Howe Park Pond

The pond at Howe Park has many uses, viewing the fountain that explodes from it, nearby picnic seating, and the main purpose is for fishing. Living in a suburban and urban area there is limited resources for fishing in the wild. So, the parks decided to implement a pond that could support fish.
Note that this was constructed and is not natural, there is one natural waterway within the park that has been tampered with. There is cement lining on the creek, I am sure there is a purpose for it (maybe foundation) but, it takes away from the natural flow of water and allows for a build up of trash and blockage of water as seen in the contamination images from the previous page.

This is the pond on one of my field days, it was an early morning, it rained earlier in the day which could have been the reason for the park being so slow, there was increased activity of the non-human life. Specifically with geese around the pond. There were no people fishing on this day. The feeling of no one using the pond is strange considering it was created for human use. The view of the two birds and empty area left me feeling melancholy. I also wonder the purpose of the fountain that spouts up at random points (assumably on a timer) throughout the day.

The pond at Howe Park features the capability of fishing within the city. This activity makes me question the ability to make recreational parks functional as if it were a nature preserve. In the past there would be no need to plant fish because, it would be a natural water source. This pond is manmade and needs restocking for the use of suburban residents. California Department of Fish and Wildlife has record of last known plant of fish is in the week of 2021-11-21 with trout. There are many fishing events held throughout the year to encourage use of park fishing resources. Howe Community Park is one of the places in Sacramento that people can fish for free (with fishing license for individuals over 16). This quote features information from a fish community app/website called Fishbrain that has a section about Howe Park fishing, “Can you fish in Howe Park Pond? Howe Park Pond is a pond near Arden-Arcade. The most popular species caught here are Rainbow trout, Channel catfish, and Skamania trout. 101 catches are logged on Fishbrain. Please use your best judgement when determining where you can fish, and make sure you follow local rules and regulations.” Also found that they do fish plants every few months, the most recent logged was in February of 2021 and it was a Rainbow Trout fish plant. People on the Fishbrain website advise to go closer to the fish plants so that you can get a catch before people take all of them. There were also critiques of the pond stating it needs more shade for better catches.