Paradise Pond is beginning to live up to its name, and the fishing is still great, too.
"We've really made it a lot more like paradise," said new owner Willie Gibson. Gibson and his wife, Linda, took over majority ownership just three months ago, but they have already made significant improvements.The Gibsons brought in 22 tons of decorative rock, planted 300 flowers and added picnic tables, trees and grass. They also planted a pumpkin patch and plan to give away jack-o'-lanterns and some mammoth 100-pounders at Halloween.
The pond has always done brisk business. Located just off the I-15 exit at American Fork's Main Street, Paradise Pond attracts fishing aficionados from everywhere.
"I don't know how much it is to get a (state fishing) license, but we thought this would be a sure thing for the kids," said fisherman Kent Townsend. While visiting Utah from Oklahoma recently, Townsend brought his four children to Paradise Pond.
Two of Townsend's daughters, Heather, 12, and Holly, 4, each caught medium-sized rainbow trout. It's a scene that is played out dozens of times per day as the Gibsons watch from a small, cinder-block building near the pond.
"This place generates lifelong memories," Willie Gibson said. "Seventy-five percent of the kids are catching their first fish."
The Gibsons truck in 3,000 pounds of fish twice a month from a trout farm in Afton, Wyo. That means there are as many as 4,000 fish at once in a pond that's 15 feet deep and smaller than the size of a football field.
"This place is to catch fish," Linda Gibson said. "That's a giant aquarium out there, and we treat it as such."
The Gibsons carefully monitor the pond's pH and oxygen levels, as well as water temperature, to achieve perfect conditions for the fish. That also ensures customers get a safe and healthy product. Fish in the pond range from 12-inchers to 7-pounders that are several feet long. The largest ever caught in the pond weighed 14 pounds.
The Gibsons purchased ownership in the pond, which has only rainbow trout, from American Fork resident Fred Walters, who ran the pond for five years.
Paradise Pond is just one of several "catch-out" fishing ponds in Utah County. Among the others are Appleseed Pond west of Lehi, Spring Lake Trout Farm and a new pond at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.
Owner Steve Judd at Spring Lake Trout Farm has the longest-running catch-out operation in the county. He began in 1979, and he stocks his ponds with fish grown on his own trout farm.
"Our motto is, `You hook 'em, we'll cook 'em,' " said Judd, who gives customers the option of having their catch either cleaned or filleted for no extra charge.
All the ponds operate year-round, and they provide bait and tackle (sometimes for a small fee). They charge either by the inch or by the pound, and most will clean the fish and put them in a bag of ice. The ponds' biggest customers are families, school groups, Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts and church groups.
At Paradise Pond recently, Lehi resident Sonny Greenwood brought his two daughters, ages 4 and 2, to spend part of an afternoon.
"This is really good practice for them," Greenwood said. "It's a pretty neat place and a lot of fun.
"Right before dark, you can't even get a spot out here - especially on weekends."
The Greenwood family fishes regularly at the pond, and they have plenty of fish stories to tell. Four-year-old Chelcee once hooked a lunker so large it ripped the pole right out of her hands. Several days later, another fisherman pulled out both the pole and the big fish.
Willie Gibson intends to continue to ply his gardening trade to make Paradise Pond even more of a paradise. The former owner of a res-tau-rant/private club doesn't mind the hard work required.
"I cooked for 18 years in a hot kitchen - this is a vacation," he said.
For the scores of grandparents, including Lehi resident Wilford Brimley, who regularly bring their grandchildren to Paradise Pond, it's also a vacation. A mini-vacation.
"We've got people who literally spend an afternoon here . . . and walk out with hundreds of dollars worth of fish in a bag," said Linda Gibson.
"This place was built for kids. We have a lot of 65-year-old and 82-year-old kids that come here."