Go fish! Derby returns for 36th year

All around what members of the Knights of Columbus have dubbed “Mello’s Pond,” 42 kids cast fishing lines to compete for the best catch.

They waited for bites on their lines, reeling them in when they felt a tug on their pole. Once retrieved from the water, the kids then had the fish weighed and measured before releasing them back into the pond.

“There are people that come down here for the first time, and they don’t have poles or anything, so we help them get them, get them situated,” said Mike Medeiros, a Knights of Columbus member. “It’s a team effort.”

He noted that kids and families don’t have to pay to participate and that if a kid arrives without a pole, they keep some available for them to borrow.

For 36 years kids have participated in this ritual as part of the Knights of Columbus’ annual fishing derby, which was held on Saturday, June 13 this year.

The derby was started by Dartmouth Police Lt. Ken Cotta and Bob Mello, who owned the property at the time, and has been hosted by the Knights of Columbus for over 10 years.

Cotta, who was in charge of Dartmouth’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, also known as D.A.R.E., named the derby “Get Hooked on Fishing, not Drugs” as a way to get kids between the ages of six and 15 active.

“We do it mainly for the kids,” said organizer Ed Viveiros. “We want to do this for kids.”

Mello’s son Matthew now owns the land, allowing the derby started by his father to continue on the same property where it began, which is located off of Old Westport Road, .

In the derby, kids compete to see who catches the heaviest fish, the most fish by count and the most fish by weight.

This year, the kids caught 62 fish, with the heaviest weighing in at 2 pounds, 9 ounces and the smallest weighing around 2 ounces.

Danny Perry, 13, caught the largest and heaviest fish in the derby, which measured 18-inches long.

Danny has been participating in the derby for the past four years, along with his siblings and parents.

“At the start I caught two little ones. I casted in right away,” he said, “So then I just gained confidence.”

With about 30 minutes left in the derby, Danny had caught five fish.

Viveiros called the event “good, clean family fun,” noting that in some cases it  has become generational.

“We’ve actually had kids that have grown up, got married, they have kids,” he said. “We’ve had a couple generations.”

This includes Danny’s family, with the tradition of participating going back to his father Daniel who used to participate with his dad when he was a kid.

“This is our fourth year here with the kids, but I came here when I was a kid,” Daniel said.

He explained that at the time the event was run by the police association and that his dad worked in the police department.

“It’s fulfilling,” Daniel said. “It’s a good family event.”

Holly Perry added, “Our family looks forward to it every year.”