Mark your calendar: 2026 Kids Derby is Saturday, May 23

 

This free event for kids 15 and under will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 23rd at the North Lake Duck Pond at the corner of Taft and 29th Street.

To qualify for free raffle drawing prizes and prizes for the largest and smallest trout caught, anglers just need to register at the pond before starting to fish. Registration and loaner fishing gear will be available on the east edge of the pond, and at the band pavilion on the southeast.

For a second year, the Derby will be earlier than its traditional date of the first Saturday in June, when Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a free statewide day of fishing. The change was done at the recommendation of CPW biologists out of concern for warming water temperatures. Holding the derby on the 23rd provides a longer window after the derby to fish for trout not taken by the kids.  After the contest, everyone of all ages will be free to fish the pond (License required for older anglers).

The derby is a collective effort of Loveland Police, the Loveland Fishing Club, Kiwanis, Colorado Youth Outdoors (CYO), Loveland Chilson Senior Center – and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which will once again contribute hundreds of hungry rainbow trout for the kids. And CYO volunteers will even clean and cook the catch for anglers.

Don’t have a pole or know quite how to bait a hook? The Loveland Fishing Club can supply loaner poles, bait and advice.

The event is open to all kids up to age 15. (Last year's prize winners for largest and smallest trout were 3-year-old Weston Pharris and 4-year-old Lilah Carlson.

Think you’ll be hungry? Kiwanis for years has provided family-priced food and drink.