Slade Elder, 6, from Parkersburg holds two of his catches from the Wood County Recreation Commission’s 43rd annual fishing derby Saturday morning at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Recreation Commission held its 43rd annual fishing derbies from 9-noon Saturday at City Park and Southwood Park in Parkersburg.

Kela West, site supervisor and administrative assistant at Wood County Recreation, said 250 participants pre-registered for both ponds, but about 400 kids showed up to participate at both. West also said this is the only time of the year anglers can fish in these ponds without a license.

According to West, there were three categories at both ponds: ages 3-6; 7-10 and 11-14. The children were allowed to catch up to four trout and four non-trout. Those who placed in first, second and third place overall were awarded a trophy and prize.

West said the trophy’s colors match the school of the designated area with the trophies at City Park being red, for Parkersburg High School, while the trophies at Southwood Park were blue, for Parkersburg South High School.

There was also an award for the largest non-trout grand champion with a trophy and a $100 cash prize.

Jonah Walters, 7, displays two of his catches from The Wood County Recreation Commission’s 43rd annual fishing derby at Southwood Park Saturday. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

According to West, every year they have a golden trout in each pond. If a participant catches the golden trout, they are awarded a special prize and trophy. This award comes with a $100 Walmart gift card. Unfortunately, the golden trout was not caught this year, and, according to West, has not been caught in the past several years.

There was also a drawing for someone to get a lifetime hunting and fishing license. To participate in this drawing, people had to pre-register, as the names were taken from the pre-registry list. The winner of this drawing was Gavyn Davis who fished at Southwood Park’s pond during Saturday’s derby.

All of the winners get a certificate.

West noted there were over 30 volunteers at each park to help with the fishing derby activities. Along with those volunteers, Wood County Recreation also had help from local schools. City park had volunteers from the Parkersburg High School football team, and Southwood Park had volunteers from the Parkersburg South High School girls’ basketball team.

There were also four raffles at the derbies on Saturday with a 50/50 raffle, a raffle for a kayak and two raffles for different packages. One of these packages was dubbed the “camping package.” It consisted of a six-man tent, a cooler, a lantern and a folding chair. The other package was dubbed the “tailgate package.” This package consisted of a canopy, folding chair and cooler. There were also shirts for sale at both ponds as well as concessions. There were also people on site to filet the fish the participants caught so they could bring them home.

Clara Noelle can be reached at intern@newsandsentinel.com.