The Story of Kid Fishing Day 2026 Bluegill Planting

The volunteers who bring you Kids Fishing Day will always be upfront with you. We can’t guarantee that the fish will bite, that the weather will shine, or that the lake won’t rise. But we have guaranteed that Kids Fishing Pond would be stocked with bluegills.

And it is. Still, we want to share with you how many bluegills were planted this week.

For more than two decades, we’ve planted at least 3,500 bluegills — 2,000 paid for by Leelanau County and 1,500 paid for by an extremely supportive community in Leelanau County. Between 2,500 and 3,000 were planted in Kids Fishing Pond; the remainder went into Long Pond at the rear of the park.

We planned to plant 4,000 this year from the same reliable fish hatchery we’ve used for years.

But it’s been a challenge. First, the wholesaler that sells fish fry to all or most hatcheries in the state was short on product. Then some otters got involved. And since Kids Fishing Day represents one of the final fish plantings of the early season, we learned only in the last week that only 2,500 bluegills were available. We checked other hatcheries only to learn they were out of stock of both bluegills and trout.

So, we opted not to stock the long ponds at the rear of Veronica Valley and instead planted all the bluegills we had in Kids Fishing Pond. That’s about the same amount we usually plant in the pond.

But we pushed the supplier for more, so the hatchery drained some ponds and came up with 1,000 large green sunfish, which would have been perfect.

Delivery day was yesterday, but a text came instead. For some reason, the fish had died overnight.

The owner, who is taking over for her father to keep the hatchery legacy alive, was in tears. So were we.

But, as they say, the show must go on.

We even enlisted the crew from Jim’s Critters to catch and transfer panfish from a nearby private pond last night. They added about 50 perch and bluegills to Kids Fishing Pond.

The bite might be just fine today with 2,500 freshly planted bluegills. Or it might slow. Or it could be average.

What we can guarantee is that the amphibian display will be fabulous, the fly-fishing demonstration insightful, the hot dogs simply delicious, and the fish-painting booth a delight. In short, it will be a beautiful day at Veronica Valley Park.

We had planned to stock more and larger fish this year but will have to carry that hope into 2027.

Please enjoy this day of family fun with us. We feel privileged to share it with our Leelanau family of fishermen and fisherwomen of all ages.

The Volunteers of Kids Fishing Day