The big day is just a week from this coming Saturday, so it makes sense for families to plan now to see the 2010 Day At The Docks festival, held at the spanking new San Diego Sportfishing landings on Harbor Drive.

Much of the event is sandwiched between Garrison and Emerson Streets, where the parking lot will be cleared to make room for dozens of displays, booths and events. The dockside sidewalk and two main aisles offer strolling space for onlookers to get around.

Most of the family fun is for free. Last year's band, the Pounders, played for thousands of listeners throughout the day. Free bay rides and open house will be offered on many of San Diego's finest fishing boats.

San Diego's sportfishing boats range from luxurious long rangers that travel up to a thousand miles south of San Diego searching for giant tuna and wahoo to half-day and three-quarter-day boats that take people fishing locally for bass rockfish and yellowtail all year. Dayboats and charters will also offer folks a chance to step aboard and see what the boats are like.

There's plenty of food from vendors, and tackle sellers like Fisherman's Landing Tackle Store will be offering some deals on hot new equipment. Manufacturers like Accurate Reels, Tady Lures and Shimano will be giving demos of their latest gear and answering questions from the curious. There'll be booths The Friends of Rollo, for fishing clubs and civic organizations.

Besides the tackle vendors and boat dealers you'll find books on fishing and ocean-oriented jewelry, art and sculpture for sale, and subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, websites and sea surface analysis.

Some of the area's expert anglers will give free lectures to those who want to learn how to make the new season their most productive ever. An apparent oncoming warm-water year will likely make San Diego's fishing better than ever, so it's a good idea to get ready now. Yellowtail are already biting, and it may not be long before albacore will bring a frenzy of anglers to the docks.

Many of southern California's best-known sport fishing personalities will be at the event. You might meet Ingrid Poole, Frank LoPreste, Day At The Docks founder Catherine Miller, rod makers Leon Todd of Calstar or Joe Pfister of Seeker, or many other famous skippers, owners, manufacturers, fishing experts, artists, authors and sport fishing communicators as you walk in the fresh April air. It's a good way to find out what's new, while having a truly good time.

Day At The Docks is about sport fishing, and the most famous aspect of the celebration is the kid's fishing offered at both ends of the docks. Late word had it that over 1,000 mackerel and a few other species would be available in the pens for kids to have some good clean fun catching.

The kid's fishing pens and the half-day boats are where many anglers got their start. Take a kid fishing, and take your family to the best event of its kind in southern California, Day At The Docks, on April 18. It's a wonderful way to spend the day, and it's free!