It was a beautiful day on May 4, 2024 for the opening day trout fishing contest at the Ellsworth Rod & Gun Clubhouse. It rained all day. Without the nice warm place to go into, it would have been bad.

The river was high and kind of muddy. For the most part, fishermen stayed home. We had a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Lunch was hot dogs and chips or a chicken dinner with baked potato, carrots and a bun. WE have an awesome crew who cooked all the food and we thank them very much. To those who helped serve food, we thank you.

This was followed by a large auction called by Jack Hines. Thank you to all the people who donated to our auction.

Although the river was high, we registered 19 trout for the day. Winners are listed at the end of this story.

The money made from this event will go toward conservation, river and maintaining our club land in El Paso.

The Eau Galle-Rush River Sportsman’s Club wants to thank everyone who bought tickets to our event.

Drawing prizes

• $300 – Scot Stewart, Somerset
• $150 – Dennis Kiefer, Spring Valley
• $50 – Cliff Hudson, Spring Valley

Fish tickets

• $100 – Cloey Linder, Ellsworth
• $100 – Cloey Linder, Ellsworth
• $50 – Matt Smith, Spring Valley
• $50 – Weston Gooding, Baldwin

Trout winners

• Adult winner: Darrell Swanson, Ellsworth
• Youth winner: Dawson Sotona, age 5, Spring Valley