For years and years, the first Sunday in May meant it was time for the annual Little Bear Creek youth fishing derby. And, once again, that’s the case this year.

On Sunday, May 5, the Loyalsock Creek Men’s Club will host its annual Little Bear Creek youth fishing derby from 8 a.m. until noon and the club’s sitting president Kyle Rankin is optimistic for another solid turnout.

“We hope for a nice turnout every year, it’s been going on for a long, long time. We get a couple hundred fish from local hatcheries and we close down a section of creek,” Rankin said.

The club closes down roughly three-quarters of a mile along the creek for the kids ages 4 through 12 to fish. The club will give out a goodie bag prize to every kid, and kids in age categories who catch the largest fish will get a top prize.

The age divisions are broken up from 4-6, 6-8, 8-10 and 10-12.

“We hope for 50-plus kids,” Rankin said. “Some years we had up to 70 kids and some in the 20s. It all depends on the weather and everything else.”

The Loyalsock Creek Men’s Club is an organization that promotes conservation of the natural resources of the Loyalsock watershed and whatever activities that may be related thereto, according to the organization. The club is a local non-profit that focuses on the Loyalsock Valley.

The Little Bear Creek youth fishing derby is just one of many things the club has done this year. The Loyalsock Creek Men’s Club helped with stream habitat improvement along Little Bear Creek, which includes cleaning up the stream and a splash dam project.

“Our club has the longest relationship with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for doing stream improvement projects,” Rankin noted. “We’ve done all kinds of splash dams where we’ll get in there with the DCNR and Fish and Boat Commission and it’s done with their forester and their biologist. They’ll supply the heavy equipment if it’s needed and we’ll do some manpower such as moving logs around by hand.”

For the last three decades, Elery Nau Hardware owner Gary Oechler has been heading up the project each August.

“He always did a fantastic job with coordinating that and getting guys to come out and help,” Rankin said. “They always turn out well. We clean up the banks and don’t worry about tripping and falling. We make more space for kids to get in there. It’s a really good thing the club’s been doing.”

The club has also been maintaining a handicap fishing area for a number of years which features a ramp and a big concrete patio to fish out of.

“We maintained it and kept up with the ramp and parking areas. We clean up and take care of it,” Rankin added.

Rankin noted, however, that this year they are going to be cleaning out from underneath the nearby bridge that’s in the middle of the fishing derby stream. That requires working alongside the DCNR, Fish and Boat Commission and PennDOT.

“(We’re going to) clean that sucker up so the water runs through there,” Rankin said.

The Loyalsock Creek Men’s Club will also once again be planting trees in Cabbage Hollow State Game Lands in Proctor.

“If you have the proper permits, you can drive your car through the game lands and hunt out of your vehicle,” Rankin said. “So we planted an orchard up there with crab apple trees, chestnut trees and plum trees which animals like. It makes a wonderful habitat. … We’re doing it again this year.”

In addition to the various projects mentioned, the Loyalsock Creek Men’s Club also hosts an adopt-a-highway road cleanup and has been doing so for 10 years.