Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day; teach someone to fish and they could save their native species.
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Families and avid anglers gathered at Lake Wallace on October 15 to cast their lines with hopes of helping local fish to thrive by removing the invasive Redfin.
To prepare for the day, Wallerawang Central Acclimatisation Society (WCAS) released one hundred large brood stock Rainbow Trout into Lake Wallace on October 10.
Locals were then invited to a 'gone fishing day' extravaganza, where Rainbow Trout were reeled in and measured with prizes for the largest catch.
But the trout were then returned to the water, as the other focus of the day was the Redfin, with prizes for whoever could remove the most of the invasive species from the lake.
Ray Tang from the WCAS told the Mercury that while one Rainbow Trout can lay up to 3,000 eggs in the right conditions, one Redfin can lay around 200,000 eggs even in stagnant water.
He said Redfin not only compete for food against native species, they compete against their own species to the point of stunting their growth and developing EHNV, a virus which is devastating to all aquatic species including Australian native bass.
"I think they call it a class one noxious pest species, so it's right up there... one of the worst of the worst you can get," Mr Tang said.
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The day was a roaring success, with almost 200 entrants within the first hour. The major raffle for the day saw a Generation 9 Kayak with an electric motor up for grabs.
"We had a lot of people catching fish. Probably one of the most successful fish-catching events that we've had since we started this in 2016," Mr Tang said.
The largest trout caught on the day was a tie, with both Rainbow Trout measuring 650mm caught by Adrian Constable and Toby Zorz. The second largest catch was 600m by Peter WIlliams.
Josh Carpenter caught the most Redfin on the day with a total of nine. The most Redfin caught in the junior category was seven, achieved by Mathew Purdon.
Entry was $5 for children, $10 for adults. The money raised will go to the WCAS to support their activities and projects throughout the year.
