Young anglers pull in the big ones

Great river conditions, hungry trout and plenty of keen young anglers on Saturday made for the most successful Kids Trout Fishing Day in the event's 14-year history, with 79 trout landed.

A total of 124 children tried their luck, with the hard-working volunteers from the Stratford Club Fishing Section providing the back-up support of plenty free sausages, drinks and chocolate fish, so that no-one went away

empty handed.

With 500 trout released into the Patea River's Scout Den Pool for the event, the river running down through Stratford will provide some exciting angling opportunities over the next few weeks. Past experience has shown

that most trout remain in the Scout Den pool and within a kilometre of the release site. These fish are in great condition, with the largest specimens weighing in at around 1.5kg.

Anglers fishing for trout must hold a current licence. Fishing licences are available from Magnum Sports and are free to children under 12 years at the start of the current season (October 1, 2011). A whole season licence for a 12-17-year-old costs just $23, or $7 for a 24-hour licence. Fish and Game rangers will be out checking compliance, so please carry your licence with you. There is also a bag limit of two trout per angler per day and anglers must cease fishing for the day once they have killed their second fish. Fish and Game New Zealand is a non- profit organization and all licence fees go back into the management of the resource.

``Many thanks go to Ivan Lamplough, new president Murray Fawcett and the team of volunteers from the Stratford Club Fishing Section, who once again ran an excellent event,'' says Fish and Game officer Allen Stancliff.

The Department of Conservation's Tongariro National Trout Centre donated the trout and a grant from the

Taranaki Electricity Trust covered the cost of transport. A number of the trout died in transit. Allen says the reason seems to be a problem with the oxygen delivery system in one of the tanker's three tanks, but that nothing was

wasted.

``There was a lot of fish on board (560kg or about 700 trout). One of the volunteers smoked a lot of them and brought them for people to try on the day, which went down very well!''