It was the highest number of children to participate in the Elks Fishing Derby for years.

“The best turn-out we’ve had in three to five years,” said Millie Lipscomb with the Fort Scott Elks Lodge.

Fifty-six youth aged 2 to 12 years old participated in the event held at Fort Scott Community College Lake for two hours on May 20. In addition there were many accompanying adults.

“Ronnie Coulter started this event at least 25 years ago,” Lipscomb said. It is a catch-and- release the fish event.

The tournament gave prizes for the most amount of fish caught and the largest fish caught in the time period.

In addition, the Elks provided a hot dog lunch for the children who fished.

Prizes were selected individually by the winners from a table with items appropriate to the age.

Following are the winners:

In the 2-6 year olds, first place for number of fish was Aubrey Thompson, second place was Cash Culberton and a tie for third, with Jackson Tash and Clayton Gander the winners.

For the largest fish caught, the winners were Aubrey Johnson, first place; Chance Hyer, second and Linden Bishop, third.

In the 7-11 years old category:

Number of fish caught winner: Birklee Culberton, first; Hunter Holtz-Sherifff, second; and James Logan, third place.

Size of fish winners were Hunter Holtz-Sheriff, first; Madison Tourtillot, second; Kendrick Simon, third.

 

In the 12-15 years old category:

Number of fish winners: Tristan McClune, first; Daniel Cook, second; and a tie for third place: Jordan Finnell and Ty Cooney.

Size of fish winners: Daniel Cook, first; Mason Tourtillot, second; and Jordan Bunnell, third.