Community Fishing Afternoon – Thursday 7th March 2013.
Twenty-five teams contested this term's event at Tacoma, with high hopes of landing a solid haul of fish. It was great to see Mums and Dads, Nans and Pops and younger siblings come along with students from the high school to try their luck, but also simply to participate in an enjoyable school community event.
With the water usually being nice and warm in March, we were hopeful of plentiful catches, but the record rains thwarted our plans. (Excuse No. 1). The water was just too cold to promote the feeding frenzy that we saw two years ago when 172 fish were caught at this same spot. With all the extra rain water in the river system, the salinity of the water was also reduced (Excuse No. 2) which also affected the activity levels of the fish.
The usual scoring system was in place with undersize fish contributing five points to a team's total and "keepers" being worth forty points. Sadly, several small bream were the only species that troubled the scorers. The highlight of the afternoon was a healthy 28cm bream landed by Jhye Kelley and Dad John.
First Place: Jhye Kelley (Year 6) and Dad - 40 points
Second Place: Shannon O'Neill (Year 6) and Dad – 15 points
Third Place: Owen Heynes (Year 7) and Darcy Strike – 5 points
Nathan Riant (Year 8) and Pop – 5 points
Dylan O'Neill (Year 9) and Mum – 5 points
Fishing afternoon note (pdf 46 KB)
Our next Commmunity Fishing Afternoon is scheduled for Thursday the 7th March at Tacoma. For Years 5-12 students and their families. Information letter out soon.
See you there!
Community Fishing Afternoon
- 22 November 2012
Twenty teams of Wadalba students wet their lines in this term's event. The conditions were less than optimal, with a steady breeze and overcast skies challenging the competitors.
Landings were scarce to start and dominated by undersized fish. As the hours passed the average size remained constant but the frequency certainly increased. At competition's close at 7pm, thirty-two fish had been presented to the judge's table. Bream topped the list of captured species, but also included Tailor, Mullet and Blackfish.
Results
1stPlace: Shannon O'Neill (Year 5) and Dad, Mark
2ndPlace: Vanessa Jager (Year 8) and Ebonnie Jager (Year 6)
3rdPlace: Owen Heynes (Year 6) and Dad, Tony
A great sense of community was evident on the day. Well done to all those who supported the event and we eagerly await the warmer waters (and greater numbers of larger fish) in our next competition coming up in Term 1 2013.
Community Fishing Afternoon Report
8 December 2011
A rainy day turned into a warm Thursday afternoon for our pairs fishing competition on the banks of the Wyong River at Tacoma. Students from Years 5 -12 and their families, plus several staff, had come along to try their luck. Competition rules stated that capturing undersize fish added 5 points to the team tally and capturing legal size fish or "keepers" was worth 40 points. The team with the most points by
7pm would claim victory.
After the record number of fish caught in March, we had high hopes that once again this spot would produce. In the last outing, a smorgasbord of fish species was caught at this same location. The usual suspects were there with flathead, bream, whiting and tailor, but then some less common species such as estuary perch, herring, tarwhine, angel fish and blackfish gathered many a young angler around the bucket to see what had been caught.
Unfortunately, the fishing this time around was relatively quiet. Fifteen undersize bream were captured with a solitary whiting and a lone blackfish thrown in. The fish that made all the difference was a nice 26cm bream landed by Jayden Pembrey of Year 8, scoring 40 points for his team.
Despite the less than frantic fishing taking place, it was great to once again see so many parents and grandparents attend. With some comfortable camping chairs and a few cheese and biscuit platters circulating, a few hours along the riverbank was not hard to take.
The Community Fishing Afternoon concept attempts to put the Community back into Wadalba Community School. It serves as a great transition to high school opportunity for our Year 5 and 6 students and allows relationships to be built with the older high school students and teachers. The younger anglers are often the keenest and seem to inevitably feature in the final placings. Fishing is the vehicle for a common interest to be forged across age barriers, and often results in a friendly nod or "been catching any lately?" as students pass each other in the high school corridors.
Wadalba Community School's Recreational Fishing Club has been in operation since 2006 and remains a positive interest group in the school community where students of all ages come together to share photos of their catches, fish together and most of all, to develop meaningful relationships with fellow students and staff. We welcome more of the community to attend our next event in Term 1 2012.
(For more information, contact Mr Matt Riley , Head Teacher PDHPE)
First place: Jayden Pembrey and Austen Walker (Year 8) – 45 points
Second place: Owen Heynes (Year 5) and Dad – 40 points
Third place: Darcy Brown and Sam Almond (Year 8)
Placegetters receive BCF vouchers and bragging rights amongst their mates.
So many fish!
Community Fishing Afternoon
24th March 2011
Our second Community Fishing Afternoon was held at Tacoma recently on a Thursday afternoon. The weather was favourable and saw sixteen pairs competing for fishing glory. The competition was once again open to students from Years 5 to 12 and their family members, with undersize fish worth 5 points and legal fish worth 20 points.
Last year, Wadalba anglers caught 46 fish – a positive number we thought at the time. This year participants caught a staggering combined total of 175 fish! While many were undersize and subsequently returned to the Wyong River, there were some great keepers caught too. Fish of note included a 49cm flathead, another at 48cm and a 29cm bream. A wide array of species were pulled to the shore by Wadalba students, including tailor, blackfish, bream, whiting, flathead, estuary perch, long tom and tarwhine.
Congratulations to the following teams:
First place: Sommer Smith (Year 6) and Monique Vincent (Year 5) – 210 pts
Second place: Owen Heynes (Year 5) and Dad Tony – 165 pts
Third place: Glen Packer (Year 12) and Jarrod Coles (Year 12) - 130 pts
Thank you to all students, family, teachers and community members who supported this event. See you at our next fishing afternoon in Term 4 later this year.
Wadalba Community School Recreational Fishing Club (Est. 2006)
Community Fishing Afternoon Report
25th November 2010
Our event was held in beautiful, sunny conditions on the grassy banks of the Wyong River at North Tacoma on Thursday, 25th November between 3:30 and 7pm. Fourteen teams, consisting of students from Years 5 to 12 along with their families, took part in the pair's competition format. With undersize fish worth 5 points and "keepers" worth 20 points, Nathan Riant from Year 5 took an early lead.
A great variety of fish were captured and brought to the judge's table for scoring. Species included Bream, Blackfish, Flathead, Herring, Estuary Perch and Whiting. It was great to see both boys and girls participating and a number of parents in attendance.
Winning teams received BCF vouchers.
1st Place: Glenn Packer and Chris Brock (Year 12) – 90 points
2nd Place: Jayden O'Connell & Jamie O'Brien (Year 8) – 75 points
3rd Place: Kieran Smith (Year 12) and Sommer Smith (Year 5) – 30 points
Congratulations to our winners. We look forward to seeing even more members of the Wadalba Schools Learning Community at our next event in Term 1, 2011.
