Annual Moscow Kiwanis Fishing Derby called off

This year's Fishing Derby at Hordemann Pond has been canceled for the first time in 25 years because its water lacks enough oxygen to stock it with about 200 rainbow trout.

"It's like we're canceling Christmas," said Jennifer Bruns, volunteer coordinator for Idaho Fish and Game.

The shallow spring-fed pond on E Street in Moscow has been stocked with trout each mid-April since 1990, according to the Moscow Parks and Recreation Department.

And there has been a free fishing day held each year soon after those trout were dropped into Hordemann, said Louise Regelin, a longtime Kiwanis member involved with the annual Moscow event.

"It's a shame," she said of the decision.

Just weeks ago the dissolved oxygen level in the 0.9 acre pond was nearing zero parts per million. The latest measurement taken less than a week ago was four parts per million - an improvement but not enough to reach the acceptable low number of six parts per million, said Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager for Idaho Fish and Game in Lewiston.

Up to 100 children and their families enjoy a few hours of free fishing because of the derby. Those without fishing poles or bait can borrow equipment from Fish and Game, and get help with fish-catching basics volunteers in the American Fisheries Society.

Kiwanis supplies drinks and snacks for the children, and does a great deal of the event organizing.

Putting the trout into Hordemann now would be too risky, Bruns said.

Monitoring of the dissolved oxygen levels will continue. Fish and Game intends to stock trout later in the season if this measure returns to a level that could easily support the trout and other aquatic life, DuPont said. But a variety of other factors could arise that would result in the oxygen level falling again and endangering the fish.

The normal season in the small, shallow pond for the trout ends in June or July - depending on the water temperatures that occur each season.

DuPont said trout do fine in water below 70 degrees Fahrenheit but that "anything below 65 is ideal."

A June 2011 event, Take Me Fishing Day, was moved from Hordemann to Mann Lake near Lewiston because of high water temperatures.

This spring, officials have been monitoring water conditions for weeks. Dead fish were seen up at the edge of the pond mid-month.

Decaying objects deplete oxygen. And if something stirs up the water and all of that material, it could cause problems for the fish, DuPont explained.

Significant algae, or sudden algae death, in pond water can ruin conditions for fish in a pond. So can pond treatments using herbicide or other chemicals.

The overall depth of the manmade pond is only 3 to 5 feet but an area of the pond was dug out a couple of years ago to 10 to 12 feet to provide a more hospitable trout home, DuPont said.

It also allows for a longer fishing season, because deeper water is cooler, he said.

Hordemann is fed by water from an underground spring. It takes up about one-third of the 2.7-acre Kiwanis Park on the 2000 block of E Street in Moscow.

Terri Harber can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to tharber@dnews.com.