Page 374 - Demo

Prospect Park Contest Ends August 2:Brooklyn%u2019s Gone Fishin*BY JA R ED R. CLOUDThe day promised to be hot. By 11am it was almost 80 degrees, and the sun was glaring off Prospect Park lake. And what better way to spend a steamy weekday afternoon than with a fishing line dangling in the water of a lake. It is not a luxury reserved for country dwellers, anymore, as afternoon fishing has been egged on in Brooklyn by the annual Prospect Park fishing contest, sponsored by A&S.The Future Day Care Center arrived at the boathouse on July 22 and were given a short lesson on fishing by Ranger Simon, followed by a distribution of poles and bait. And then the games began. Well, not immediately. Two problems stood in the way of the hardy fishermen. One was the cutting of the worms (they were too big to be used whole on a hook); and the other was the delivery of two special fish %u2014 named Abraham and Straus %u2014 that if caught yield special prizes. The worms were eventually bisected (to the loud screams of all the fisherpeople, boys and girls alike), but locating fishes A&S was not so simple. The fish store in Brooklyn did not stock the appropriate size fish, so a park messenger was dispatched to Chinatown. No fish were in Chinatown, either, sending the fishermen >.0 Brooklyn once again, where two live fish were finally obtained at a store on Sixteenth Avenue. And then the games began. STARTED IN M3Prospect Park Administrator Tupper Thomas gave a brief opening speech outlining the history of the contest. The contest was reinstituted in 1983 when Park staffer Kevin Jeffrey, with his own fond memories of the contest brought up the idea to to Thomas. A&S agreed to sponsor the event %u2014 which includes prizes from fishing poles to bicycles %u2014 and Jeffrey now coordinates the contest. Francesco Canterella, senior vice president of A&S gave the youngsters some advice: %u201cThere are two very important things in life Doing well in school and learning how to fish.%u201dJeffrey and Cantarella then threw the fish Abraham and Straus into the lake. Whoever catches either of them wins a bicycle. No one ever has, since the custom began in 1983.FIRST FISH CAUGHTA total of 32 prizes are awarded in the contest, open only to kids 15 and under. The first prize awarded is to the youngster who catches the first fish. Less than five minutes after the amateur anglers were allowed to start, William Pardin, 7 years old, caught a 5V2-inch sunfish. This was his first time in the contest, but he fishes with his father off the Bay Ridge pier at 69th Street. He was given a new rod and reel.The kids can use their own rods in the contest, but most use the rods the Park provides : bamboo rods with a hook and line attached to the tip, with no reel. William used the rod the Park provided instead of the rod he won. He was with his father, brother and sister, at the contest.Shayla Coleman, 7, with Future DCC, holds the dubious honor of being the first angler to hook a tree. After one of the rangers helped her get it down, she was back fishing again.Barbara I^each, a teacher at the Future Day Care Center, was in charge of the four and five year olds. This was the first year she had taken the kids to the contest, and she said it was going to be the last.%u201cThey%u2019re too young,%u201d she said. \did wed for their first time.%u201d At 12:20pm, Leach was holding approximately ten rods which were tangled up. Only one of her group was left fishing, and within ten minutes, she too was out.ONE CAUGHT 270 FISHA<; o f 17 30n m . e ig h t fish had been caught, l^ast year%u2019s winner for catching the most fish caught more than 270 fish. The lake is not stocked, and hasn%u2019t been for years. Among the various kinds of fish which inhabit he 60-acre, man-made lake are: sunfish, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, carp, catfish, pen h, and more.Seven-year-old W illiam Padin (top right) shows off the fish he caught with Francesco Canterella. W illiam 's fish was the first caught inthe contest. Literally hundreds of fish have been caught %u2014 590 so far %u2014 in the contest. Roughly 637 children have dropped their linesinto the lake since July 22. (Phoenix/Barber Photos)u m mMaurice Latman, 13, with Future DCC, cut the worms for his gro up. He boasts, %u201cI had the big one (either Abraham or Straus), but we tugged it and it (the line) popped.%u201d A few feet away, a toddler in a stroller waved around one of the Park%u2019s rods without a line or hook. Several times the rod neared the water, and twice it went in.Anyone 15 or under can register for the contest, which is held Tues.-Sat., llam-4pm, through August 2, at the site. The contest is at the Prospect Park Boathouse near Wollman Rink. Use the entrance at Ocean and Parkside Avenues. The awards ceremony will be held at 2pm on August 9. For information, call 788-0055.Tupper Thomas, Prospect Park Adm inistrator listens while Francesco Canterella, senior vice president of A&S gives the kids a fewpointers on catching fish. At right, one youngster can hardly wait to get started in the competition, which extends throuah Auaust 2(Phoenix/Barber Photos)P ag e 20, T H E P H O E N IX , July 31, 1986