Iowans who love to fish or who want to learn will be able to fish for free this coming weekend. The state is holding its annual opportunity to see what the fishing fuss is all about, according to Joe Larscheid, chief of the Iowa D-N-R Fisheries Bureau. “Currently in Iowa, anybody under 16 years old can fish for free but this allows all residents to try fishing for free,” Larscheid says.  The event runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Given the warm weather, Larscheid says the fish should be biting across the state. “It’s a great time to go fishing,” he says. “The crappies and the bluegills are close to shore, so there’s shore fishing and lakes and ponds and impoundments across Iowa should be very good this coming weekend.”

You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment to give the sport a whirl. “If you go to our Special Events Calendar on the DNR website, you can find events close to where you live,” Larscheid says. “At these events, there’s usually people there to help you fish, even provide fishing tackle, rods and reels to go fishing.”

A fishing license for Iowa residents costs $19 a year, which Larscheid says is a good bargain, as that pays for the state to stock 150-million fish every year, in addition to running the hatcheries and staffing biologists and enforcement personnel.

www.iowadnr.gov