Jan. 27, 2025
A local Fisheries Friends Group and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Offices Team up to sponsor kids ice fishing event on Saturday, February 1st, 2025. The event will be held at the Genoa site from 8:30 am to 12 pm. This event is weather and ice condition dependent.
Roughly 300 area youth ages 5-12, and their parents are expected to enjoy a short seminar on ice safety tips and ice fishing techniques. Then, they will be set loose on a hatchery pond stocked with 2,000 10-14 inch rainbow trout to test their new found ice fishing knowledge.
This is an annual event sponsored by the Friends of the Upper Mississippi and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) fishery program offices that they support. These local Fishery offices are the La Crosse Fish Health Center, the La Crosse National Fish and Conservation Office and the Genoa National Fish Hatchery. There are 3 FWS fishery offices in the La Crosse area, due to its proximity to the Mississippi River, and the diverse fishery populations and habitats that the big river holds.
· The La Crosse Fish Health Center was founded in 1962, and services the entire Great Lakes/Big Rivers Region of the upper Midwest, providing fish health screening and wild fish health surveys on selected wild fish populations.
· The La Crosse National Fish and Conservation Office was founded in 1995, and its mission is to conserve, enhance, and protect aquatic ecosystems in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois and to help natural resource managers from state, tribal, and federal agencies, as well as concerned citizens involved in achieving this mission.
· Operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Genoa National Fish Hatchery has been in existence since 1932 with the creation of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Its mission is working with partners to restore and maintain fish and other aquatic resources for the benefit of the American public.
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