Detroit Residents Turn Giant Street Hole into Fishing Pond
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.25.15
It’s only about four feet wide and 15 feet long, but residents of one Detroit neighborhood say it’s now their newest fishing pond.
A giant hole on Hull Street in the city’s East Side has been around for about four years now. It was apparently part of a construction project that was later abandoned. Angry over the lack of response from local officials, residents decided to protest the hole’s existence by releasing fish into it earlier this summer.
“We like our fish, but honestly we’d like the road fixed,” resident Pete Bolden told WXYZ.
Bolden and other residents complained that the hole was dangerous and froze over in the winter—not to mention being an eyesore year-round. Now, the pond serves as a community attraction.
Stocked with a modest selection of bluegill, goldfish, and carp, anglers can now be seen trying to hook one of the tiny hole’s denizens. A broken water main prevents the pool from growing stagnant by providing a constant source of freshwater, and the fish are fed and replaced by local fishermen.
According to Yvette Pugh, it was her husband who first started putting fish into the flooded hole.
“My husband, he’s a fisherman, he put them in the pond,” she told Fox 2. “We let them swim, we take care of them, we feed them. It’s relaxing, its solitude, and people come by watch the fish swim.”
Residents’ angling efforts seem to have successfully gained the attention of the city government. Officials from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department have said they will inspect the hole and review their options. An utility company that may have also been involved in the construction said it too will look into fixing the problem.
You can see a video of the hole “in action” below:
