In Focus: Senior citizens fish without barriers at Cole family pond in Chehalis

About 44 years ago, the late Noel Cole began allowing people who might not otherwise get the opportunity to go fishing to drop a line at the Cole family property in Lewis County.

That tradition continues today as his son Greg Cole continues the Noel Cole Fish and Wildlife Project, providing barrier-free fishing to many who otherwise would be unable to experience the beloved outdoor activity.

Trout Unlimited and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have helped with the project from the beginning, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.

“It is an amazing feeling just to see the look on the people’s faces when they catch a fish when you weigh them, measure them, clean them and put the fish in a bag,” Greg Cole said in 2024. “It’s a lot of work, and it’s very heartening.”

Each year, the pond is stocked for fishing for the first week of June.

Greg, the family and volunteers then feed the fish a couple of times a day and chase off any bird predators, such as herons and eagles.

In a 2019 interview with The Chronicle, Noel Cole, who died in 2021, said he started raising steelhead in the pond sometime around 1982.

A couple years later, he had a conversation with a woman who said the special needs students at W.F. West were having some trouble getting into certain outdoor activities.

For more on the effort, visit https://tinyurl.com/2fndz9p2.