Stratford young anglers catch a trout at Scout Den Pool

Isabelle Ogle with her trout. Photo / Supplied

Young anglers made the most of Stratford’s sunny weather on Saturday and headed to the Scout Den Pool to catch a trout.

The 25th Stratford kids’ trout fishing day got off to a quiet start until it was realised that most of the 300 rainbow trout released for the event were sitting in the riffle upstream.

Once they were ushered back downstream, the catch rate improved and there were plenty of happy kids who landed some great fish.

But by late morning the brilliantly fine Stratford weather caused trout to go off the feed and the fishing again became hard.

Chester James with his trout. Photo / Supplied

However, no one went away empty-handed, with plenty of barbecue sausages and chocolate fish provided by the Stratford Fishing Club and Stratford Lions.

With many fish remaining in the Scout Den Pool and gradually spreading out into other pools in the Patea River running through Stratford, there is still plenty of opportunity for budding anglers to catch a trout.

While anglers must hold a current trout fishing licence, they are free to children under 12 at the start of the angling season (October 1).

Evan Rawlinson was one of the many young anglers who caught a trout. Photo / Supplied

Parents and caregivers can help their youngsters to fish, but please just one fishing rod per licence.

A 24-hour junior licence for those under 18 costs just $5, while a whole-season junior licence costs $29.

Fishing licences, including child’s free licences, can be obtained from Magnum Sports or through the Fish & Game website.

There is a bag limit of two trout an angler a day, and anglers must cease fishing for the day once they have killed their second fish.