None of the fish were retained, but the smiles on the faces of all the anglers who participated in Saturday’s Oak Harbor Yacht Club fishing derby made it clear they didn’t care at all.

The weather couldn’t have been better for the three-hour event and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky as the young anglers, accompanied by their parents, began gathering at the marina’s dock for the derby’s 10 a.m. start.

Yacht club members, many of them dressed in colorful pirate attire, assisted the kids in getting started while other members manned the weigh-in table to record who reeled in the largest fish.

Elisabeth Lundgren from Oak Harbor accompanied by her sister, Emily, and father, Kevin, was one of the first successful anglers. Her fish wasn’t very big, but the smile on the 7-year-old’s face told the whole story and she had a firm grip on her slippery catch as she headed for the weigh station.

“She did good,” Kevin said.

With his mother, Tammy, pointing out that the fish were just below the surface, 5-year-old David Levy from Oak Harbor concentrated on dropping his baited hook in the water in front of them.

“We haven’t caught anything yet, but we’re trying,” Tammy said.

Further down the dock, shouts of excitement were heard as Alex Cart’s fishing pole bent nearly double as he hauled a fish out of the water.

It was a small shark weighing more than two pounds, nine ounces.

The Oak Harbor 7-year-old had trouble getting the fish unhooked, but his mother, Dori, along with Captain Andy, a member of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club Buccaneers, gave him a hand.

“He used a number two hook and a piece of cut herring for bait,” Dori said.

After three hours of fishing, all the participants in the derby and their parents were treated to a free lunch courtesy of the yacht club.