Reeling in confidence: Special needs students learn to fish during annual event at Salem Pond
-
- A girl reels in a fish during a fishing event at Salem Pond on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
-
- A boy casts his line during a fishing event at Salem Pond on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
-
- Kids are greeted by Smokey Bear during a fishing event at Salem Pond on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
-
- People participate in a fishing event at Salem Pond on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Mike Pritchett believes children with special needs are capable of picking up fishing as a new hobby — they just need a little boost.
That’s the premise of the annual Kids Fishing Day, where disabled kids from around Utah Valley are invited to Salem Pond to participate in a memorable fishing experience.
The 34th annual event — hosted Tuesday by Pritchett’s charity, Kids with Disabilities Adventures, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources — had an estimated 1,700 kids in attendance.
“For these kids to go up here and catch that fish and reel it in, it’s a sense of accomplishment, and for kids with special needs, you give them that ounce of confidence it’s miles for these kids,” Pritchett said. “This is something they can go out and do with their family and participate and experience this in a local community fishery or up at any of the lakes here in Utah.”
The idea first sprung when Pritchett and his brother, Kevin Pritchett, took 16 special needs kids fishing at Payson Lake to help with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest event. They found it to be an “extraordinary” activity they wanted to continue.
The event found a permanent home at Salem Pond and has steadily grown each year, as evidenced by the masses of kids swarming the banks of the pond Tuesday. The goal is for every kid that comes to catch a fish, and Pritchett believes that’s what keeps them coming back every year.
“If you’re going to do a bake sale, you’ve got to have a sample. So we consider the fish a sample of the product,” he said. “If I had 1,600 kids that didn’t catch a fish, would they want to come next year? So DWR provides that and that’s probably the key element.”
The pond is already stocked, but DWR Central Region Outreach Manager Michael Packer said his team brings in reinforcements from the DWR Fountain Green Fish Hatchery to help “work a bit of magic.”
DWR also provides hundreds of fishing poles for those who don’t bring their own, and each kid is almost guaranteed to catch a fish, Packer said.
“We come equipped with about 300-400 fishing poles with the idea of them having the tool that they need to be able to get their line wet and catch a fish,” he said. “We’re coming with the fish, the poles, the tackle and the equipment to get the job done. We leave the task of catching the fish up to them.”
The fishing process has several other helping hands, such as DWR employees, rangers from the U.S. Forest Service, Salem City staff and volunteers from DWR’s Dedicated Hunter Program.
Corporate sponsors Macey’s, Pepsi and Crumbl Cookie are also involved, helping put on picnics for the kids. There is also a gutting station to prepare the fish if kids want to take them home for dinner.
“The significance of this is we really have the helping hands in place to be able to make something that might seem a little unapproachable very approachable and very attainable,” Packer said. “Something that they might not think that they’re capable of doing, by goodness, we’re going to show them that they can do it today.”
Among the attendees of the annual event were students from the Alpine Transition and Education Center in American Fork.
Many of the students at the school have attended the event before and returned to have a good time.
“Since I was little I used to fish here, I like it a lot,” said Avery.
Avery’s classmate, Jodie, added that the event is something she loves going to so she can be with her friends and teachers.
“I like to fish,” she said. “I’ve done it for multiple family traditions, and one thing I like about here is that I can spend it with everyone here.”
