The City of Idaho Falls, Division of Parks and Recreation is proud to announce the grand opening of the 1.05 acre fishing pond at Ryder Park. The opening celebration will be held on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at Ryder Park. The pond is located just south of Sunnyside Road, along the west bank of the Snake River. Once open, the park and the fishing pond will be open to the general public year round from 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m.

The City of Idaho Falls in a cooperative effort with Idaho Department of Fish and Game was able to utilize $100,000 from the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act to make this project a reality. This money is collected from manufacturers of fishing equipment as a pre-sale excise tax and is then awarded back to the states for use on fishing related projects. Additionally, IDFG will be stocking the pond on a regular basis and has already delivered over 2,000 fish. The stockings consisted of both regular rainbow and yellow rainbow or “Banana” trout. In addition to the 2,000 10-inch catchable size trout planted, 1,000 pounds of brood stock were delivered from Hagerman Hatchery. These fish averaged 4 pounds each, with some as large as 6 pounds. State regulations for family-fishing waters apply and the pond will remain open for year round fishing.