The Des Moines Park and Recreation Department is offering free family fishing programs this summer. For details call Heath Decker at 351-7393

A skills clinic for ages 12 and younger begins Monday at area wading pools. The clinics will teach proper casting and knot tying. Equipment will be provided. Drop-in clinics run from 1 to 3 p.m.

The family day of fishing and fish fry will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 1 at Gray’s Lake Park, 2101 Fleur Drive. Instruction is available. Bring equipment if available; some will be on hand if needed. Participants 16 or older who plan to fish need a valid Iowa fishing license.

The Illini Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League will visit the Mississippi River in Fort Madison, Iowa, July 11 for the third of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.

If the winner is a participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program, he or she will receive a $2,000 bonus from Ranger Boats. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,000 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant. That’s a potential top award of $8,000 for anglers who meet contingency guidelines.

Bombardier will award $1,000 to the winning boater if the winner’s boat is equipped with a qualifying Evinrude E-TEC or Direct Injection outboard.

The winning co-angler will earn as much as $3,000 cash.

Big Bass awards of up to $1,000 and $500, respectively, will also be awarded in the Boater and Co-angler Divisions.

Anglers may register for the tournament online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held July 10 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Riverview Park located at 6th Street & H Ave., in Fort Madison. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.

Captain Kirk’s Marina in Fort Madison will host the takeoff and weigh-in at 6 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Quasquicentennial/Bully Bullhead Celebration July 10-12 in Ruthven, IA

If you need a reason to get out of town this weekend, head on up to Ruthven for their Quasquicentennial Celebration.

Saturday morning there will be a full days worth of fun with over 30 events on the schedule. The day will start out at 7 a.m. with the annual BBW(Bully Bullhead Weekend) Fishing Contest on Lost Island Lake. Four tagged bullheads are released into the lake, with a $500 bounty on them for those who register at Murphy’s Bait Shop north of Ruthven. There are also other prizes to go fishing for in this event.

River Phest 13 July 11 – Meet behind the Casey’s in Van Meter at 12:30

River Phest is an annual river float party on the Raccoon River in Van Meter, IA. The party began by a group of 28 high school friends in 1997 and has continued ever since on the first Saturday after the Fourth of July. It was to begin as a float trip starting at the Puckerbrush River Access one mile north of Van Meter on the North Raccoon River. The end would be a sandbar known to the locals as “Two Rivers,” located a half a mile upstream from Van Meter where the North Raccoon and South Raccoon Rivers merge to become the Raccoon River before flowing east to Polk County and the Des Moines River. The sandbar would be the site of a post-party and camp-out.