By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Fri, Jun 13, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Leila Navidi

Jon Pixler and his daughter Katelyn, 9, fish Wednesday at Sunset Park in Las Vegas. They plan to go fishing for Father’s Day either at Veterans’ Memorial Park in Boulder City or at Lake Mohave near Searchlight.

Saturday is Free Fishing Day in Nevada, which means you can hook, line and sink without buying a license.

Or, as Ivy Santee, the aquatic education coordinator for the Nevada Wildlife Department, puts it, “It’s your one chance during the year to get hooked for free.”

Although you don’t need a license, limits and all other rules and regulations apply.

In conjunction with Free Fishing Day, a free fishing clinic will be held Saturday morning at the Hemenway fishing point on Lake Mead. The first 400 kids ages 12-15 will receive a tackle box and have a chance to win prizes. Registration begins at 8 a.m., with the clinic starting at 9. Participants are urged to bring hats, sunscreen and water.

For more information on Free Fishing Day, go to ndow.org.

Although free fishing is as good as any reason to give the outdoor sport a try, here are five others not sanctioned by the Wildlife Department or ESPN’s Bill Dance.

1. Getting back to nature

It has been said that a fishing outing helps restore the soul. Hey, wait a minute — I thought that was chicken soup. But because you can never have too much soul restoring, here’s what I suggest: Instead of putting a Fishin’ Magician in one hand and a cold beer in the other, substitute a steaming hot cup of Campbell’s Chicken & Stars for the cold beer and enjoy the fresh air.

2. Enjoying a day out with the kids

Most kids love to fish, even if they don’t know it, because they spend all of their free time playing video games and sending text messages to their friends. Most kids like baseball, too, but fishing is better, because on the river, nobody will give Junior a hard time for striking out with the bases loaded.

3. Enjoying a day away from your partner

Remember the beginning of “The Andy Griffith Show” when Andy and Opie were shown walking home from the fishing hole? Aunt Bee and Helen Crump were nowhere to be found. There’s a reason for that. Men and women who live under the same roof need a little time apart, even if they aren’t married to one another. So your wife probably won’t mind when you tell her you are going fishin’ with the boys. Just don’t tell her you are going to the Flemish Cap to catch a swordfish, and not to wait up. Chances are she has seen “The Perfect Storm” and will never fall for it.

4. Trying to catch “the big one”

If fishing is like other sports, it probably takes a lot of practice to hook a giant rainbow trout or a 5-pound bass. But if the only thing you catch is an old boot, don’t worry about it. You can make up a story about the one that got away and your buddies will probably believe it.

5. Discovering something about yourself

It has been said there is something about standing in a river in hip waders that’s conducive to self-discovery. Even if you discover only that the water is cold, and that those hip waders make it difficult to get back to the shore to fetch another beer out of your cooler, at least you have discovered something.