A group of adults who were caught on video threatening and intimidating a group of teenagers who were fishing at a West Lakes pond last week may regret their choices as the Adelaide community rallies to side with the teens who were chased away.
The video of the adults went viral with much of the Adelaide public outraged at the residents’ behaviour, and defending the teenagers who were fishing legally at the small pond.
The four adults were filmed screaming and yelling at the teenagers, demanding they leave, and claiming they would call the police.
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One of the men then grabs a young boy’s bag and flings it onto the ground.
In the video, they told the man, “you can’t do that” while the man continues to yell and intimidate the teenagers.
WATCH ABOVE: Ch7’s Ned McHenry’s offer to teens chased off at West Lakes fishing spot.
Another adult in the video responds to the boy, claiming it was the group of teenagers at fault.
“You ruin the environment; we ruin your things. You ruin our things; we ruin your things,” they said in the video.
The group of adults continue to tell the teens to leave, with the adults encroaching on the fishing spot in an apparent attempt to intimidate the teenagers by entering their personal space.
One woman even claps in a boy’s face after he refused to move.
Another older man can be seen and heard yelling profanities at individual boys, including “piss off”, “you go away”, as well as “shut the f--k up” and “f--k off”.
The same man then leans into the camera and yells once more “You go away … F--k you!”.
The boys eventually dispersed from the area, taking their bikes, bags, and fishing rods.
Former AFL star turned fishing show host Ned McHenry could not hide his outrage after watching the viral clip.
“To the clowns who had a go at you, I’m so glad that the boys and everyone in South Australia said ‘stuff you’ because it wasn’t good enough, the fact they’re off their phones and out there wetting a line is just fantastic,” he said.
RECFISH SA have also since weighed in, voicing their support of the teenage boys being outside and enjoying having a crack at fishing, and will hold an event this Saturday at Delfin Island.
“Horrendous scenes against a group of youth fishing for carp occurred over the weekend by Fresh Water Reserve residents, and it’s time to show state government how much we need action against recreational fishing lockouts and minority pressure,” they said on Facebook.
“Fishing in this area is not illegal. However, council have not confirmed it will stay this way, following a minority agenda.
“It’s time for South Australians to come together in a positive way-by fishing together.
“360,000 south Aussies fish, that’s 1 in 4 people!
“The time to act is Saturday 12th April 2025. Bring your family, your neighbour and anyone else. Let’s show SA recreational fishers aren’t to be excluded from the South Australian lifestyle we’ve worked so hard for.”
One of the teenager’s fathers, Matthew Visentin, thanked RECFISH SA for creating the event.
“Thanks for arranging this, my son was one of the lads there on Saturday that had their belongings thrown around and were abused at just for trying to catch a fish,” he said on Facebook.
7NEWS understands SAPOL is investigating the incident.
