WEEKEND COMPETITION JANUARY 5

The weigh-in for the January 5 Angling Section’s fishing competition provided few surprises but there was plenty of interest when John Bech produced his catch of the day.

Alas, it couldn’t be included in the competition but his enormous 2kg crayfish won wide acclaim. John’s legitimate entries didn’t rewrite the record books, but his day was already made when he and his mate Joe Gangemi pulled John’s pots before they started fishing the competition.

Five boats fished the comp in relatively good conditions, with an early sharp sou’easter which wilted around 10am before a vigorous seabreeze hit by noon.

Most boats fished inside the Garden Island-Stragglers line, though John and Joe had a fish out deeper and were entertained for a while by a mako shark.

King george whiting were again a feature of the day. Most boats landed several of the prized fish, with Pat Keenan-Smith and Ray Wilson nailing five.

In the last 10 minutes of competition the pair landed two of the best fish of the day – Ray’s KG weighed .92kg and Pat’s went .7kg, caught in 6m of water out from Mewstone.

Earlier, Sue Keenan-Smith set the tone of the morning with a nice .88kg flathead, and a .7kg skippy.

Kev Kroeger continued with his run of good form, scoring 66.88 points with five species while Pat scored 67.32 points. Sue did best among the ladies, scoring 51.83.

Ray won the day with 85.40 points after landing six species – king george, skippy, flathead, snook, herring and sand whiting (the biggest went .299kg).

Iain Grassick won the lucky boat prize, while Pat had the heaviest sand whiting (ray was ineligible after winning the comp) and won the mystery fish award. Each winner gets $110 towards their House Support Scheme.

The next weekend competition is scheduled for Saturday, February 9. Call Bob Litster for more details on 0417 189 776.