The Mason City Parks and Recreation Department hosted The 21st annual Fishing Derby at East Park. Before the fishing began, the DNR provided a clinic that taught the children the different types of fish, where to hold the fish, to watch for the stingers, and what is the right size to keep. Above: A young boy enjoys his day of fishing in East Park.|
The Mason City Parks and Recreation Department hosted The 21st annual Fishing Derby at East Park.
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Before the fishing began, the DNR provided a clinic that taught the children the different types of fish, where to hold the fish, to watch for the stingers, and what is the right size to keep. They came over from Clear Lake, where another fishing contest was going on.
By early afternoon, about 25 teams, families and fishing buddies had signed up, according to Ryan Olson, an Intern with the Parks and Recreation Department, and volunteer Nicole Finley.
The fishing contest had five different age divisions and there were winners in each group for the biggest fish caught and the most fish caught. At 3:00 p.m. the fishing would stop and the fish would be weighed and counted. The awards were either donated or purchased by the DNR.
Besides the fishing contest, Ryan had set up a few other contests for the kids to have fun with. He had guess the number of bobbers in the bucket, a casting contest and put your name in for the door prize. The casting contest was set up by age and was judged on accuracy.
During all the contests there were drinks provided by Pepsi and snacks of jello and pudding donated by Kraft.
As you walked around the park you could see fathers teaching their daughters how to put bait on a hook, grandparents showing grandchildren how to cast for the first time, little boys smiling with pride as they hold up their first fish and little girls, happy, but refusing to take “that fish of the hook”, mothers with babies and other small children watching daddy do the fishing.
All just good family fun.
A special Thank You to Deb Kadera and Nicole for volunteering their time to help make this 21st Annual Fishing Derby a success. Also for the companies that donated the prizes: Southbridge Mall, Godfathers, The Rose Bowl, Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, MC Sports, Carlos O’Kelly’s, Bonanza, the Aquatic Center and Buffalo Wild Wings.|
