The Port of San Diego's Day At The Docks, the West Coast's largest public celebration of sportfishing, began on a cloudy morning that soon turned to sunshine with an April breeze. The crowd was sizeable, and mostly family oriented, with many of the exhibits geared toward kids and fun. Held over three decades and produced by Catherine Miller, the admission-free event celebrates the beginning of the sportfishing season and showcases the world's largest and most modern inshore, offshore and long range sportfishing fleet at America's Cup Harbor on San Diego Bay.

Many of the fleet's sportfishers held open house, for visitors to tour their salons and sleeping quarters. Other boats offered free introductory boat rides on the bay. The San Diego fleet is justly famous for guided, comfortable access to some of the best saltwater fishing anywhere in the world.

All kinds of food were for sale, from smoked turkey legs (they got high marks from FishingVideos.com assistant Paul Sweeney) to giant sausages, bratwurst, standard hot dogs, barbequed corn, chicken or beef rice bowls and other tasty items. For the kids there were snow cones and cotton candy at the Friends of Rollo exhibit, and a raffle wheel to spin for prizes. The kids fishing at H&M was very popular, with some kids showing remarkable patience and concentration as they pursued mackerel in the pens with pieces of squid for bait.

They may be slightly outnumbered by adults, but the kids who come to Day At The Docks seem to have the most fun. The event has got to rank right up there with a trip to the zoo or Sea World or other things that command awe and deep attention from youngsters. We'd like to thank the many families with junior anglers who stopped to say hello to Paul and I at our At The Rail display, like Jack Nilsen and his grandson Conner. Those kids are the next generation of fishermen, and it's good to see them thoroughly enjoying the whole scene.

Many local experts, captains and crewmembers gave 'how-to' seminars covering sportfishing for first-timers. Some 200 exhibits displayed boats, fishing tackle, art, at-sea clothing, electronics, insurance, antiques and just about anything else fishing-related.

On the main stage there was music and raffles to win fishing equipment worth of thousands of dollars, donated by sponsors and exhibitors. One of the most exciting displays was the Captains' Dunk Tank. We watched Red Rooster III deckhand Nick Maurer take numerous soakings to accurate baseball throws.

Day At The Docks supervisor Vic Gamboa had his hands full as the day began and the exhibitors descended on the parking lots of the downtown landings. Vic dealt with it all with a smile, advice and directions, and the opening went off without a major hitch.

Fisherman's Landing, Pt. Loma Sportfishing and H&M Landing offered open house on many of their boats. At Pt. Loma, the Daily Double, the Grande and Holiday gave free boat rides on the bay, as did H&M's Producer, Bright & Morning Star and the Top Gun 80. Other boats will sponsored onboard seminars during Day At The Docks.

Day At The Docks was a good time, enjoyed by a large crowd on a very nice spring day in San Diego. A lot of tackle was sold; anglers got fired up. There was talk of a beginning yellowtail bite an hour or two by boat from the docks. It's time now to go fishing!