Shades Fishing News

Eden Amateur Fishing Club won back the annual inter-club grudge catch trophy from Merimbula on the weekend.

The trophy was contested by the three local fishing clubs at Eden, Pambula and Merimbula.

Eden Amateur Fishing Club hosted the event and the presentation barbecue which followed.

Presentations were held at the clubhouse at Quarantine Bay on Sunday afternoon.

Top anglers on the day were Eden’s Michael Lucas and Mark Prior and the most impressive catch was Gloria Sebley’s 35 kilogram mako, her first shark caught.

Miss Sebley also caught the biggest snapper (2.4kg) during the event.

Pambula will be the hosts next year and all who fished were looking forward to the “grudge catch” of 2009

Source : Eden Magnet

AN annual highlight of the winter fishing season is Malua Bay Fishing Club’s June Long Weekend Fishing Competition.

The club’s publicity officer Jenny Wallace said the competition, on June 8 and 9, not only offered great prize-money but also was a valuable fundraiser for the Batemans Bay Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol.

“We are giving away more than $8000 in prizes and all profits from the competition are donated to the Coastal Patrol,” she said.

Registrations will be taken at the Malua Bay Bowling and Recreation Club on Friday, June 6, from 3pm until late.

Entry fees are $40 for a family, $20 a single and $10 for anglers under 16 years.

Source: Moruya Bay Post

The 18th annual Gibber to Gibber Surf Fishing Competition was held last weekend.

A keen contingent of surf-casters from clubs around Bulahdelah, Tea Gardens, Narrabeen and Hawks Nest cast off at midnight on Friday night.

Members enjoyed a full day of fishing on Saturday, before an 11am weigh in on Sunday morning.

Calm conditions and an over night cool change made any fish caught a real achievement.

Anglers kept the weigh-master busy on Sunday as they recorded their catches.

An excellent catch by Lindon Tait and Gavin Stewart, along with other catches from club members, saw Hawks Nest take home the shield.

Clubs enjoyed the social atmosphere and competitive aspect of this iconic event.

This year the event was hosted by Narrabeen Fishing Club

Congratulations should go to all those who participated on the weekend and especially Hawks Nest on their win.

Source: Myall Coast Nota

LOCAL competitors have taken a major share of the prizemoney in the rich Megabream Forster two-day competition, part of the new week-long Forster Fishing Carnival.

Competitors came from the three eastern States to contest the Megabream on Saturday and Sunday, after a pre-fish session on Friday.

While Friday and Saturday provided excellent weather conditions, it was Sunday’s cold and blustery conditions that resulted in better bag numbers and improved weights.

The organisers, abtBREAM, together with Forster Fishing Carnival’s Max Frost were thrilled with the turnout and the results, and the visitors’ continuing enthusiasm for Forster as a prolific catch-and-release bream tournament host.

The contest was a skins event, giving the top five contenders on each day a rich purse totalling around $30,000.

Local competitors came out on Saturday with everything firing, taking first, second, third and fifth prizemoney.

On Sunday it was an Alpine Country team which blitzed first place, but locals again took second, third and fourth prizemoney.

Overall, with the two days tallied, locals were in first, second, third and fifth placings.

Saturday saw a win to the Rusty Hooks team of local tournament anglers Andrew Howard and Daniel Brown. They filled their allotted bag of five bream with a total weight of 4.25 kilos, to take home $5000.

Second was another local combination, Team Pflueger (Andrew Homann and Russell Babekuhl) with a bag of five weighing 3.41kgs and a payout of $2000.

The Graham Barclay Marine sponsored team of newcomers Grant Manusu and Shaun Chapman took third prize of $1250 with five fish weighing 3.29kgs.

Fourth were visitors Gamakatsu (Michael Starkey and Dean Silvester) winning $1250, and fifth the local combination Mark Healey and Karen Scully, sponsored by Forster Beach Caravan Park, taking home $1000.

Day two saw the Bilfinger/Alpine Country team of Cameron Whittam and Damien Domagala pocket the $5000 first prize with five fish weighing 4.43 kilos, and in second place was the Tuncurry Auto Electricians team of Peter McKinnon and Martin Richardson with 4.28kgs.

Another local combo, Adam Ward and John Startin for team Evinrude E-Tec/Squidgy Pro Range took third while the Graham Barclay Marine team of Grant Manusu and Shaun Chapman showed consistency in pocketing another $1250 for fourth place.

Visitors, Team Shimano of Mark Dunphy and Chris Cleaver finished fifth. Day one’s leaders, Andrew Howard and Daniel Brown could only manage 12th spot on day two, while Andrew Homann and Russell Babekuhl – second on day one – failed to repeat their earlier performance and filled ninth spot. The Tuncurry Auto Electricians’ team combined performance over two days saw them lead the pointscore with a combined weight of 10 bream of 7.25kgs.

Second overall went to Howard and Brown with 7.04 kgs, while newcomers Manusu and Chapman were elated with their third place overall, their 10 bream making 6.85kgs. Other local teams to finish in the top 10 overall were Ward and Startin in fifth, Homann and Babekuhl in sixth, Darren Borg and Kris Hickson in seventh and Healey and Scully in eighth.

Six prizes of $500 for the three biggest bream on each day went to Howard and Brown/Starkey and Silvester (shared) Healey and Scully, Whittam and Domagala, McKinnon and Richardson and Ward and Startin.

After each day’s weigh-in, the bream were on show in the huge Reef Science display tank, and were released back into the waterways of Wallis Lake with the help of local schoolchildren.

The Forster Fishing Carnival continues all this week with competitions for everyone, including Squidgies Flathead Megabucks, a Snapper on Plastics day, Kids’ Day and the six-day general fishing competition with weigh-ins each day. Special guest at several activities later this week is former footballer-turned fisho ET, Andrew Ettingshausen.

Source : Manning River Times

THE fishermen who rescued three sailors after their boat capsized off the NSW south coast put their own lives at risk, the organiser of an aborted fishing tournament said today.

A 36-year-old Sydney man was killed and three men had to be rescued, after their 7m motor cruiser capsized in rough seas 15km off the coast of Bermagui just after 2pm (AEST) yesterday.

It’s believed the men were knocked overboard by a large wave while fishing off the Continental Shelf, police said.

The men, aged 20, 29 and 43 from Sydney, were rescued after being spotted by fishermen returning from a tournament being conducted by the Canberra Game Fishing Club, which had been cancelled due to the bad weather.

They were taken to Bega District Hospital suffering minor hypothermia.

Secretary of the club, Sanchia Glaskin, said one of the men was spotted in the water as the competitors were returning to shore.

“I called the tournament off because of the bad weather, and a lot of the boats were coming in,” said Ms Glaskin, who was acting as the tournament’s radio operator.

“The boat Real Game was pulling in its lines, and one of the guys was up the top bringing down an outrigger, and he saw a person in the water waving their arms and yelling out.

“They went over and rescued him and he informed the crew that there were another three people in the water.”

Ms Glaskin said the fishermen then issued a mayday call.

Twelve of the boats that had returned to shore heading back out into one-and-half metre seas, and into the 20-25 knot winds, in a search-and-rescue attempt.

The two other men were located by the fishermen, as was the body of the fourth man.

Resuscitation attempts failed to revive him.

“They basically put their lives at risk to form a search-and-rescue,” Ms Glaskin said.

“It was really thanks to the bravery of the guys in the tournament that we don’t have four dead people.”

Source: The Australian

THE State’s biggest game fishing tournament will start in Port Lincoln this weekend.

The tournament will be the Game Fishing Club of South Australia’s premier game fishing tournament for the year.

Game Fishing Club of South Australia president Steve Morris said the tournament had not attracted a major sponsor but he hoped the success of this year’s event would help attract sponsors and more fishers next year.

He expects about 50 to 60 people and 15 boats to compete, including about six local boats.

Mr Morris said the current pattern of weather meant it looked like good weather for fishing throughout the tournament.

“Traditionally this time of year is mild to moderate weather.”

The tournament, from May 17 to 24, will be run under the International Game Fish Association code of conduct with competitors scoring points by tagging and releasing fish to compete for trophies in a series of categories including land-based and boat anglers.

Mr Morris said he thought tuna and sharks, other than the protected great whites and grey nurse sharks, would be a key target for fishers but they would also go for broadbill, sampson fish and kingfish.

“It would be a big coup if someone managed to tag and release some stripy tuna.”

A presentation will be held at the Port Lincoln Hotel on Saturday, May 24.

For more details about the tournament contact Bob Hutchinson at Spot On Fishing Tackle on 8683 0021.

Source : Port Lincoln Times

Kayla Maskell

The crowd was big and so were the fish.

This year’s Team River Rats catch and release fishing contest resulted in plenty of records being set.

The third annual event, held along the Goulburn River from Raftery Rd to Jordan’s Bend at the weekend, attracted more than 180 entrants.

Organiser Nick Brown said he was pleased to see more competitors, including people from out of town, juniors and families.

“We had about 40 junior entrants and 40 out-of-towners which included people from Melbourne, Bendigo, Yarrawonga and the Gold Coast,” he said.

Shepparton’s Mark Irwin caught the biggest Murray cod, which measured a record 92cm. The biggest yellow-belly was caught by Stuart Hamilton of Shepparton at 51cm.

Mr Brown said about 35 oversized fish were caught during the two-day event including Jemma Maher’s 43cm golden perch, which won the under-13s junior section.

Source: Shepparton News

A coroner investigating the deaths of three Tasmanian fishermen last year has stressed the need for strict rules for fishing competitions.

Three men from one Nubeena family died when the boat they were in capsized off the Tasman Peninsula in April last year.

The three men and two others planned to take part in a tuna fishing competition, but decided to head back when the weather turned bad.

Their five-point-eight metre boat was hit by a wave, capsized and eventually sank.

Two of the men were saved, but the other three could not be revived.

The Coroner, Stephen Carey, said it was unsafe to have five people on board in the conditions, even though the boat was registered for six people in smooth waters.

Mr Carey stressed the need for organisers to have clear guidelines for calling off fishing events due to weather.

He said organisers need to be aware that the competitive nature of such events might influence some to keep fishing in unfavourable conditions.

Source: ABC Tasmania

The Central West’s premier fishing competition was staged in Wellington last weekend, with local anglers achieving some fantastic results.

This year’s Clubhouse Hotel Fishing Club competition saw some new rules, but this didn’t deter 149 entrants from registering for the three-day ‘fish-a-thon’.

The main change was the introduction of a ‘catch and release’ section, with the club attempting to reduce the number of fish killed unnecessarily in the annual event.

This new category proved to be a great success judging by the number of entries, and will definitely become a permanent feature of the competition.

There was no Murray Cod section as the closed season for this species ends on December 1 and fishing was also restricted to Burrendong Dam only this year.

Regardless of the changes, a large number of keen anglers of all ages registered at the dam, including 61 seniors in Catch and Release and 59 seniors in Catch and Weigh.

Numbers were down a little on last year, but I’m sure that everyone who entered had a great time and quite a few of them won some of the great prizes that were on offer.

With the onset of warmer weather and a water level of around 13 per cent, Burrendong has been fishing quite well and the weekend of the competition was no exception.

Just about all groups of anglers reported very good catches of golden perch, silver perch, red fin and catfish, with quite a few carp also being removed from the dam. Much to the frustration of many anglers, good numbers of cod were also caught but had to be released due to the aforementioned closed season.

It is very encouraging to see such numbers of all types of fish being caught, which is definitely a sign that the fishing club’s restocking program is working, keeping Burrendong’s

reputation as a great fishery alive and well.

With the marshall boats in the catch and release section being kept busy throughout the weekend, it was great to see such a large number of fish released unharmed and also encouraging to see a number of juniors in this section learning about responsible fishing.

This type of competition is the only way to ensure a sustainable fishery into the future.

This annual fishing competition is a great social event, with many anglers taking the opportunity to camp at

the dam, get together with mates,

have a few quiet beers and do some fishing.

However, it is still a serious competition with anglers trying hard to out-fish each other.

The winner of the Best Senior Club Angler, with a combined total weight of 3.89kg was Debby Rich, and keeping things in the family, Best Junior Club Angler, with a combined total weight of 4.40kg was Michael Rich.

Both Deb and Michael received perpetual trophies, which no doubt will be proudly displayed. A special congratulations to Deb for being the first woman to win this much-coveted trophy.

The inaugural Bubbles Bourke Memorial Trophy for the best club angler Catch and Release was presented to David Aries, who was honoured to receive the perpetual shield that I’m sure will continue to be tightly contested into the future.

This will keep alive the memory of a good mate and a keen fisherman who would never have missed this annual competition.

It appeared that the prize winners were all very pleased with their trophies and on behalf of the fishing club I would like to thank our sponsors for their generosity. Your continued support of this event will ensure it is continued into the future.

Well that’s about all, but I’m sure that everyone who took part in the competition, whether they won a prize or not, had a great weekend and will all be back next year.

The next event for the Fishing Club will be a Carp Catch weekend sometime in January, so keep an eye out for that.

Source: Wellington Times

NARRABRI angler Graham Ford has been crowned Great Inland Fishing Champion following another successful event at Copeton Dam.

The fifth championship, conducted over three days attracted 558 anglers from areas as far away as Stroud, South West Rocks and the Hunter Valley.

Ford won the major title ahead of David Martel of the Ashford Fishing Club.

He accumulated 3155 points after catching 22 fish which measured.

Martel scored 2801 and was the leader until Saturday lunchtime before Ford overhauled him.

671 fish were measured and released, comprising 506 golden perch, 153 catfish, 11 cod and 1 silver perch.

Senior female champion was Kathleen Ellis (Glen Innes) junior male was Zac Lynn (Glen Innes) and junior female Clare Weeks (Moree).

The Ashford number one team took out the $1000 Clubs Challenge.

Biggest fish caught during the championship was a 110 centimetre cod landed by Jake Smith.

Daily winners

Friday: Golden perch – Graham Ford and Shane Stewart 59cm.

Catfish – Steve Kinsella 60cm.

Saturday: Cod – Jake Smith 110cm.

Golden perch – Jeremy Weeks 63cm.

Catfish – Shane Riley 62cm.

Sunday: Cod – Shane Stewart 102.5cm.

Golden perch – Steven Spthorpe 92.5cm.

Catfish – David Martel 60cm.

Silver perch – Paul McKinnon 38cm.

Source: Inverell Times