Angling Section Awards Night 2021

Like father like son

It was a night for much celebration at the annual Angling Section awards night on December 8 as Commodore Phil Hearse came along to hand out the prizes.

And while all award-winners were roundly applauded, there was a special moment for the Thomas family as Craig and son Jai linked the past to the present.

Way back in 1990 Craig won the Section’s Champion Junior Angler award and has his name on the trophy to prove it.

Now, Jai, who has just completed Year 10, joins his dad after taking out the award for the 2020-21 year, and his name joins his father’s on the silverware.

While Jai bided his time to be called to accept his award, his dad had collected a treasure trove of prizes, including most species on a field day, heaviest break-sea cod, heaviest skipjack and the Bob Tucker Memorial Trophy.

To cap his night, Craig took out the ultimate award – the Champion Angler after gathering 714.76 points to beat Joe Venter (620.10) and Ray Wilson (567.92).

Denise Bech romped home in the Champion Adult Female section with 310.84 points, and also landed the heaviest tailor prize.

In one of the major gongs of the night, the much sought-after Champion Boat award, Joe Ventor triumphed ahead of Craig and the boat shared by Pat and Sue Keenan-Smith and Ray Wilson.

Joe also won a voucher for the heaviest herring while his sidekick Kev Kroeger boosted the boat catch weight with a bulky 7kg pink snapper which won him the heaviest pinkie prize.

Angling Captain John Bech had a productive year, winning vouchers for the heaviest dhufish and King George while Ray landed the biggest flathead of the year, a club record 2.6kg, and the fish also netted him the Catch of the Year prize.

Kelly Tann caught the heaviest baldchin groper while Andrew Engelbrecht caught the biggest sand whiting.

This article was written by Ray Wilson.