Family Fishing Day at Mathison Park - June 2023

VicFish for Kids held a fishing day at Mathison Park on Sunday May 21. It attracted a good crowd, many of whom came from around Melbourne. This was a great way to promote Lake Hyland and our beautiful Mathison Park.

The Fisheries officers erected three large marquees. Two were used by the experts for explaining to the young learning and would be anglers and their parents, the basics of fishing, the rules and regulations which apply and how to rig a rod and tie the knots needed. The third marquee was the registration tent where each of the 100 children who attended received a free rod and tackle plus a show bag of goodies.

After hearing the basics the children and their parents were invited to move near the fishing platform to see the trout netted out of a large tank and then released in to the lake. They then had half an hour to fish and see if they could catch one of those fish or one of the 250 released during the day.

Six of these fishing days will be held each year across Victoria with the aims of giving children and adults the chance to learn skills and try a new sporting activity, encouraging outdoor activity, and a chance to experience nature. They also aim to bring economic capacity to our area, and increase fishing tourism, part of Fisheries new strategy.

These present fishing days begun in 2016, are a continuation of the days held several years ago in the park when Lake Hyland was named one of the premier lakes in Victoria and was stocked regularly including for our Junior Fishing Competitions and Fun Family Fishing Days of the last few years.