Rotary's Annual Kids Fishing Derby sets another attendance record — and introduces hundreds of young anglers to a morning on the water.
There are busy mornings on the Seal Beach Pier. And then there was Saturday morning. By the time registration wrapped up for the Los Alamitos, Cypress & Seal Beach Rotary Club's Annual Kids Fishing Derby, 474 youth from 3 to 15 had registered to fish — shattering last year's record of 307 participants by more than 150 kids.
Add parents, grandparents, siblings and friends, and the result was quite a sight.
For much of the morning, the pier was shoulder-to-shoulder with families, fishing poles and kids waiting to see what might be tugging at the other end of their line.
For some, it was their first time fishing. For some parents, it was their first time taking a child fishing.
And that is exactly the point.
"There are a lot of things I love about the Fishing Derby, but what makes it special is watching a kid catch that first fish — or sometimes just figure out how to cast a line — with a parent or grandparent standing beside them," said Art Remnet of the Los Alamitos, Cypress & Seal Beach Rotary Club.
"When you look down the pier and see more than 470 kids out there, and all the families who came with them, you realize this has become much more than a fishing contest. We're giving families a reason to spend a morning together, try something new and make a memory. That's why Rotary keeps doing it."
They came to fish — and the fish cooperated
More than 100 catches were brought to the weigh-in table during the morning, with an impressive variety coming over the rail.
Anglers reeled in stingrays, white sea bass, croaker, starfish, baby leopard sharks and other local marine life. One of the day's more unusual catches was a Pacific shovelnose guitarfish.
The heavyweight of the day was a baby shark tipping the scales at 2 pounds, 10 ounces. Every catch was released back into the ocean after being weighed.
Of course, before you can catch a fish, you need something the fish wants to eat. Rotarians and student volunteers came prepared.
A whopping 72 pounds of squid, 30 pounds of anchovies and five pounds of shrimp were cut into bait and distributed throughout the morning.
Five students from the Los Alamitos High School Interact Club joined more than 20 Rotarians in putting on the event. The Interactors initially helped with registration before moving onto the pier and taking over some of the bait-cutting duties from their Rotary counterparts.
Considering the volume of squid involved, "Service Above Self" may have taken on a particularly aromatic meaning by the end of the morning.
A community effort.
The derby has become the event it is because Rotary doesn't do it alone. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife once again provided substantial support, bringing more than 150 fishing poles for participants along with dozens of sinkers and personnel to help young anglers get started.
For children who arrived without fishing equipment — including many first-time anglers — that meant they could still take part. And nobody needed to fish on an empty stomach.
The Seal Beach Lions Club provided a complimentary breakfast of pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee for participants and their families. hey served more than 700 breakfasts.
Between 474 young anglers, hundreds of family members, 700 breakfasts and a pier packed with fishing poles, Seal Beach was definitely awake Saturday morning.
Nine anglers take home the hardware
The competition was divided into three age groups, with first-, second- and third-place awards in each division. The Rotary Club provided all of the winner prizes. Each first-place finisher received a new bicycle and trophy, with 20-, 24- and 27-inch bicycles awarded according to age division.
Second- and third-place winners received a new fishing rod and tackle along with their trophies
And the winners are....
Age 6 and under:
Hasanah Ryan took first place, followed by Dexter Fournet in second and David Fonsera in third.
Ages 7–11:
Everly Bersuch captured first place, Vincent Zavala finished second and Abraham Ryan took third.
Ages 12–15:
Caden Carl earned first place, with Violet Juarez taking second and Gavin Russell finishing third.
For nine kids, that meant going home with some serious hardware. For hundreds of others, the prize may have been discovering something they'd like to do again.
400 nametags weren't enough
There may be no better illustration of how quickly the derby has grown than what happened at the registration table. Every participating child receives a nametag with their first name and age.
The tags make it possible for volunteers at the weigh-in station to quickly record each catch in the proper age division. After last year's record-setting turnout of 307 kids, Rotary volunteers thought they were being plenty ambitious this year.
They prepared 400 nametags in advance. They ran out. By the end of registration, another 74 young anglers had joined the crowd.
It's a pretty good problem for the LACSB Rotary Club to have. More than a fishing derby.
As the morning moved along, the youngest anglers understandably began to call it a day. Three-year-olds have limits, even when fish are involved.
The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd began thinning after about 10:30 a.m., eventually leaving behind the remnants of a very busy morning.
Then came the Rotary Cleanup Crew. There was plenty to pick up, pack away and haul back. But there was also plenty of laughter and satisfaction among the volunteers.
Because when the final numbers were counted, 474 kids had spent part of their Saturday morning fishing from the Seal Beach Pier.
Some caught their first fish. Some didn't catch anything. Some won a bicycle.
Some probably ate pancakes and sausage and decided fishing could wait.
But all of them were part of something their community created specifically for them.
"You can't manufacture what happened out there," Remnet said. "You had Rotarians, Interact students, the Lions Club, Fish and Wildlife, parents, grandparents and hundreds of kids all sharing the pier for a few hours. There was just a tremendous amount of joy out there. We came home tired, but it's the kind of tired that makes you start thinking about doing it again next year."
And after jumping from 307 young anglers to 474 in a single year? Rotary might want to order a few extra nametags.
Look for us to be back on Saturday, August 14, 2027
