Amador County - The Native Sons of the Golden West, Excelsior Parlor #31 was “deeply saddened to announce” Thursday that the Annual Father's Day Free Fishing Derby at Lake Tabeaud has been cancelled. After over 30 years of providing free fishing, prizes and food to the youth and disabled veterans of Amador County, the Native Sons have been forced to cancel the derby this year due to the settlement of a lawsuit by The Center for Biological Diversity from Tucson, Ariz. against the California Department of Fish & Game temporarily banning trout plants in certain state lakes. “I'm very disappointed that after 30 years of serving the youth of our community, we've been forced to cancel the derby because of this frivolous lawsuit,” said Past President Chad Simmons. “It only hurts our children and the irony is that PG&E is allowed to stock Lake Tabeaud as part of the settlement, but we can't stock a few hundred pounds of trout for Amador County's children and disabled veterans.” After numerous calls to the California Department of Fish and Game and the County's legislators, neither relief nor assistance materialized leading to the cancellation of the Father's Day Fishing Derby. The Native Sons are urging those with questions or concerns to contact Senator Dave Cox at 223-9140, Assembly member Alyson Huber at 333-5330, or Stafford Lehr, DFG Senior Environmental Scientist at (916) 358-2900. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.