By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

Scores of anglers stood on the banks of the Anson B. Nixon Park ponds Saturday, hoping to snag some of the 750 trout that had been stocked there just two days earlier.

This, in spite of the outlook that was not very inviting. The weather prediction for Saturday was ominous and included heavy rains, wind and thunderstorms.

Lucky for the fisher-men and fisher-women however, barely a drop of rain fell from the sky until the event finished, and the temperature hovered pleasantly in the 60s.

Nixon Park, which sits on the Kennett Square Borough and Kennett Township line on North Walnut Street, hosted its 27th trout rodeo on April 26.

This annual event began under the banner of Red Clay Valley Association because the park ponds are fed by the Red Clay. When the Red Clay and Brandywine Valley associations merged, it came under the operation of what is now the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance.

Alliance executive director Jim Jordan was asked if he was nervous when he heard the weather prediction the night before.

“I don’t worry about the weather,” he said. “I only worry about things I can control, and I can’t control the weather.”

Similarly, enthusiasm for fishing permeated the crowd, with many of them stating, “It’s always fishing weather.”

The Alliance routinely stocks the pond on the Thursday before the Saturday event.

This year Jordan said that among the 750 fish that were brought from the Cedar Spring Trout Hatchery in Mill Hall were brooks, browns, golds and rainbows.

They varied in size as well, with one weighing in early at 3.9 pounds.

Early on at the event, the anglers were rewarded as they showed off their catches for photographs.

Many who came were families with young children. Parents were often attempting to teach the kids how to cast lines for the first time.

Quite a few who came were repeat participants, especially the offspring of the late, beloved Avon Grove High School athletic director Al Weeks. That family comes every year and was represented this year by Al Weeks’ grandson, Al, and by his great-grandson Austin. They never fail to catch their limit of fish each year.

A father-daughter combination enjoying the event was Bobby Auch and his young daughter Kayden from Coatesville.

“She won in the children’s division the last two years,” Bobby Auch said.

Sal Martinez came from Oxford and snagged a few trout. He said he grew up in Kennett Square and went all the way through the Kennett School system.

Another family, who identified themselves only as “the Brothers from West Grove” said they were returning after enjoying the event in past years.

A special feature this year was the gesture by the Nixon Park Authority to invite children whose families had utilized services provided by Kennett Area Community Service.

David Schurr, vice chairman of the Kennett Area Park Authority, said for the first time they invited the children and taught them how to go fishing.

Except for the days just before the Trout Rodeo, people go to the park and casually go fishing. They often report catching some of the trout that were left over from the annual event.