For the past eight years, Michael Day has looked forward to the first days of June, when he can see a group of smiling little kids pick up their fishing rods and descend on the Sparks Marina.

Day, chairman of the Kids Free Fishing Day, said that last year 1,400 kids and their parents came to the marina for the fishing event.

This Saturday, he is hoping for just as many when the Rotary Club’s annual free fishing day starts at 7 a.m. The event will continue until 10 a.m. with free food and fishing poles for the kids as well as fishing that doesn’t require a license.

The Sparks Rotary Club’s 100 members will help kids of all ages fish with their parents Saturday, even handing out 1,400 free fishing poles to those who can’t buy their own.

“Our whole thing is that anything and everything is free for the kids,” Day said.

Free food will also be on the day’s schedule with hot dogs grilled up for the kids. BJ’s Barbecue in Sparks loans its grill to the rotarians every year, Day said.

“The whole point of this … is that we want the kids doing something that is positive with nature,” Day said.

And Chris Vasey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife was at the marina tweaking a few things Thursday make sure that the experience is a positive one for the kids.

Vasey brought in about 4,000 rainbow trout Thursday and dumped them in the marina. The fish were corralled into a small space by a net that stopped fish from swimming more than 20 feet out from the shoreline.

“We want to improve the kid’s catch rate,” Vasey said.

Once the free fishing day is over, the net will be raised and the fish that the kids didn’t catch will be released into the marina for future fishers.

The free food and fishing is paid for with sponsorships from the Nevada Bighorns Association, The Reno Rodeo Foundation and Safari Club International, along with many other sponsors.