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December News
The fishing has not been easy at the last two fishout days , and we have had rain , but the young fishers have persisted. There have been lots of true fishers amongst them and our guides were very impressed by their application.
A few years ago we changed our Trust deed to allow the disabled and the elderly to fish the ponds with Trust approval. On Tuesday the 6th December one of our Trustees , Jim Jobe, took a group of elderly ( half on wheelchairs) from Somerset Richmond to the ponds and they hooked five fish , most of which were released. The look of delight on the face of these elderly persons was great to see.
The ponds will be open for youth to fish from the 17th of December ( officially from the 20th but the weekend before will be ok) . We will be restocking the ponds before then.
November 2022 News Update
We have a fishout day on the Sunday the 13th of November. You must book a slot for a child on this day and although slots are filling quickly there are ( as of Friday the 4th November) still some slots available. Go to the “bookings” tab to book a time. Remember children must be 5 years or over.
Important: The ponds are closed from Monday the 3rd of October until the 15th of December. This is to allow for pond maintenance ( weed removal and rebuilding of tracks), some restocking, and fishout days including special needs groups. Bookings for the fishout days can be made on the Bookings page on this site. Remember that children for guided fishing must be five or older.
Two of our Trustees, Cameron Reid and Richard Boyden, have retired in the last two months. Both Cameron and Richard Have been Trustees for over ten years and have contributed a great deal to the success of the ponds as a youth facility. They both intend to continue as guides on fishout days.
However we are now seeking two new Trustees. The role is not particularly onerous , 4-5 meetings a year , usually in the evening for about 1.5 to 2 hours. The meetings are mainly to organise the program for the year and future fishout days. There may be one or two tasks for Trustees arising from these meetings.
If you might be interested in becoming a Trustee give Ian Kearney a ring on 021 998713.
The ponds and surrounds are looking very great at the moment thanks to the Corrections Dept and the PD workers.
With the recent rain the water level is quite high so caution is needed around the pond edges.
There are plenty of fish in the ponds in late July so make the most of any fine weather for the kids to have a fish. They are just coming off spawning and not very receptive to taking a bait but persistence is likely to be rewarded.
Remember that the two smaller ponds are for bait and fly fishing only. Spinners, lures, softbaits etc are restricted to the big pond. Fishers (the person holding the rod ) must be between 5 and 17 years of age.
Have a good fish 
Access to the ponds
The old access road off of River Rd. is now closed. The new access road is further on at the intersection of Waimea West Rd. and Challies Rd. For directions see:
pond availability update
Taylors Contracting are starting work on the new access road from the end of Challies road next week so ,all going to plan, the new access should be available in early November ready for fishout days. Taylors have also offered to do some deepening of our existing ponds while they had machines on site so we should end up with better access and better ponds.
The TDC gravel extraction project has enabled the development of another fishing pond nearby. This pond will be managed by Fish and Game and will provide an opportunity for adult licence holders to fish.
Great fishing on the 11th of November
The first fishout day on the 11th of November went well with most kids catching fish. There was fine weather , co-operative fish , and great fishing by the kids. The biggest fish was 2.6 kg caught by Jayarn with the average being around 900 to 1000 gms. TDC have done a great job in grading the access road and Corrections in preparing the surrounds to the ponds.
News
the ponds are open for fishing by kids with family/caregiver supervision until the end of September. Please note that the conditions of use must be complied with , particularly no fishing with spinners, lures including softbaits except in the big pond.
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