EQUITY. “[I caught] a speckled trout. It was nine inches.”

Draper said he released the fish back into the creek because he felt it was too small to keep.

The derby also featured a chip stand, as well as popcorn served up by Denzil Yach, a member of the municipality and a longtime volunteer for the fishing derby.

“We’ve run this fishing derby for the last 25, 30 years. It’s been around a while,” Yach said.

He explained that the fishing derby was originally started by Royce Richardson, former mayor of Shawville. Yach said Richardson used to grow trout in the area, and would get together with the game wardens in the region to organize a fishing event for the community.

“They’d have a free fishing day. And they [game wardens] did come here in that time back then [ . . . ] But they haven’t done that for years here, so we just kind of took it over,” Yach said.

The event also featured trophies for the fishermen who, when adding up the lengths of their three biggest trout, caught the most inches of fish.

The winners of the contest were Ryder Barber, with a total of 26 and a quarter inches of trout, and Bryden Moloughney with a total of 25 and a quarter inches. Ava Richardson and Layna Hobbs won the fishing rod door prize.