PW Students Clean Plymouth Valley Pond ahead of Fishing Derby

When roughly two hundred trout are dumped into the Plymouth Valley Park Pond on April 14th and several dozen young fishermen drop their fishing lines in pursuit, they likely won't be hauling up any old tennis balls or backpacks.

And for that, they'll have members of the Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School Fly Fishing Club to thank. About half a dozen members of the club spent a valuable Easter Break afternoon Thursday by taking to the pond in order to clean it for the upcoming Plymouth Township Fishing Derby.

"We like to do park service here because it's the favorite pond of many of our members," said club president Nick Hughes, a senior who founded the organization as a ninth-grader.

The service is just one aspect of the club, which also takes two or three fishing trips a year and travels to locations such as Cabela's, Hughes said.

Using basic tools such as nets, brooms, and trash bags, Hughes and his team spread out in the pond, even wading waist deep to collect the junk. The team said they see more tennis balls than anything else, given the close proximity of several tennis courts, but water bottles and overgrowth abound as well.

The club found their way to the pond through club advisor and high school guidance councilor MJ Grourke, who linked up with Joanna Rizzuto, program manager for Plymouth Township Parks & Rec. Rizzuto says that she used to hold a yearly clean up in September, but switched to April to accommodate for the derby.

She says the students' efforts play a major role in the preparation of the event.

"Thanks to the hard work of the kids, the pond is clean, fresh, and ready for all our little anglers," Rizzuto said. "We really appreciate their hard work and dedication to the community.

The derby will run from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 14th, and is free and open to ages 4 to 15. Co-hosted by the Stony Creek Anglers and Norristown Elks, Rizzuto says the derby is six or seven years old and growing in popularity, save for a rainy day last year.

East Plymouth Valley Park is located at 2910 Jolly Road, Plymouth Meeting.