Alexis DiPietro, 8, was hooked on fishing after catching a nearly 18-inch brook trout at last year’s kid’s derby on Thomas Pond.

“It’s fun to be outdoors,” said DiPietro, of Portland. “I’m not an indoors kid that watches TV.”

She came back to the derby this year, and she saw success early on. She caught one fish within minutes of setting up her trap.

Under sunny skies DiPietro was sitting in a chair holding a fishing pole and moving her line up and down.

The kids’ derby is held each year as part of the weekend-long Sebago Lake derby. By 10 a.m. Feb. 20, 560 children had registered for a free trap courtesy of Kittery Trading Post, and more were headed to the pond with their own traps. Hundreds of holes were pre-drilled and everyone fished for free. There were no official weigh-ins, organizers said, and the prizes children received were the fish themselves.

On a snow covered pond, families covered the ice, setting up traps over holes in the ice and jigging, or bouncing fishing poles to move the bait up and down.

DiPietro was at the derby with her father, Chris DiPietro, his friend Scott Loignon and his 4-year-old son, Aidan Loignon, who seemed more intent on his Goldfish crackers than on any live fish.

When DiPietro’s flag rose, she rushed over to her second hole, pulled up the line and found that a fish had stolen her bait.

Isaac Stocks, 6, of Baldwin also seemed hooked on fishing. The previous weekend he had caught an 18.5-inch bass in Speck Pond and won a youth fishing derby there. He’ll sit and jig for hours, said his grandparents, Dawn and Tim Stocks, adding that he is very patient.

“It’s kind of fun to be on the lake when it’s all iced over,” agreed 11-year-old Joe Cooper.

He was setting bait in holes with his stepfather, Mike Schildroth, and little sister, Sophie Schildroth, 4, who had never been ice fishing before.

“I wanna fish my hole now,” Sophie said, and Schildroth put her to work scooping slush out of one of her holes. This was the first time the family came to the kid’s derby, and Schildroth took the day off from work to make the trip from their home in Auburn.

“My dad taught me,” Schildroth said. “I at least want to give these guys a chance to see if they like it.”

“I like it,” Cooper chimed in.

Sophie Schildroth of Auburn scoops slush out of a hole drilled in the ice before setting a fishing trap. This was her first time ice fishing.Isaac Stocks, 6, of Baldwin waits for a fish at the kids’ derby Feb. 20 on Thomas Pond.Raymond resident Ali Wood, 10, shows off the fish she caught at the kids’ derby Feb. 20 within her first half an hour. Wood said she goes ice fishing a lot with her father.Mike Schildroth brought his stepson Joe Cooper and daughter Sophie Schildroth to the kids’ derby Feb. 20 for the first time this year. “I at least want to give these guys a chance to see if they like it,” Schildroth said.