
4 minute read
Angling Report
January Beach Comp The idea of having an award-winning pie from the Pinjarra bakery had my wife Deborah and I, eager to head down south for a bit of a change of scenery (along with the fact that the strong southwest was slightly more favourable than our usual northern spots). With Deb unable to finish any earlier than 9.30pm on Friday, meant it was only the one night on the beach for the weekend and a later than usual start with our toes not hitting the sand until 6am Saturday. The first spot we tried saw us both with undersize King George whiting and a few near misses with Flounder. I bagged a Herring early on then it was onto the next spot. We hit up the Mandurah estuary where it only took me about 6-7 minutes to add a Yellowfin whiting to my tally. The next spot was Dawesville cut where we hoped to catch some Skippy. MORE undersize King George was caught by both of us along with HEAPs of undersize Tarwhine. After about 90 minutes or so we decided it was time to grab that Pie.
As good as it was it wasn’t nearly as delicious as the Tony Ale pies we get, worth the drive off the freeway at Beeliar drive if you ever have the time!
Afterward we decided it was time to brave those strong winds and head for White Hills highway. The heat was starting to be quite unbearable with the poor Prado just recently losing its air conditioning. We cracked a couple of cold drinks, wound down the windows, and put the foot down on the gas! Although the sea breeze was well and truly blowing, the water was crystal clear. This got the blood pumping through the veins again with the thought of being able to have a set line out, hoping for something heavy. It wasn’t long before I upgraded my Herring and a Tailor. Deb got out of the car and braved the sandstorm, getting a nice Herring herself just before nightfall. The sea breeze was relentless. The sunset was still beautiful and I had a few inquiries on the big rod but nothing that stuck! By about 10.30pm I pulled the rods in and decided to get some shut-eye before trying again in the morning. 5am and my alarm was going off. No need for the head torch as it was already light, Also the wind had buggered off making it a very enjoyable morning for a fish. I got a few more Herring and then hooked onto a decent Flathead. On the way home I pulled up to some very reefy water where I was pretty certain I would get a Wrasse and I did! We had to detour on the way home as a fellow 4WDer had come unstuck on the narrow section a few KM’s south of the white hills turn off. We drove all the way back and got out at Preston before heading home. I ended up with the 5 species, which was good enough to earn me third place in the men’s and Deb’s one Herring won her the lucky competitor prize! Ricko came second with 7 species including an 880g Skippy and 560g Tailor. Vince Cox won the mens with an impressive 8 species and a total of 105 points! His mixed bag included a gold spot Sweetlips, 566g Tailor and a 355g Herring. In the Ladies, Sue Freeman had another very good weekend winning the ladies with 6 species including a Skippy of 382g and a Tailor of 390g. In the Vets Mick Lock won again with 6 species and 104 points. Locky had a Tailor of 597g, Pike of 148g and even a Black Bream of 358g. In the mini juniors, we had 4 weigh ins this month which is great! Good to see a few more kids joining in! The winner was Toby Weymouth, he ended up with 3 species including a great Tailor of 520g. Excellent work mate! His sister Lucy came second. Buckets was a bit disappointed he didn’t win anything with his 1.6kg Pink Snapper. A great fish though! He was quite generous to give it away to Maree, which might have been the Karma that won him the meat raffle! He didn’t go home empty-handed after all! Well done aha! Looks like a few of the club who ended up in Jurien got stuck into lots of Dart, Whiting, Herring just to name a few of the species. We had 21 anglers weigh in which I’m very pleased about, especially considering how strong the winds were pretty much from 11am Saturday until 11pm that night! Next beach comp is on the 19-20th of February, would be awesome to keep those fishing numbers up again! Tight Lines
Robert Meneguz
Beach Fishing Captain