MUSCATINE, Iowa — A sunny morning made for perfect fishing weather at Muscatine’s Discovery Park during the 29th annual Kids Fishing Seminar.

“I think it’s only rained two years out of them all,” said Curt Weiss, Muscatine County Conservation Board Director. Weiss has participated in the event since it began in 1980.

The Board sponsors the free seminar, which is one of the largest in the state, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and other local volunteers help run it. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade were allowed to participate.

Many people, businesses and organizations in the community make the event possible through donations. All of the 185 participants left with a tackle packet. Many prizes, including fishing poles, tackle boxes and sleeping bags were also given away during a raffle drawing.

One station at the seminar included rules of fishing with DNR conservation officer Tom Campbell, who said it’s important for kids to learn the basics. He told the groups that there is a daily bag limit of 25 bluegill and crappie on public waters and that they can use up to two poles at a time to fish.

The stars of the show were two flathead catfish that the kids were allowed to touch. Children giggled and squealed as they were splashed with water by a 25-pound and 45-pound catfish that Campbell and his assistant, Paul Farrar, lifted out of a tank.

Lance Polton of the Iowa DNR operated the fish identification station where some of the youngest children in the group made a fist and stuck it inside the lips of a large mouth bass to illustrate how the fish gets its name. The largemouth bass swallows fish, frogs, snakes and worms whole and stomach acid dissolves the food.

Polton also shared some facts with participants, including:

n Bull frog tadpoles take two years to develop.

n A male blue gill has an orange or dark pink stomach and a female’s is yellow.

n Red ear sunfish usually eat snails or little clams.

n Crappie are nicknamed “paper mouth” because of the thin, clear membranes around their mouth.

n If a fish swallows a hook, don’t rip the hook out, but cut the line near the eye of the hook. Most fishing hooks used on a rod and reel are designed to dissolve and rust away inside the fish and the fish can survive if released.

Children also learned casting basics.

“The only kind of fish I’ve eaten is fish sticks,” said Carson Heath, 7, of West Liberty, who practiced casting into the pond and tried to avoid hitting his mother who stood nearby. There were no hooks on the line and plastic casting plugs were used for safety.

Many participants stayed for the second annual fishing derby that followed the event, but very few caught fish. Children had from about 11:15 a.m. until noon to catch as many fish as possible and prizes were awarded to those who caught the most, biggest, smallest and first fish in their respective age groups.

Gage Young, 8, and his friend, Marissa Symmonds, 5, were among those who were able to make a catch.

Symmonds was first to catch a fish in her age group with a 6 1/2-inch largemouth bass.

Young caught three                 bluegill, but lost a fourth. He had a trick to catching so many in the short time.

“No bobber, just a hook and a worm,” Young said.