ORONO – About a dozen local youngsters turned out on a downright cold Saturday morning to try their hands at ice fishing – an interest police officials here hope will decrease the likelihood they will experiment with drugs.

“We want to get them outside to enjoy the environment … go outdoors, so they know they don’t have to hang around and do drugs,” said Orono Police Capt. Linwood Green, who headed this weekend’s Hooked on Fishing – Not on Drugs fishing derby on Pushaw Lake. “Out here they just don’t have to deal with that kind of pressure.”

Pickerel was the catch of the day at the event, which is part of the Alexandria, Va.-based Future Fisherman Foundation’s nationwide program designed to encourage youth involvement in fishing and promote environmental awareness.

Although the skinny, toothy fish is hardly considered a trophy catch among anglers, for the children who rushed toward the ice-fishing trap’s sprung flag, the action was welcome on a rather slow morning of fishing.

Saturday marked 9-year-old Lee Hecker’s first try at ice fishing, an endeavor to which he could become accustomed, he said after he helped pull up the day’s first and biggest fish.

“It’s a lot more relaxing than regular fishing,” said Lee, a fourth-grader at the Asa Adams Elementary School who attended the event with his father, Jeff Hecker of Orono. “But it’s a lot colder.”

The Hooked on Fishing program was started in 1986 as a result of a letter written by a 14-year-old boy who said fishing had kept him away from drugs. Since then, the national program, later adopted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, has grown into an award-winning drug prevention program used by schools, police departments, churches and youth organizations.

Saturday’s trip was the second sponsored by the Orono Police Department and the Orono Parks and Recreation Department. The Orono Fire Department provided bait for the event, the first wintertime outing for the youth group.

Even though the fish weren’t biting fast and furious on Saturday, the program hit its mark, said Green, noting that the event, in addition to its drug prevention goal, was simply meant to give the kids a chance to get outside in what can become an otherwise dreary Maine winter.

Asa Adams pupils Josh Young and Terry Sinclair, 9 and 11, respectively, were just as content watching a bald eagle soar overhead, or tackling one another in a mock game of ice football and munching on some doughnut holes at the mock halftime.

“It’s just good to be outside,” Josh said.

For more information on Hooked on Fishing – Not on Drugs, visit the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Web site at http://janus.state.me.us/ifw/education/edu.htm.