Angling – September Fishing Competition

There was drama aplenty at the final weigh-in for the 2020-21 Angling Section’s season on September 4 on a day when the inshore water was still filthy but it didn’t prevent some anglers from getting a bucketful of fish.

Kev Kroeger saved his very best work for the finale, Ray Wilson was happy that spring had sprung and the king george were enjoying a run around the sand patches following the winter hibernation, and Craig Thomas donned his Good Samaritan cape to help a few anglers in need.

First, Kev. Snapper have been prevalent in recent comps, and Joe Venter’s trusty crew made a broadway appearance at the weigh-in, lumping a 7.32kg pinkie on to the scales to take out the annual prize for the heaviest snapper.

Ray, fishing with Pat Keenan-Smith over at Rottnest, nor-east of Phillip Rock, landed eight king george all around the 40cm mark over an unremarkable piece of bottom. A few skippy, a flathead and sandies also came from the same spot. Earlier Pat and Ray had taken some nice sand whiting in around 20-21m way north of the Windmills.

There was no denying that Criag was the hero of the day, fishing alone, well at least for the first 30 minutes. After settling in over broken ground a several kilometres east of Rottnest, Craig had already landed his first pink snapper when his phone rang.

It was john Bech, who was stranded at the club with his wife Denise following boat trouble. Without hesitation, or maybe a bribe or two helped, Craig shot back to the ramp, collected the Bechs and doubled back to his spot.

The pinkies didn’t seem to mind the delay, with the three anglers on board collecting two each, and at one stage Craig returned a 5.8kg dhufish because he had his two demersals. One lucky dhuie, one unhappy Craig!

Craig also landed three king george and a few other fish to win the comp with 81.96 points, beating Ray by nine points.

More importantly, though, already with a handy lead over Joe, Craig won the champion angler award for the first time, with Joe a hard-fought second. Well done, Craig.

Denise was a convincing winner in the women’s section, with 310 points, while Andree Martin was second with 197. Jai Thomas (Craig’s son) was the leading junior, with 112 points from three competitions.

The first competition for the 2021-22 season is scheduled for October 2.