The cast was short, but then so was the person casting -- a foot or more shorter than the pole. With a quick flip, hook and worm were sent soaring up and then straight down, hitting the water with a loud "plop" no more than a few feet from where she stood.
It hit with such force nothing, certainly not a fish, should have stuck around to investigate. Even some of those standing nearby turned when the bait hit.But this was not your typical fishing hole or just another day by the pond. It was a reintroduction to an urban fishery. A spot where kids could walk or ride their bikes and stand a reasonable chance at catching a fish.
There aren't may such places left.
But on this day, Murray had planted 250 trout in Big Cottonwood Creek, which runs through Murray Park, recruited volunteers, supplied the equipment and enticed the fish to bite with colorful baits and juicy worms.
After a few spins on the reel, Rosie Gochnour, age 8, had her first fish. A nice one, more than a foot long and with all the colors of a rainbow.
Her brother, Theo, 4, also caught his first fish. And so did Andrew Pedersen, 11, and his brother, Ian.
In fact, most of the 50 kids involved in Murray's Urban Fishing Club caught fish.
Rosie said the "funnest part was catching the fish" and then gave a bashful smile. Theo ran when the fish hit land but willingly returned to reel in his second. He ran from this one, too. Andrew called his catch "really exciting." Ian showed off his two fish like a trophy to anyone who would look while his brother worked to catch his second.
"It was fun, lots of fun," said Chris Gochnour as he watched his kids fish. "I never fished growing up, so this is new to me. The kids love it."
Downstream, Don Holmstead helped his grandson, Peter Beall, 6, focus his attention on the stream.
"It doesn't get any better than this," he said after casting and handing the pole to Peter. "I was born fishing Utah Lake. I'm a fisherman. I brought him over to do some fishing together. There's nothing like this time, you'd better believe it."
Murray has held one-day events before, said Wayne Oberg, recreation coordinator for Murray, "but this is a pilot program to try and introduce the concept of an urban fishery to residents of Murray." After watching his son, Nicholas, 5, catch his first fish, John Rush, a Murray city councilman, said more than ever it was "imperative we develop some type of urban fishery. I'm all for it."
The 50 youngsters will be involved in four classes. For each class Murray will plant 250 fish and volunteers will run a pilot training program. The first class, said Byron Gunderson of Fish Tech Outfitters, who organized instructors, "We went over the basics -- here's the rod and reel, now go fish.
"For the next class we'll go over a few of the simple ethics of fishing that they should know. Then we'll talk about their first experience. We'll ask if they didn't catch fish, why not? And, where do you think the fish were? And then, if you're going to fish again, where would you fish? We want them to have fun, but we want them to learn something, too."
The program will be capped by a one-day event on May 27, called "Murray City/Key Bank Fish Daze," where invitations to some 600 kids will be handed out. More than a thousand fish will be planted in the stream and prizes awarded to the best casters.
"We have a place here, with good natural habitat, that's close enough were kids won't have to travel far to go fishing. There used to be places like this in the valley, but there aren't that many anymore," said Oberg.
"It's funny, after we held our first event, there were kids coming here in the days that followed, with their school backpacks in one hand and fishing pole in the other. That's what this is all about."
You can reach Ray Grass by e-mail at grass@desnews.com