Yesterday, about 200 people flooded to Eckholds Pond for a day of family fun at the annual Take a Kid Fishing Day.
Each year, hundreds of people would travel to the North Otago property in Peebles to try their hand at catching a trout, salmon or even the odd eel — and to pass on some fishing knowledge, of course.
Property owner Mark Eckhold said it was the eighth year the event had been held, but the pond had a history of being host to families.
Before Take a Kid Fishing Day started, Mark’s father, Max, held family fishing days at the pond soon. He had transformed it from a swamp in the 1980s.
Now Mark and his wife, Sonya, had opened their gates to the community.
Because of the event’s popularity, 200 registration spots for children could be claimed at Oamaru Sports and Outdoors Ltd.
That number would be on top of the 400 to 500 adults accompanying them, Mark said.
This year, it seemed a few people were turned off by the previous day’s rain, as 30 children did not turn up, but the rest of those fishing did not seem worried.
"It gives everyone else a bit more room and a bit of a chance," he said.
Each year, about 400 Twizel farmed salmon were released into the pond, thanks to the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company.
