SAFC Kids Fishing Day - Sunday 21st February 2010

For the second year running the Southport Amateur Fishing Club was delighted to invite twenty children on the Gold Coast to participate in the Sunfish Lifestyle Kids Fishing Day on Sunday 21st February 2010.

The programme followed the Sunfish guidelines and was conducted by Pam and John Crone from Ipswich. Including rules, safety and the social responsibilities when fishing, knot tying, rigging a rod and casting, fishing mime and a hands on fishing experience. As qualified Sunfish instructors they were extremely efficient with their approach to education and responsibilities, practical assistance, answering questions, patience and time management.

The Department of Industry and Fisheries were invited to speak to the children giving them an overview of what their job role entails, fish identification, bag and fish size limits and importantly why we need to help conserve our waterways to be able to continue to enjoy recreational fishing.

We were pleased to have David Bateman from Sunfish attend the event in a supervisory role.

The twenty one volunteers of Southport Amateur Fishing Club that assisted with the event generously put in efforts such as event advertising, organising the registration of participants, one on one mentoring and practical help assisting the children to rig, cast and fish, the setting up and dismantling of equipment, preparation, cooking and serving of food, taking photos and the presentation of certificates of attendance by the club patron Dawn Critchlow.

Children arrived at 8.00am to sign in by their parents and received a coloured nametag .Twelve parents remained for the day and all commented that they too had a valuable learning experience. The twenty children were divided into mixed age groups of four coloured teams. Club volunteers were also allocated into matching coloured teams which helped both the instructors and children when they worked in group activities.

Both the setting up and beginning of the days events were conducted in pouring rain but by midday blue skies timed perfectly for the children to walk to the Broadwater for their practical fishing session. They rigged, baited and cast their own lines and then there was excited faces and just as excited and proud parents as the fish started to reel in. Some good whiting, bream, a flathead and even the old slippery eel were the catch of the day.

A delicious BBQ lunch was served of hamburgers, sausage sandwiches and fruitplatters. Following lunch was a fun fishing quiz between the teams. The children scored full marks which showed they had a good knowledge of fish topics and had all listened to the instruction and information taught throughout the day.

The Southport Amateur Fishing Club has had very positive feedback from the event from a survey and numourous email and text messages. A follow up email sent to all parents thanking them for their attendance and offering them free membership to children if a parent joined and to view our website to request any photos of their children taken on the day. The survey information collected from parents at the end of the day showed the success of the event with comments such as ‘ the event could not be run any differently’ and ‘it was a valuable opportunity to educate and enlighten our children’. Several families have requested forms to join the club.

Finally, the Southport Amateur Fishing Club would like to thank the Sunfish instructors for conducting the event and giving the children a wonderful fishing experience. The department of Industry and Fisheries sponsorship which funded the event and the fisheries inspectors that came along to talk to the children. The volunteers including the ladies that baked cakes for morning tea and those that assisted tirelessly on the day.

It has been a fantastic experience for the children to promote fishing for our youth in our community and we look forward to supporting the Lifestyle Kids Fishing Day at the Southport Amateur Fishing Club in the future. It is great to see such a good response by those attended wishing to continue some friendships made on the day and enthusiastic to contiue enjoying responsible recreational fishing on our Gold Coast waterways.

Monica Logue
Secretary
SAFC