The Angling Report (continued)

Lucky Competitor Prize

Deb Meneguz

Beach Fishing Report – March

Rob Meneguz wire trace. I knew if I persisted, I would get one, as long as I could get one on deck before Deb’s patience ran out aha. I finally got a small Whaler Shark of just under 8kg. I also managed a Silver Catfish which broke a club record.

Sunday morning the winds were still breezy but a little less than Saturday, the swell was also low. I managed to chalk out a balloon, but the bait went untouched. Maree fished her heart out all weekend and was rewarded with a nice Goldspot Sweetlip of 2.52kg. It was a Club record for all of about 5 minutes until Nick Furlans bag got opened and a 2.54kg specimen got put on the scales. Bittersweet for Maree but she is really starting to get some good numbers on the board, and you can see she’s going to become a strong competitor. Congrats to Nick though for a very impressive Goldpsot and walking away with the club record. Mark brought his mate Fritz along to fish the comp, he ended up walking away with a 3rd place with a catch and release Wobbygong. He also pulled a FAT Yellowfin whiting out right next to me of 34cm and 259g. Hopefully we see Fritz fish a few more comps and possibly even join the club. I’m not sure how much fishing he’s done previously but he had a line in the water every time I checked!

Sunday arvo around 3pm everyone started gathering around and finding their positions to watch the weigh in at the Chalets. Myself, Ricko and Bruce conducted the weigh in with Terry & Kiwi recording all the scores and heaviest. They did a great job especially as my weigh in books didn’t have enough sheets *Face Palm*. After the weigh in I made an announcement for the best catch, that Deb and I are expecting our first child in September. Drinks and nibbles continued into the early evening. Chris Graham, Alex Morrison and I carved up some fish to take home but also put few large plates of fillets together to cook up that evening. With the wind still swirling around I decided to take the fish into the chalets and do a big cook up. A little Tandaco was all that was needed on the fresh fish (Tailor, Dart and Catfish) before being served. Everyone loved it!!! Even Pomy John was asking for the recipe.

A few great fish need to be mentioned. Alex Morrison caught the only 2 Mulloway for the entire weekend. Both similar size with the bigger of the 2 weighing in at a little over 7kg. Alex caught both these fish between 10-12pm which is even more unusual. This is the second year in a row that Alex has got himself a Mulloway to whack on the scales! Great work mate! Adam Broadhead put together the best bag I’ve seen him weigh in with 5 different species and earning him 61 points! Chris Graham only managed 2 fish however both fish were the heaviest and good fish. Tailor was 1.139kg and the dart was just shy of 2kg (Which we cooked up that night and tasted GREAT!). Lyn Malone caught a good Flounder of 494g which was the only Flounder of the weekend. Terry Bell got a chunky Tarwhine weighing 814g along with 6 other species. Joe Wettinger fished exceptionally with 7 different species including the biggest Wirrah Cod of the day at 1.716kg and a solid Dart of 880g.

We had well over 50 people watching the weigh in with 40 bags recorded. Not as many as last year however the conditions were also not as favourable. It was good to see quite a few new members fish including Callum Williams who made the journey by himself and got stuck into a few species. Rob Yates, Adam and a few others helped Callum out, who has since told me he had a blast! Hopefully we can continue to grow the beach angling competitions and continue the growth in the right direction. If you want to fish future comps you are allowed to bring a companion outside the club who can fish and participate as a visitor. We also have an Angling Facebook page and messenger group which you can comment in if you need someone to fish with as there are sure to be others in the same position.

Tight lines