{"id":27697,"date":"2019-06-11T13:55:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T17:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=27697"},"modified":"2019-06-11T13:55:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T17:55:57","slug":"loaner-tackle-program-available-at-rocky-gap-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2019\/06\/11\/loaner-tackle-program-available-at-rocky-gap-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Loaner Tackle Program Available at Rocky Gap State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Western Maryland Fishing Destination Offers Free Use of Gear<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright \" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1773\/30145179008_bcf9b71e56.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of girls fishing from pier at Lake Habeeb, Rocky Gap State Park\" width=\"351\" height=\"263\" \/>The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is expanding its popular loaner tackle program to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/rockygap.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rocky Gap State Park<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, offering park patrons free use of fishing gear and tackle. Eight youth-sized fishing rods have been refurbished and several tackle boxes have been donated to help promote youth fishing at the popular Allegany County park.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rocky Gap is home to Lake Habeeb, one of Western Maryland\u2019s most fishing-friendly destinations. The 243-acre lake is routinely stocked with trout and has sustaining populations of catfish, panfish, and largemouth and smallmouth bass. Lake Habeeb also has a public boat ramp, and canoe and kayak rentals are available during the summer months.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The loaner tackle program at state parks <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2018\/07\/25\/fishing-loaner-program-at-janes-island-state-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">kicked off last year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/pages\/eastern\/janesisland.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Janes Island State Park<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Somerset County.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been thrilled at the success of the loaner tackle program,\u201d Recreational Fishing Outreach Coordinator Erik Zlokovitz said. \u201cWe knew Rocky Gap State Park is a fishing destination and wanted to encourage new and inexperienced anglers to give fishing a try.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cRangers are enthusiastic about the new program,\u201d Rocky Gap State Park Manager Sarah Milbourne said. \u201cWe have a lot of our own staff who are passionate about fishing and now we can share it with our visitors.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The loaner fishing rods and gear are available at the park\u2019s camp store. The department is also exploring expanding the program to additional state parks as well as enhancing gear and tackle options.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Western Maryland Fishing Destination Offers Free Use of Gear The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is expanding its popular loaner tackle program to Rocky Gap State Park, offering park patrons free use of fishing gear and tackle. Eight youth-sized fishing rods have been refurbished and several tackle boxes have been donated to help promote youth<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2019\/06\/11\/loaner-tackle-program-available-at-rocky-gap-state-park\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11,12],"tags":[2948,4104,3665,4982,3265,4314],"class_list":["post-27697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","category-parks","tag-allegany-county","tag-fishing-and-boating","tag-janes-island-state-park","tag-lake-habeeb","tag-rocky-gap-state-park","tag-sportfishing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27700,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27697\/revisions\/27700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}