BONNERS FERRY — As a young girl, Kara Cafferty used to attend Free Fishing Days with her dad, Leonard Eby. So did Kasandra Lecrenski with her parents. Decades later, the families still return, but now with a new generation of young anglers in tow. 

Matthew Cafferty, 5, caught the first fish of the day, a rainbow trout over 13 inches. He and his mother Kara, a Bonners Ferry High School alum, made the 10-hour drive from Driggs to spend Saturday morning at the Rotary Lions Den Park. 

    Longtime Bonners Ferry resident Leonard Eby with his daughter Kara Cafferty and grandson Matthew.  

“I’ve been fishing here since I was Matthew’s age,” Kara said. “We wanted to come fishing with Grandpa.” 

Eby, who taught at BFHS for 30 years, said his grandson would also get a lesson on cleaning fish before dinner. 

“We’re going to cook them and eat them,” said London Sinclair, 4, of the several fish she caught. London fished with her 1.5-year-old brother Damien, her mom Kasandra, her dad Donnie, and her grandparents. 

    London Sinclair and her younger brother Damien fish with parents Kasandra Lecrenski and Donnie Sinclair.
  

Dakota Herzog, 8, of Naples, caught his first ever fish.

But the young, up-and-coming anglers were not the only ones who walked away from Free Fishing Days with a big haul. Several residents of the Boundary County Community Restorium showed up to fish for trout. 

    Several residents of the Boundary County Community Restorium fished.

The park pond, having been stocked the week prior with 700 trout by the Bonners Ferry Rotary, was described by anglers there as a “honey hole.” About 100 community members attended the event.