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Kids invited to fish with Lewis & Clark-era tackle on Aug. 18

Andrew McKean

Kids invited to fish with Lewis & Clark-era tackle on Aug. 18

Bring some melt and a sense of history to Glasgow’s Home Run Pond on Thursday, Aug. 18 and try to catch fish using the same type of tackle used on Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery 200 years ago.

Fish, Wildlife & Parks is hosting a free youth fishing festival at the kids’ fishing pond east of Glasgow to demonstrate how members of the expedition might have fished when they passed through Montana in 1805 and 1806.

“This was before monofilament fishing line, chemically sharpened hooks and Rapalas,” says Andrew McKean, FWP angling education coordinator in Glasgow. “They used forged iron hooks, line made out of catgut or horsehair and split shot that literally was split shot, musket balls sawed nearly in half and pinched on their line.”

For bait, anglers on the expedition often used “melt” or fat around the spleen of a deer or elk. They also used strips of liver or venison, grasshoppers and a variety of other materials that were easy to acquire and worked well to entice channel catfish, goldeye and sauger on the Missouri River in what is now eastern Montana.

Participants at the Aug. 18 fishing festival are encouraged to bring their own organic bait.

“Kids can bring liver or insects or worms, anything that might have been available 200 years ago,” says McKean. “No marshmallows or hot dogs or Power Bait.”

McKean will have a variety of tackle available for participants to try, including bobbers made from old corks, fishing line made from hemp and catgut and hooks forged from iron wire.

Participants are encouraged to cut a simple willow pole and bring it with them to Home Run Pond, located about a mile east of Glasgow on the Fort Peck Highway. The pond is stocked with small channel catfish, rainbow trout and yellow perch.

“Lewis & Clark’s men actually did more hand-lining and set-lining than casting with a pole, but we’ll rig up some poles to increase casting distance and have fun playing fish,” says McKean. “This is a day just for fun. We’re not having a derby or a tournament. It’s just an opportunity to go fishing and hopefully experience some of the challenges and fun of fishing with antique tackle.”

Home Run Pond is open to anglers aged 14 and younger. No fishing licenses are required for the Aug. 18 festival. Call McKean at 228-3723 with questions.
 

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