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May 2025 guided fishout days
May the 4th 2025 has been selected as a guided fishout day for the youth ponds. At the fishout day the Trust will provide equipment and a guide to assist youngsters however it is essential to book a 50 minute slot for those wishing to attend. Bookings can now be made at youthfishing.org.nz. Unfortunately we can only have one public day this autumn as we have a number of special interest groups ( police blue light, big brother big sister, scouts, cubs , neuro divergent kids, casting for recovery, etc) booked in. This means the ponds will be closed to the public from the 1st of April until the 1st of June except those booked for the fishout day. The ponds will also be well stocked with trout for fishing on sunny winter days between the 1st of June and the 1st of November.
New entry to youth fishing ponds
The Sport fishing for youth Trust is constructing a new entry point to the youth fishing ponds at Appleby. The main access is still via the bottom end of Challies Road and then along the track towards the ponds. The new entrance is on the left about 200 metres from the start of the track. This entrance means that users will arrive at the northern end of the youth ponds rather than the southern end. The old entrance was formed when the access to the youth ponds was via River Road and a long track along the edge of the river to the southern end of the ponds.
The new entry should be easy to spot and the “conditions of use” sign is been moved to this entry. The new entry will mean there is a shorter distance for users of the ponds to travel along the track. The track can get major potholes from time to time. This entry will also provide additional car parking.
Work on the new entry should be complete by Friday and the old entry will be closed off for all but pedestrians.
ponds now open
The Trust had its third , and last for 2024, fishout day last Sunday. The fishing was quite good with about 75% of the kids catching fish. The fish were generally around the one kg mark with a few larger. This was an improvement on the previous two fishout days where we struggled to get a 50% catch rate. The low catch weight was put down to the fish being harassed by a shag which hopefully has now been frightened off. There have been several school and other groups over the last few weeks and they have also done well.
There are still a good number of fish in the children’s ponds. Fishing should be quite good over the holidays for children to fish. If you have a look on the tips page there is plenty of advice as to equipment and how to set it up. The ponds are open for children to fish from 15 December through until the end of March 2025.
It was disappointing that some people who booked in for the last fishout day did not turn up and did not advise us. We had to disappoint some people who were keen to attend and were on the wait list.
SFYT Fishout dates November 2024
The guided fishout dates for the coming season have been confirmed. There will be three 50 minute sessions each day . The Trust will provide the equipment for each session and a guide to assist youth to learn how to fish. Participants must be between 5 and 17 years old and must be booked into a time slot. Go to the Trust’s website https://youthfishing.org.nz/bookings/ to book a slot . The fishout dates are Sunday the 17th of November , Sunday the 24th of November and Sunday the 8th of December. There is a $2 charge payable on the day.
Fishout day 5th May
There was a great fishout day on the 5th of May with all participants catching a fish. Conditions were excellent with a sunny day and very little wind. Fish size was big with an average size over 3 lb
Ponds closed
The youth fishing ponds at Appleby will be closed to the public from 2nd of April until the 31st of May. This is to enable maintenance and weed control , fishout days , special group events and restocking of the ponds.
Fishout dates for April and May now confirmed
The dates for the sport fishing for youth Trust fishout days have now been confirmed as Sunday the 21st of April , Sunday the 5th of May and Sunday the 12th of May. For the fishout days children aged between 5 and 17 years can be booked in for a one hour time slot when they will be provided with equipment and a guide. Bookings are essential and can be made on the Trust’s website youthfishing.org.nz . This is a great opportunity for youngsters to have an introduction to trout fishing.
new BBQ’s at the ponds
Two new BBQ’s have been installed at the ponds, one at each end. They are similar to the old Rabbit island BBQ’s. You need to take your own wood to get them going and cannot be used if there is any fire risk. A big thanks to Tony’s Engineering Brightwater , Allied Concrete , and Ellis Street Autos.
Pond opening dates for parent supervised fishing.
The ponds are open for parent supervised youth fishing from the 20th of December until the 30th of March 2024. They will also be open for parent supervised fishing from from the 1st of June 2024 until the 30th of September . Any changes to these dates will be posted on the Trusts Facebook page.
guided fishout days.
The Guided fishout days for youth between the ages of 5 and 17 will be held on the 12th and 17th of November and on the 3rd of December. On these days we will provide the equipment to enable children to fish for a 50 minute spell and they will be assisted by an experienced fisher. It is essential that you book a time slot for these occasions and bookings can be made at the ” bookings” tab on this site.