Several fishing and nature programs will be offered at Krug Park this summer to help residents “Discover Nature.”
The free Discover Nature programs are offered through a partnership between the Missouri Department of Conservation and the City of St. Joseph.
The nature program part of the series starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday with an MDC agent presenting about his job and what he does to preserve natural resources.
MDC Angler Education Assistant Tori McNutt will be leading monthly programs on fishing starting June 7th. McNutt said the June program begins at 7 p.m. and will feature an introduction to summer fishing clinics.
“People can come out, we’ll have fishing poles and bait and they can just spend an hour fishing at Krug Park,” McNutt said. “Come July, this is a pretty big event, last year we had, I think, 75 people show up (for) our Kids Fishing Derby.”
Check-in for the Kids Fishing Derby begins at 5:30 p.m. on July 5th. In August, McNutt said they will host a fish cleaning demonstration and in September there will be a session on fly fishing.
McNutt said the fishing program is designed to engage St. Joseph residents.
“I’ve put on some other fishing events and they just don’t quite get the numbers that Krug Park does,” McNutt said. “Krug Park is a local commodity that people love to go there and, especially since we stocked it, we have much more public engagement. My job is to help people learn, people enjoy fishing, reconnect the older generations who perhaps have stopped fishing. So basically through this agreement with the city, we just want to engage the public and hopefully create future fisherpeople.”
Monthly nature programs offered June through September will feature topics such as mountain lions in Missouri, insects and bat watching.
Registration is required for all of the fishing events except for the fishing clinic in June. For more information or to register visit MDC’s website or call the MDC Northwest Regional Office at (816) 271-3100.
All events will be held at the parks amphitheater and Krug Park Lagoon at 3500 St. Joseph Avenue.