VIDALIA — More than 550 children dipped their lines in the waters of the Miss-Lou Saturday in the 18th-annual Miss-Lou Merchants D.A.R.E. Youth Fishing Tournament.

But only 34 kids won the big trophies in categories of Bream, Bass and Other Species in four different age ranges.

Chris Temple and his 7-pound bass won first place in the 11-14 age category.

The fish is the biggest he said he has ever caught.

“When I was little I got one of these trophies,” Temple said. “But I never got first place. I fish pretty often, about every other weekend.”

Temple joined his friend Benjamin Dampier, who won second place in the bass category of the 15-18 age group, and some other friends at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to start the hunt for the big catch, which lasted about two hours for the boys.

The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office hosted the annual event, which Sheriff Randy Maxwell said ranges in size from 300 to 700 participants each year.

“When we first started, we probably had 50 or 60 people,” Maxwell said. “We’ve been doing this so long that we have children who fished in this tournament as kids who’ve now grown up, went to school, married, and now they have children in the tournament.”

Maxwell said the event could not run every year if not for the volunteers and sponsors, including Concordia Parish Bank and Trust, BASF and Louisiana Hydroelectric.

But he said the most important part is parents bringing their children and spending time with them, which he said is crucial in keeping them out of trouble as they grow up.

“Children are the most important things in our lives, and a lot of times we don’t spend the individual time with them that we need to,” he said. “It goes for the parents. If you stay involved in your child’s life from the get-go, I mean really involved — you can’t start being a parent at 12 or 13 years old. It’s over then. You’ve got to start early and stay late, as I say.

“It’s a tough deal growing up now,” he added. “There are a lot of things out there now that weren’t there when I was growing up.”

In ages 2-5, Keagan Tester won the Bream category, while Nasif Garnder won Other Species.

For ages 6-10, Joshua Hargon won Bream, Trent Lemoine won Bass and Charles Wayne Smith won Other.

Temple won Bass, Chantry Simpson won Bream and Chase Stroud won Other for the 11-14 year olds. And in the 15-18 category, Robert Hargon took Bream, Billy Humpries took Bass and Desiree Taylor won the Other section.

Every participant received a free T-shirt, which allowed him or her free entrance into the Jim Bowie Festival. They were also given rods and reels, books, tackle boxes, coolers and other goodies, plus a little trophy to commemorate their catches.

“Every child’s a winner,” Maxwell said. “You can see a lot of smiling faces around here. We’re making memories here.”