WIRF

WIRF Cara Cummings

WIRF celebrates its network reaching an amazing 3,000 members. That’s 3,000 female anglers from all walks of life and backgrounds. Some have never fished but are eager to learn and others are making waves in the fishing industry. Wherever our members lay on the spectrum, they are all BREAM CLASSIC CHAMPION

WIRF member Kate Callow has broken a 15-year drought and is the first female angler (along with her partner) to take out this year’s Vic Bream Classic Tournament in Mallacoota.

The Vic Bream Classic Series is a catch and release bream fishing tournament circuit where anglers compete in qualifying events to get to Grand Final. Each round is run

What a cute little catch this was for Leanne.

valued and have so much support and advice for each other. It is a wonderful platform to share knowledge, fishing adventures, photos and even the mishaps! at different venues all over Victoria with the Grand Final, rotated each year between the qualifying venues.

Kate very kindly agreed to an interview and shares her story below: Kate, you are now living history! Being the first female angler to win a Vic Bream Classic tournament in its 15-year history. This is such a momentous moment! Tell us what was going through your head when you realised you had taken out the title?

Disbelief. I knew that we had done well, but to win was a surprise. We were up against some great anglers and came into the second weigh in happy to have caught 5/5 for the day and hoped to stay in the top 10. We didn’t find out until later that I was the first female to be part of a team that had won. I was a little bit chuffed to have that achievement but more proud of how both my partner and I had approached the weekend and stuck to our guns. Tell us a little about yourself, where you are from and what you do?

I grew up in Newborough, a small town in the Latrobe Valley in Gippsland. I moved to Melbourne during my time at uni and have been living up here ever since. I currently work as an Instrument Chemist testing soil and water samples for the presence of different compounds. I’ve always been an avid sportsperson, playing basketball for over 18 years and giving any sport a try. How long have you been fishing? What was your defining fishing moment?

I’ve been fishing on and off since I was a child. I grew up fishing off jetties with my Mum or Dad and more recently took up lure fishing when I met my partner Jesse in 2017. This is when I got more into fishing and began to enjoy the challenge and active nature of lure fishing. My defining fishing moment would have to be as a child fishing a lake near Tathra in NSW over Easter with my Mum and brother and catching a big bream that bent my small plastic rod so much that the red plastic was stretched white during the fight to bring it in. We need to talk about your newly received crown, tell us about this competition? Have you entered before?

As mentioned, the Vic Bream Classic has been around for 15 years. They hold rounds throughout the year across all of Victoria, from Nelson in the far west, to Mallacoota in the far east. The aim is to try and catch a bag of five bream each day (Saturday and Sunday) and whoever weighs the most over the weekend, wins. Bill Hartshorne runs a great comp, and I would invite anyone to give it a go. This is my first year competing after my partner invited me to join him this year, and so far, it’s definitely been enjoyable. Is it safe to assume that bream are your favourite target species? What else do you enjoy fishing for?

I enjoy fishing for any species as each fish come with their set of own challenges. Bream are definitely a favourite as you often need to work hard to convince one to take your lure and the pride you feel when you pull that off is satisfying. I really enjoy fishing for Australian bass, particularly top water fishing. The aggressive nature of the bass means you need to stay focussed the entire time, not only to ensure you hook up but to keep them out of any snag they try to run to. The anticipation of waiting for them to hit a surface lure when you get the cast just right is what excites me the most about them. How and when did you discover WIRF and what do you love about

Maria with her tuna.

the network?

I was added to the Facebook page by a family friend a couple of years back and love the engagement between all the members on there, plus the support everyone shows for each other. For up-and-coming young fisher girls who now will look up to you as a mentor, what is your advice to them?

Don’t be discouraged, there’ll be days where the fish won’t bite and you can leave pretty disheartened. But keep trying and most importantly keep

learning, there are so many good YouTube videos, magazines and books that can help you improve your fishing. Focus on what you do, don’t worry about what others think or do, the more you try the better you’ll get and always have confidence in yourself. Any other fun facts or info you would like to share?

I enjoy both wildlife and astro photography and try to get out and do that as much as possible. I always take my camera with me when going out fishing.

SEAHORSE SNAG

Leanne Ngo shared her one in a million ‘seahorse’ snag!

“Whilst doing my thing with the egi rod at Rye Pier, I had felt the slightest, slightest, slightest ever tug. My jig had snagged a single tiny piece of seaweed. I was about to pull off the seaweed and recast the rod until, to my amazement and with closer inspection, was the cutest tiny baby seahorse with its tail tightly coiled around the seaweed!

“The piece of seaweed with the little drifter was released back into the water soon after and it was in no way harmed nor hooked on to the jig.”

Please remember that seahorses are protected species in Victoria. Do not take, nor attempt to take. MEMBERS BRAG MAT

Fishing off Port Fairy, Maria Dougiakis reports, “We all enjoyed catching a feed of southern bluefin tuna and albacore. Fishing

between 1100-1500m depth out on the southern ocean shelf, mostly around high tide. Not many birds, but those out there were helpful to find bait balls. 18 over the day to the boat, and the fish taking all coloured lures available, bag limit was reached quickly with multiple hook ups, reels screaming, and plenty returned to grow.” • To stay up to date and see what else has been happening within the network and for upcoming events, please head to our Facebook group www. facebook.com/groups/ womenrecfishing/or via the VFA website/Facebook page. Are you a WIRF member? If not, we’d love to have you on board! Join us on FB today.

2-3 punnets cherry tomatoes 500g marinara mix Salt and pepper 4 sprigs fresh thyme 1 tsp dried oregano 1 Spanish onion - sliced 1 tbsp Olive oil 1 block fetta 1 packet spaghetti

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