Season 2021/2022 - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

18-19 Jun 2022 - Freshwater (2) - Lake Eildon/Pondage
Anglers: 10 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st David Lamond, 2nd Paul Jones, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Fishing very slow, particularly in the Lake.

14-15 May 2022 - Estuary (2) - Gippsland Rivers/Lakes
Anglers: 15 Members
Results: 1st David Lamond, 2nd Dave Clark, 3rd Clem Robin
Memorable Moments: Rivers and lakes had Blue/Green algae since Easter. Only 1 Bream caught.

24 Apr 2022 - Whiting (3) - Western Port
Anglers: 6 Members
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Long weekend reduced available anglers.

20 Mar 2022 - Whiting (2) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 18 Members & 3 visitors
Results: 1st Clem Robin, 2nd David Lamond, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Junior Lex caught a nice Flathead bycatch.

19-20 Feb 2022 - Trailer Boat (3) - Port Albert District
Anglers: 18 Members
Results: 1st David Oates, 2nd Paul Jones, 3rd Michael Shilson-Josling
Memorable Moments: Accomodation at Lodge limited to 6 by Covid.

28-30 Jan 2022 - Trailer Boat (2) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 14 Members
Results: 1st Luke Truman, 2nd Jim Kavanagh, 3rd David Lamond
Memorable Moments: The kayak anglers had the most success.

10-12 Dec 2021 - Snapper (3) - Club Memorial Trophy
Anglers: 13 Members & 2 visitors
Memorable Moments: No eligible fish caught.

03-04 Dec 2021 - Trailer Boat (1) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 9 Members
Results: 1st John Roberts, 2nd Clem Robin, 3rd Luke Truman
Memorable Moments: Strong winds on Fri & early Sat kept numbers down. Luke caught a 37cm Snook.

19-21 Nov 2021 - Snapper (2) - 85th Anniversary Comp
Anglers: 11 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st David Lamond, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: David was the only one to weigh in and also bagged out.

13-14 Nov 2021 - Freshwater (1) - Lake Eildon/Pondage/Goulburn River
Anglers: 10 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Andrew Paice, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Paul Jones
Memorable Moments: Andrew used his local knowledge for success.

29-31 Oct 2021 - Snapper (1) - Jeff Worle Trophy
Anglers: 11 Members
Results: 1st Marc Lambrinos, 2nd Paul Quearney, 3rd Adam Lambrinos
Memorable Moments: First weekend out of lockdown and Cup weekend kept numbers down.

Jul-Oct 2021 - No comps due to COVID lockdowns

10-11 Jul 2021 - Estuary (1) - Gippsland Lakes/Rivers
Anglers: 12 Members
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Paul Jones caught a nice bream but unable to weigh in as it exceeded new 38cm max limit.

Season 2020/2021 - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

19-20 Jun 2021 - Freshwater (2) - Lake Eildon/Pondage
Anglers: 10 Members
Results: 1st Paul Jones, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Jim Kavanagh
Memorable Moments: Pondage drained on Sunday.

16-17 May 2021 - Freshwater (1) - Lake Dartmouth
Anglers: 5 Members
Results: 1st Paul Jones, 2nd Kevin Wilkinson, 3rd n/a

01-02 May 2021 - Estuary (1) - Marlo Estuary/Rivers
Anglers: 10 Members
Results: 1st Dave Clark, 2nd David Oates, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Dave Clark caught a nice Trevally of 0.910kg and 42cms after weigh-in on Sunday.

11 Apr 2021 - Surf (1) - Gunnamatta Beach
Anglers: 6 Members
Results: Comp abandoned by mutual agreement due to gale force winds.

21 Mar 2021 - Trailer Boat (3) - Western Port & Outside
Cancelled due to high winds.

26-28 Feb 2021 - Whiting (2) - Port Phillip
Cancelled due to lack of nominations.

20-21 Feb 2021 - Trailer Boat (2) - Port Albert & District
Cancelled due to COVID lockdown.

7 Feb 2021 - Whiting (1) - Western Port
Cancelled due to weather.

22-24 Jan 2021 - Trailer Boat (1) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 12 Members
Results: 1st Michael Shilson-Josling, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Harold Louey

27-29 Nov 2020 - Snapper (2) - Club Memorial Trophy
Anglers: 9 Members
Results: No eligible size Snapper caught.
Memorable Moments: Greg Stephens caught a 0.60kg Blue Spot Flathead.

20-22 Nov 2020 - Snapper (1) - 84th Anniversary Comp
Anglers: 21 Members & 4 visitors
Results: 1st Michael Shilson-Josling, 2nd Bradley Hocking (Jnr), 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Michael Shilson-Josling won the Comp on his new Jetski.

Jul-Oct 2020 - No comps due to COVID lockdowns
Revised Schedule for Nov 2020 to Jun 2021 issued.

Season 2019/2020 (continued) - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

Apr-Jun 2020 - Comps cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions

22 Mar 2020 - Trailer Boat (5) - Western Port & Outside
Anglers: 7 Members
Results: 1st P. Jones, 2nd M. Shilson-Josling, 3rd G. Stephens
Memorable Moments: Last comp before lockdown begins.

23 Feb 2020 - Whiting (2) - Western Port
Anglers: 7 Members
Results: 1st R. Wilson, 2nd D. Clark, 3rd J. Kavanagh
Memorable Moments: Andrew Gollin caught a Rock Flathead of 0.90kg.

15-16 Feb 2020 - Trailer Boat (4) - Port Albert
Anglers: 19 Members
Results: 1st R. Wilson, 2nd B. Shovelar, 3rd A. Martin
Memorable Moments: Bob S set a new Vic and Inter. record for line caught Flounder of 0.546kg.
Ron W set a Club Victorian record for a Bronze Whaler of 7.070kg.

01 Feb 2020 - Whiting (1) - Warneet / Corinella
Cancelled due to high winds.

17-19 Jan 2020 - Trailer Boat (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 17 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st D. Lamond, 2nd D. Oates, 3rd D. Murray
Memorable Moments: David Lamond set a new Club Record length for Long Fin Pike at 74cm.

08 Dec 2019 - Trailer Boat (2) - Southern Port Phillip
Anglers: 12 Members
Results: 1st P. Staindl, 2nd T. Black, 3rd G. Stephens
Memorable Moments: Phil Staindl bettered his own Club Record for heaviest Calamari Squid.

29 Nov - 01 Dec 2019 - Snapper (3) - Club Memorial Trophy
Anglers: 12 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st n/a, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: No eligible fish weighed in.

22-24 Nov 2019 - Snapper (1) - Jeff Worle Trophy
Anglers: 14 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st M. Shilson-Josling, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Michael caught his Snapper in close near a reef on a soft plastic.

15-17 Nov 2019 - Snapper (2) - 83rd Anniversary Comp
Anglers: 13 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st . Gollin, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Ron W caught a 2.31kg Gummy and Sandy S caught a 0.62kg Sand Flathead out deep.

09-10 Nov 2019 - Freshwater (1) - Eildon Lake, Pondage and Goulburn
Anglers: 10 Members
Results: 1st R. Wilson, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a

12-13 Oct 2019 - Estuary (3) - Lake Tyers
Anglers: 15 Members
Results: 1st R. Wilson, 2nd A. Vidovic, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Kevin Wilkinson released a Dusky of 56cm.

Season 2019/2020 (Jul to Sep)

Report from Phil Staindl.

Well, after a considerable absence, the fishing reports that follow the trials and tribulations of those hardy Sandy Anglers who in turn brave wind, rain, hail and distance in pursuit of fishing glory has returned.

There have been 5 competitions since the current season began back in early July, and it’s fair to say that the weather gods have challenged those brave and foolish souls on nearly every occasion. Having said that, there have been fish caught on every occasion, although some – such as last weekend – just! Steve Wilson has jumped out of the blocks and has shown everyone how to catch bream, and there are some other new(er) faces who have weighed in early in the season to show that this season may not be a case of "the same old faces" battling out the Club Championship.

Trailer Boat 1 Port Phillip Bay - 20th to 22nd September Well the weather gods intervened again with this, the first trailer boat comp for the season to be fished anywhere in PPB. The conditions on Saturay were horrendous so no one fished, and although the various forecasts for the Sunday were all over the shop, the conditions were actually reasonably good and turned out to be very fishable. Only problem was, no one told the fish. As more and more turned up to the BBQ at the Clubrooms with not a fish in sight, it was beginning to look as if the entire comp would registed the big “donut”. However, fresh from his footy tipping win, Jimmy Kavanagh turned up with a pinky snapper measuring around 32cms to claim top points and save the Club the mebarrassment of not having a fish weighed in. Nice one Jimmy. And great job by Rob K and Gary M for a lovely BBQ lunch.

Oh, and given I was the deckie abourd Slapper, I cannot possibly divulge the frustrations and embarrasment experineced by skipper Dave Clark whilst on the water. I’ll leave that to others to mention at the appropriate times!

Estuary 2 – Gippsland Rvers – 7th and 8th September Good numbers made the journey east to fish the second esturary comp for the season, with a dozen anglers (including a couple of visitors) enjoying the accomodation at the Nicholson River Caravan Park and the nearby Pub as part of a good wekend away. When we all awoke on the Saturday morning, disappointment was the only desciptor that could be advanced. The winds were howling, and for the majority who were planning to fish by boat or kayak, there was a marked reluctance to move. Undaunted though, Steve Wilson with his intrepid son, Lachie, baited up some rods and ventured down to the moorings on the river’s edge to try their luck. And guess what?? Within minutes, Steve had landed a beautiful 1.5kg bream, and nabbed his 2nd minutes after that. When Lachie joined his Dad on the scoreboard minutes after that, the word spread rapidly amongst the rest of us provacoting anglers, and pretty soon nearly everyon was down on the water’s edge trying their luck.

Some stayed in this location for the entire day, whilst others moved to try other locations and even other rivers. And the most pleasing thing was nearly everyone caught fish – land based! The Tambo proved highly proved productive, with Phil’s neighbour, Mark Sorrell landing quite a good bag of fish, including a trevely, whilst Ron, Steve and Lachie fishing the other side of the Tambo late in the day continued the hot pace they set earlier on in the day. JB proved he’s lost none of his angling abilities whilt travelling throug the desert to land 5 nice bream and Paul Jones picked up 4 nice fish.

A couple tried their luck from boats on the Sunday, but the fish had seemed to go off the bite, with Steve landing 1 more to guarantee top place on the podium. All in all, there were 12 people who fished, a toal of 32 fish weighed in (the number coould of been markedly higher but some anglers chose to release fish that were just size – a commendable trait!) for a total bag weight of 15.488 kgs. And although some people fished from boats on the Sunday, the Angling Secretary made the entirely noble decision not to award gunboat points for this competition given nearly all fish were caught shore based.

Placings were: 1st - Steve W, 2nd Jon B; 3rd Ron W, and a really special mention to junior, Lachie Wilson for weighing in 4 fish to come in 4th place overall. Superb effort young Lachlan!

Surf 1 – Woolamai to Kilcunda - 3rd August The early forecast for this beach competition looked really promising, but as the day drew nearer, the forecast worsened, and in this case, the weather predictors weren’t wrong. Strong winds, multiple rain squalls and heavy seas greeted the 6 anglers who fronted these conditions. And I’d like to say that all fisherman were rewarded for their efforts, but only two fish in total were weighed in. Your humble scribe weighed in a nice salmon that was just nudging the 1.5kg mark on the scales, whislt Andrew Gollin managed a more modest fish to take out 2nd place. Only other thing of note was that I invested a few $$ on an omen bet, with a horse named Inverloch at the nice odds of 12-1 crossing the line first at Caulfield whislt we were making the homeward journey. There had to be some bright aspect to the day!!

Estuary 1 – Gippsland Rivers - July 13 & 14 What can I say? The weather was lousy. Other than a brief period on the Sunday morning, the 8 herdy souls who made the trip east and largely fished the Nicholson all deserve medals for turning up. Four of the eight weighed in, with Steve Wilson taking the honours by weighing in 6 nice fish, the heaviest of which was over half a kilo in weight. Ron W came in second with Jimmy K and Greg S – both fishing from kayaks being the others to weigh in fish. Overall, a total of 10 fish were weighed in for a total bag weight of 4.6kgs. The only other news of note that the Nicholson Pub had received a much overdue facelift, and provided a far more pleasant environment to dine, drink and watch the footy!

That’s all for now. In the meantime, tight lines!

Season 2018/2019 - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

15-16 Jun 2019 - Freshwater (3) - Lake Eildon/Pondage
Anglers: 16 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Kevin Wilkinson, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Kevin's wins the comp on his maiden voyage in his boat.

02 Jun 2019 - Surf (3) - Woolamai Surf Beach
Anglers: 8 Members
Memorable Moments: No eligible sized fish weighed in.

18-19 May 2019 - Freshwater (2) - Lake Dartmouth
Anglers: 13 Members
Results: 1st Bob Shovelar, 2nd Robert Kaldor, 3rd Greg Stephens
Memorable Moments: Several attempts for this years Paddle Award!

05 May 2019 - Surf (1 - Rescheduled) - Kilcunda to Wonthaggi
Anglers: 7 Members
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd John Bentley, 3rd Paul Jones
Memorable Moments: John Bentleys Salmon set a new Club length record of 62cm.

13-14 Apr 2019 - Trailer Boat (6) - Bellarine Peninsular
Anglers: 9 Members
Results: 1st Greg Stephens, 2nd Phil Staindl, 3rd Jim Kavanagh
Memorable Moments: Riley S-J secures his 2nd Junior Championship.

24 Mar 2019 - Trailer Boat (5) - Western Port
Cancelled due to high winds.

03 Mar 2019 - Whiting (3) - Western Port
Cancelled due to high winds.

16-17 Feb 2019 - Trailer Boat (4) - Port Albert/W'pool
Anglers: 15 Members
Results: 1st Phil Staindl, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Michael Shilson-Josling
Memorable Moments: Luke Truman caught a Club record Flounder from his kayak.

8-10 Feb 2019 - Whiting (2) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 13 Members & 3 visitors
Memorable Moments: No eligible sized Whiting weighed in.

27 Jan 2019 - Whiting (1) - Western Port
Anglers: 6 Members & 2 visitors
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Dave Clark caught a Snapper of 1.4 Kg.

11-13 Jan 2019 - Trailer Boat (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 7 Members, 13 at weigh-in
Results: 1st Michael Shilson-Josling, 2nd Phil Staindl, 3rd David Oates
Memorable Moments: Michael Shilson-Josling's first comp win.

07-09 Dec 2018 - Snapper (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 11 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Phil Staindl, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Phil and his Guest Tony the only ones to catch fish.

02 Dec 2018 - Trailer Boat (2) - Southern Port Phillip
Cancelled due to high winds.

16-18 Nov 2018 - Snapper (2) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 18 Members, 1 visitor & 3 others at the weigh-in
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd Clem Robins, 3rd Dave Clark
Memorable Moments: Jim Kavanagh caught a Club record length Snook of 61cm fishing in the Club boat.

10-11 Nov 2018 - Freshwater (1) - Eildon Lake, pondage and rivers
Anglers: 18 Members
Results: 1st Phil Staindl, 2nd David Oates, 3rd John Bentley
Memorable Moments: Phil Staindl's Rainbow Trout set a new Club record for length at 58cm.

26-28 Oct 2018 - Snapper (1) - WP & PPB
Anglers: 15 Members
Memorable Moments: No eligible sized Snapper weighed in.

13-14 Oct 2018 - Estuary (3) - Lake Tyers
Anglers: 6 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd Dave Clark, 3rd Greg Stephens
Memorable Moments: Luke Truman's first weigh in with a Dusky.

28-30 Sep 2018 - Trailer Boat (1) - Port Phillip
Anglers: 6 Members
Memorable Moments: No eligible sized fish weighed in.

15-16 Sep 2018 - Estuary (2) - Gippsland Rivers
Anglers: 13 Members
Results: 1st John Bentley, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Dave Clark
Memorable Moments: Nicole Bradshaw's first weigh in with a Mullet.

26 Aug 2018 - Surf (2) - Gunnamatta
Anglers: 11 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Dave Clark, 2nd Paul Quearney, 3rd Clem Robins
Memorable Moments: Paul Quearney's first weigh-in with a Salmon.

12 Aug 2018 - Surf (1) - Kilcunda to Wonthaggi
Cancelled due to high winds.

21 Jul 2018 - Estuary (1) - Gippsland Lakes and Rivers
Anglers: 9 Members
Memorable Moments: No eligible sized fish weighed in.

Season 2017/2018 - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

16-17 Jun 2018 - Freshwater (3) - Eildon Lake/Pondage
Anglers: 11 Members
Results: 1st Peter Brown, 2nd Phil Staindl, 3rd John Bentley
Memorable Moments: Wet & cold conditions, Day 2 abandoned.

02 Jun 2018 - Surf (1) - Woolamai
Anglers: 8 Members
Results: 1st Andrew Gollin, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Andrew Gollin's first Surf comp win.

27 May 2018 - Surf (3) - Gunnamatta
Cancelled due to lack of nominations.

19-20 May 2018 - Freshwater (2) - Lake Dartmouth
Anglers: 9 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Alex Pansow, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Peter Brown
Memorable Moments: Alex Pansow's first Freshwater win.

21-22 Apr 2018 - Trailer Boat (6) - Bellarine Peninsula
Anglers: 13 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Craig Waller, 2nd David Oates, 3rd John Matheson
Memorable Moments: Riley Shilson-Josling nailed the Junior Championship with 3 fish.

06-08 Apr 2018 - Trailer Boat (5) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 12 Members & 5 visitors
Results: 1st David Oates, 2nd Craig Waller, 3rd Sandy Saunders
Memorable Moments: David Oates landed 19 Flathead for a comfortable win.

25 Mar 2018 - Trailer Boat (4) - Western Port & Outside
Cancelled due to lack of nominations.

17-18 Feb 2018 - Trailer Boat (3) - Port Albert
Anglers: 10 Members & 2 visitors
Results: 1st Phil Staindl, 2nd Craig Waller, 3rd Alex Deren
Memorable Moments: John Bentley injured pre-comp on the Friday.

09-11 Feb 2018 - Whiting (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 8 Members
Results: 1st Craig Waller, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Craig Waller landed the season's heaviest Whiting at 0.738kg

28 Jan 2018 - Whiting (2) - Warneet / Corinella
Anglers: 9 Members
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Craig Waller
Memorable Moments: Jim Kavanagh and Greg Stephens caught Rock Flathead at 0.870kg and 0.690kg.

20 Jan 2018 - Whiting (1) - Warneet / Corinella
Anglers: 10 Members
Results: 1st Dave Clark, 2nd Craig Waller, 3rd Phil Staindl
Memorable Moments: Andrew Gollin landed a Gummy Shark on Whiting gear.

10 Dec 2017 - Trailer Boat (2) - Southern Port Phillip
Anglers: 9 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Dave Clark, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Phil Staindl
Memorable Moments: Dave and Ron caught nice Gummy Sharks.

17-19 Nov 2017 - Snapper (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 15 Members & 3 visitors
Results: 1st Andrew Gollin, 2nd Peter Newgreen, 3rd Craig Waller
Memorable Moments: Andrew Gollin's first comp win with his PB Snapper.

11-12 Nov 2017 - Freshwater (1) - Eildon Lake, Pondage and Rivers
Anglers: 12 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Greg Stephens, 2nd John Bentley, 3rd Jim Kavanagh
Memorable Moments: Greg Stephens' first Freshwater win, First time this comp won by a kayaker.

03-05 Nov 2017 - Snapper (2) - Port Phillip Bay
Anglers: 13 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Peter Newgreen, 2nd n/a, 3rd n/a
Memorable Moments: Peter Newgreen's first comp win.

20-22 October 2017 - Jeff Worle Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

Disappointment is really the only word that can sum up this particular competition. The fickleness of the weather transferred itself to the fickleness of the fish, and although we had 18 people fish over the course of the weekend, only 1 fish was weighed in. Hopefully the snapper are on in the coming weeks when we fish the remaining snapper comps! The one real positive is that we had another member record his first competition win with the Club, and that was David Lamond, who weighed in a nice 2kg snapper. Top effort David, and well done.

14-15 October 2017 - Lake Tyers

Report from Phil Staindl.

Lake Tyers has proved very popular in recent times, and so it was again, with 16 members making the long drive past Lakes Entrance to fish this beautiful waterway. And the good thing was, there were some fish caught – 13 in total for a combined weight of 6.83kgs. Andres Vidivoc was in amongst them, catching (and releasing) a beautiful Dusky flathead, and in the process, setting a new Victorian length record for that particular species. And not to rest on his laurels, Andres also set a new Club record for a sea mullet, which was just a few grams short of 2 kgs. And guess, who won the comp??? That’s right – Andres! Well done on the win and the record Andres! Ron Wilson was into the bream on the Saturday, and a total bag of 6 fish was enough to secure 2nd spot, and not to be outdone was Craig, who came in 3rd and also landed a nice sea mullet. Others amongst the points included Dave Oates, Dave Clark, John Matheson and Greg Stephens.

All in all, a very good comp and one that will be etched into the same time in the calendar in the years to come!

29 September-01 October 2017 - Northern Port Phillip

Report from Phil Staindl.

Given this competition was held the day after the Grand Final, there was absolutely NO chance of seeing any of the Richmond supporters in our ranks turn up to fish this one. Congratulations to all those Tiger fans – may you continue to enjoy that warm inner glow through until the beginning of next season!! So as a result of the football hangovers and a less than positive forecast, only 8 members fished and the results were pretty poor. Only 4 pinkies were weighed in, with Mark Osborne scoring his first ever victory in a SAC comp, having snared two fish. Congratulations Mark! Jimmy Kavanagh had a day he’d rather forget (that story is for another time, but it may or may not have involved a Water Police inspection of his boat!), but he did manage 1 fish to take out 2nd spot whilst Ron presented a smaller version of the same fish for 3rd spot.

16-17 September 2017 - Gippsland Rivers

Report from Phil Staindl.

A couple of late withdrawals from members who usually love this comp saw numbers down a bit (we missed you Willow and Oatesy!), but we still had a healthy turnout of 9 members, and spirits were high that we would be able to emulate the results of the previous year where plenty of fish were caught and a new Club Record for Bream was established. Conditions were tough and so was the fishing. Only 10 fish were caught over the weekend, with members trying all three rivers, but it was just the odd one here or there, with none of those really hot sessions occurring this year.

Craig managed to come from behind at the close of play on the Saturday and weigh in 5 fish for a total weight of 2.66kgs to take out his second competition in succession. Nice one Craig. Your scribe could not improve on his three fish on the Saturday, and thus finished just shy of Craig in 2nd spot, whilst Blackie and Dave Clark each landed 1 bream each to finish in 3rd and 4th places respectively. As a footnote, it was a really enjoyable weekend, with lots of really pleasant interaction over dinner at the pub, and some beautiful scenery on the various rivers to savour through the day.

20 August 2017 - Gunnamatta Surf

Report from Phil Staindl.

The prospect of seeing my beloved Demons take on Port Adelaide kept me away from the 2nd surf comp of the season at Gunnamatta beach. Conditions were quite good all things considered, although I’m told that a number of clubs were fishing surf comps that weekend, and it made for a rather crowded beach. A total of 12 fish were weighed in, although two the five members fishing did not trouble the scorers, so the points were awarded to the three who successfully pulled fish from the surf.

In first place with a bag of 5 fish nudging the scales at just on 3kgs was the irrepressible Craig Waller, but was closely followed by Clem Robbins, who weighed in 6 fish, the total weight of which was just over 2.1kgs. Bringing in 3rd place was the old warhorse of surf fishing, John Bentley. Well done all three!

06 August 2017 - Woolamai Beach Surf

Report from Phil Staindl.

The 6th of August had one of the worst forecasts from a fishing perspective ever seen, and so it was when the day actually arrived. So in what was a first since my time at the Club, the wise and sensible decision was made in ample time to cancel the competition, for to proceed, anyone actually turning up to fish would have had their sanity called into serious question. And I have to admit, I did enjoy that unscheduled Sunday morning sleep in!!

22-23 July 2017 - Hollands Landing

Report from Phil Staindl.

Sadly, I was unable to fish the traditional season opening competition at Hollands Landing, but an enthusiastic group of 8 members made the trip to middle Gippsland in the hope of bagging out on bream in the famed estuarine system. Perfect conditions greeted those fishing on the Saturday, with calm waters, sunny skies, and crisp but pleasant temperatures for mid-July. And to make matters even better, some fish were caught, which is just as well, because the weather turned overnight, and gale force winds prevented anyone fishing on the Sunday, meaning that the results at the end of Saturday didn’t change.

Dave Oates showed his prowess in chasing bream by weighing in 2 very nice size fish that both nudged a kilo in weight, and he took out first place with a nice bag a few grams shy of 2kgs. Well done Dave. Club President and reigning Champion, Craig Waller, weighed in 3 mullet to give him 2nd spot, whilst his crew member, Peter Newland, also got a couple of mullet to take out third spot. Sadly, none of the other 5 members caught fish that could be weighed in. Pity, but that’s fishing!

Jan to Jun 2017 - Various mini reports

Mini reports from weigh-in sheets.

17-18 Jun 2017 - Freshwater (3) - Eildon Lake, pondage and rivers
Anglers: 13 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Ron Wilson, 2nd Lutz Bendig, 3rd Phil Staindl
Memorable Moments: Kayakers. Lutz coming 2nd in his 3rd comp, Greg & Al having their first Freshwater comp weigh-ins.

28 May 2017 - Surf (3) - Woolamai Surf Beach
Anglers: 9 Members
Results: No fish weighed in
Memorable Moments: Second surf comp in a row with no fish weighed in.

20-21 May 2017 - Freshwater (2) - Lake Dartmouth
Anglers: 12 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Bob Shovelar, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Phil Staindl
Memorable Moments: Bob's first win (after making a cup of tea in the wrong house) and Lutz Bendig's first weigh-in.

29 Apr 2017 - Trailer Boat (6) - Western Port & Outside
Anglers: 8 Members
Results: 1st Sandy Saunders, 2nd Craig Waller, 3rd Greg Stephens
Memorable Moments: Greg's Whiting fell 2 grams short of Caroline's season's heaviest.

23 Apr 2017 - Whiting (1) - Western Port
Anglers: 10 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Craig Waller, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Phil Staindl
Memorable Moments: Caroline Townsend weighed in the heaviest Whiting of the season at 0.5kg.

09 Apr 2017 - Trailer Boat (5) - Port Phillip Bay
Cancelled due to high winds.

26 Mar 2017 - Trailer Boat (4) - Northern Port Phillip
Anglers: 16 Members
Results: 1st Phil Staindl, 2nd Ron Wilson, 3rd Greg Stephens
Memorable Moments: Phil's 1 Squid at 0.73kg outweighed the others' catches.

18-19 Feb 2017 - Trailer Boat (3) - Port Albert
Anglers: 16 Members
Results: 1st Craig Waller, 2nd David Oates, 3rd Ron Wilson
Memorable Moments: Andrew Kinsella battling the current from his kayak.

12 Feb 2017 - Whiting (3) - Port Phillip Bay
Cancelled due to high winds.

28 Jan 2017 - Whiting (2) - Western Port
Anglers: 9 Members & 1 visitor
Results: 1st Craig Waller, 2nd Terry Black, 3rd David Oates
Memorable Moments: Caroline Townsend weighed in her first Whiting.

11 December 2016 - Southern Port Phillip

Report from Phil Staindl.

The final event prior to Xmas was the second trailer boat comp in Southern Port Phillip Bay, and a healthy contingent of 12 ventured down to Sorrento to enjoy light to moderate winds and a variety of different species of fish on offer. There was a wide variety of fish weighed in, ranging from salmon, squid, whiting, flathead and trevally, and the good news was that nearly everyone fishing managed to land something to present to the weighmaster! After going the entire snapper season without turning a reel, your faithful scribe - fishing with wily JB on Redgum, managed to land 2 very nice gummies, the heaviest of which tipped the scales at almost 11.5 kgs, and with a combined bag weight of over 18kgs, ensured first place on the day. David Oates was one of the yak contingent who got amongst the action, and managed to bag out on a school of salmon to ensure he took out 2nd place for the day, and a new face on the podium was enjoyed by Michael Shilson-Josling, who also bagged out on the salmon, and weighed in a healthy bag of 10 fish.

25-27 November 2016 - 80th Anniversary Comp

Report from Phil Staindl.

Challenging conditions kept participation in the 3rd and final snapper comp for the season to the desperate and foolhardy. I fished with Craig out of Corinella early on the Saturday morning and in very trying conditions for a zero return, and decided to leave it at that. But one thing cannot be disputed and that is the resolve of Craig, for he was back out on Port Phillip early on the Sunday morning and this time managed to land a couple of fish of sufficient weight to give him a competition win. Jim Kavanagh came in 2nd with a slightly smaller bag of 2 fish whilst Mark Osborne landed a fish to be the only other SAC member to weigh in a fish. Early season leader, Ron W may live to rue the day he decided to stay in bed that Sunday morning under the notion that conditions were not conducive to fishing, for the win by Craig made the standings at the top of the table extremely close.

18-20 November 2016 - Club Memorial Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

Good numbers tried their collective luck across Western Port and Port Phillip in the 2nd snapper comp held over the weekend of 18th-20th November, and with good conditions prevailing, hopes were high that some decent catches would finally be weighed in. Alas, this wasn’t to be the case, with only 4 fish for a combined weight just shy of 10kgs presented to the weigh master. I was out on Western Port with Bucko, and as we didn’t have any fish for the weigh in, we didn’t make it back to the Clubrooms to hear the trials and tribulations of the weekend’s fishing. All I can report is that it was another 1st place for Ron with 2 fish, Steve Wilson picked up a nice size snapper from his yak, and Craig filled out the placings with a nice snapper to snare 3rd spot.

12-13 November 2016 - Lake Eildon

Report from Phil Staindl.

The Eildon comp suffered a little this time round as the date had to be shifted so as to avoid a clash with the Cup Day extended weekend, where the sage advice was to avoid the water at all costs unless you have a love of jetskis and loud boats. As a consequence, numbers were down a little, although we still managed to have 11 people fish, with the Yak boys camped out at Fraser National Park and the rest ensconced in the comforts of a house in Eildon. Conditions were tough. It was windy, at times rainy, cool temperatures and the fishing was slow. We were hoping to land some of the mighty Murray cod or at the very least, some yellow belly natives, but sadly, and in spite of some serious targeting of these species, it turned out to be only trout that were weighed in.

John Bentley had the heaviest brown trout, weighing in at .704 grams, but Ron with his 2 fish (picked up on the troll late in the day on the Saturday) saw his offering being enough to take yet another first place on the podium. JB came in second with Craig relegated to 3rd place. A special mention to John Matheson who weighed in the only rainbow for the weekend and also to Marco Rizzi, who fished on the Friday and had a fantastic session. It was just a pity it was before the comp officially started. Oh, and there is one other thing I suppose I have to mention. Your scribe managed to set what I think is a new record for breaking rods in a weekend. Not 1, not 2, but 3 - yes that’s right - 3 rods were damaged throughout the course of the weekend by yours truly. However, I’m denying reports that there were the occasional sobs emanating from my room on the Saturday night!!

28-30 October 2016 - Jeff Worle Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

Disappointment is really the only word that can sum up this particular competition. The fickleness of the weather transferred itself to the fickleness of the fish, and although we had 14 people fish over the course of the weekend, only 2 fish were weighed in. Oh, and in case you haven’t worked out who weighed those fish in, it was Ron and Craig. Nothing spectacular, but they were legal!! ☺ Well done guys - another 1st place for Ron and another 2nd for Craig!

08-09 October 2016 - Lake Tyers

Report from Phil Staindl.

The decision to move the Lake Tyers comp from the depths of Winter to early Spring proved to be a masterstroke on the part of the Angling Secretary, with a very healthy 17 members making the long journey to East Gippsland, and 12 of those members weighing in fish over the course of the 2 days. Although conditions were a little breezy at times, most of us fishing were able to tuck into coves and inlets to get out of the wind and fish in the process. There was a good mix of fish caught as well, with bream, dusky flatheads, tailor and even a luderick weighed in. Ron and Craig both weighed in 7 fish, with Ron’s bag slightly heavier by a margin of 500grams or thereabouts, and a new face on the podium, Paul Lagwa, came in 3rd with a good sized luderick which tipped the 1kg mark on the scales. Special mentions also for individual fish catches to Dave C, with a bream at 912 grams, and Bill de Voss with a Dusky that tipped the 1 kg mark.

All in all, a very good comp and one that will be etched into the same time in the calendar in the years to come! Oh, and anyone who's game, ask the President about his encounter with the local water police!!

25 September 2016 - Northern Port Phillip

Report from Phil Staindl.

Unfortunately a strong wind forecast on the scheduled day of this competition resulted in the cancellation of the comp in the early hours of the morning. And for the 1 or 2 brave souls who ventured out, their experience only confirmed the wisdom of the decision to cancel!

10-11 September 2016 - Gippsland Rivers

Report from Phil Staindl.

It had been some good number of years since the Club held a comp at the Gippsland Rivers as the returns had diminished to virtually nothing and people grew tired of returning to the same location repeatedly without any fish to show for their efforts. So it was with some trepidation that we returned, with good numbers booking into the Camping Ground at Nicholson and enjoying catching up with some past Club members at the local Pub in the evening. The weather forecast was not looking good, and the Saturday certainly produced some strong winds and, in some parts, some very heavy localised showers. However, everyone managed to get out for a fish, and the results were quite stunning.

Of the 8 members at the weigh in, 7 presented fish for weighing (Michael Holland enjoys catching them, but nobly releases them again!). The tough weather conditions on the Saturday were offset but the numbers weighed in, as conversely, the weather on the Sunday was glorious, but virtually no additional fish weighed in. The results saw a total of 24 fish weighed in for a combined weight of 16.434kg, with Willow fishing on Haystac presenting a nice bag of 7 fish to give him 1st place. New Club President, Craig Waller, whilst only weighing in 4 fish, was a mere 300grams behind Ron and took out 2nd place. The reason for such a heavy bag was because Craig weighed in a beautiful bream that tipped the scales at 1.874kg, and finally surpassed the long standing bream record set by the maestro, Ralph Dodrell, many years ago. Congratulations Craig - a great result and a great fish, and the beaming smile on your face was a sight to behold. Michael Shakik earnt himself a second podium finish for the new season, with a couple of regulars such as Blackie and Dave C getting amongst the points as well.

However, the happy and sad tale of the weekend goes to John Mathieson, who fished with Craig Waller for the weekend. John had set his sights on catching a record breaking fish, and thought his prayers had been answered when he pulled in a monster bream. After and unofficial weight check on Craig’s scales, which show the fish nudging the magical 2kg mark, John asked for a photo to which Craig duly obliged. However, a fish doesn’t get to be that size without having a trick or two in its armoury, and just as John was holding the fish up for Craig to photograph, the wily bream perfected a double backward somersault with a twisted pike at the end, and not only slipped out of John’s hands but managed to clear the side of the boat and return itself to the safety of the Nicholson River. Now as caring and empathetic fellow club members, we could but commiserate with John over his near record catch. But then at the Pub that night after a few beers, the story certainly yielded plenty of laughs and jocularity! Commiserations John, but thanks for a fishing trip story that will be told through the ages! (And also for a great early favourite for the Paddle Award!)

20 August 2016 - Gunnamatta Surf

Report from Phil Staindl.

It would be nice to think that the run of good winter weather for our comps would continue for the next surf comp which was held a couple of weeks later at Gunnamatta Beach, but alas, it wasn’t to be. Cold, wet and windy conditions greeted the hardy participants on this particular day, and there were no fish to weigh in - just to rub salt into the wounds. A combination of ill health, other commitments, and common sense resulted in only 3 brave and hardy souls turning up for this comp, so a special mention goes out to JB, Dave C and Andres for their commitment (some may say stupidity) to the cause and actually fishing. Sadly, that’s all there is to report!

06 August 2016 - Woolamai Beach Surf

Report from Phil Staindl.

Well I was off sunning myself in FNQ in early August, but enjoyed receiving the reports from the first Surf Comp for the season at Woolamai Beach on Phillip Island. The wind was absent, the day was dry, and the fish were on the bite. Twelve members fished Woolamai, and half of the contingent weighed in a total of 12 fish for a combined weight of 5.922kgs. A great effort when compared to some of the recent surf comps. And it was also pleasing to see that there were some new names in the placings, with Andrew Kinsella winning his first comp with a bag of 4 fish - the heaviest of which weighed in at 0.594kgs. David Oates made a welcome return to the points with a nice bag of 3 fish, whilst Michael Shakik rounded out the top 3 with a couple of nice fish, including the heaviest for the comp at 0.796kg.

By all accounts, it was a good day, especially given that my beloved Demons rolled the Hawks for the first time in a very long time!

16-17 July 2016 - Hollands Landing

Report from Phil Staindl.

The new syllabus usually kicks off with a trip down to Hollands Landing. Given there are no accommodation options in Hollands' itself, members (and some friends) opted to stay in Stratford, where electricity, heating in the rooms and a Pub that serves counter meals makes a far cry from some of the earlier visits down to these parts. As for the fishing, our initial fears proved to be correct in that large amounts of rainfall in the preceding weeks meant fishing in the McLellan Straits itself was problematic, and the returns in Toms Creek were minimal (with one exception) given the amounts of fresh water coming through the respective systems. On the positive side, we enjoyed calm, sunny but cold conditions for the entire weekend, which was in stark contrast to the very windy and wet conditions the weekend before and the weekend after.

Michael Holland was the only Club member to weigh in a fish that was caught in Toms Creek, and that was enough to give him second place on the podium. Yours truly and Bucko ventured across the lake to Loch Sport and fished around the jetty, which produced quite a bit of action and enabled Bucko to weigh in 2 fish and gave him 1st place on the podium! Well done Bucko. Sadly, no other members were able to catch a fish of legal size to weigh in, although former Club member and Hollands Landing regular, Matt Bailey, surprised everyone when he presented a bag of 8 fish, including one which, had he have been a member, would have established a new Club record for bream. Interestingly, all fish were caught on sandworm. Still, it was an enjoyable weekend!

18-19 June 2016 - Lake Tyers

Report from Phil Staindl.

The journey to Lake Tyers has often produced good catches, but in recent years the returns have diminished considerably, resulting in a change in the next syllabus from this being a winter comp to a spring comp. And as if to ram home the fact, this trip was no exception, with very few fish weighed in. We had 12 members and a visitor fish for most of the weekend, and conditions by and large were pretty good. Although we had some drizzle patches for extended periods, especially on the Saturday, the wind stayed away and it wasn’t too cold, so all in all it was pleasant being out on the lake.

Craig Waller (who won the comp incidentally) and Dave Clark (who took out 3rd spot) both did something which hasn’t been done for quite some time, and that is weigh in a nice tailor each. Both anglers said that catching them on light gear was a lot of fun. A couple of others landed some bream, with Willow weighing in 2 fish to sneak into 2nd spot, and Dave Oates managed to awaken a modest sized dusky Flathead to get on the board.

For those of you who want to hear about Willow’s latest effort to take out the Paddle Award, you’re going to have to wait until the Presentation Night. But any independent observation would have to conclude that there is a certain pattern of behaviour developing here……………………………………………! Other than that, the social aspects of a weekend away are first rate, notwithstanding, the snoring, scratching and farting when everyone should be asleep. It’s all in the name of fun though!

Tight lines.

04 June 2016 - Woolamai Beach Surf

Report from Phil Staindl.

The final of 3 surf comps for the year and was held at Woolamai. Conditions were actually really good with calm seas and light winds making conditions very pleasant to fish in for the 10 or so members who made the journey down to the Island. Sadly, the fish were not so obliging, with only a total of three fish caught for the entire session.

Ron Wilson took out first place with two fish and yours truly managed a modest offering with the third of the trio. I don’t want to steal Ron’s thunder on presentation night so will provide no insights into points, which is probably just as well, because Ron would also not like attention drawn to one of his extremely rare errors on the syllabus whereby he had the wrong tide time listed, meaning most of us missed the optimum fishing window. (Damn - I said I wasn’t going to mention that!!) Whether or not it would have made a difference, who knows, as reports were very report right along the beach. So be it!

7-8 May 2016 - Lake Dartmouth

Report from Phil Staindl.

For the superstitious amongst us, one could be forgiven for thinking we were challenging the fishing gods by having a competition commence on Friday the 13th. And given how the event transpired, there is probably more than enough evidence to suggest that this was the case. It just seemed that at every turn, there was a little issue or problem that caused a change to normal proceedings or made life (in a fishing sense) that touch more difficult.

Now don’t get me wrong - the annual sojourn to Dartmouth was yet again a wonderful experience, and at least the weather gods were with us on the Friday and Saturday. But let’s go back to the very beginning. The annual trip to Lake Dartmouth usually occurs on the third weekend of May, meaning this year’s trip would have taken place on Friday, 13th May through to Sunday the 15th. However, for the first time in two decades, all accommodation was booked on the weekend in question, meaning that we were forced into a change, and so brought the competition forward by a week. Now all of us love our mothers, but it’s obvious some love them a little more than others, because the change in dates resulted in a clash with mother’s day, and this in turn meant our normally high numbers were reduced somewhat by some who, quite understandably, chose to tend to those obligations that will keep then in sweet with their wives and/or mothers next time they want to go away fishing.

So, with eight members and two guests, we aimed to assemble at Dartmouth for a few days of sublime fishing. But the fishing gods weren’t done with us yet. And there was virtually no-one left untouched amongst the diehards still committed to going to Dartmouth. Firstly, a couple of members in Dave C and JB paid their final respects at the funeral of a long-time and much liked member in Chooky, meaning their departure was a much later than planned. And just to make matters worse, they managed to have a blowout on the boat trailer, necessitating repairs along the way. Ben S and his mate Stuart went one better. They managed to have a boat trailer have a blowout whilst crossing the Black Spur - probably the least desirous place of any you could think of to have to change a tyre.

But wait! There’s more!! Peter Brown with son Warwick in tow nearly came to grief just out of Wodonga, when they realised their boat trailer was on the verge of collapse following a slightly dodgy welding job. (A good repair job was undertaken in Wodonga). And poor Craig had his crew withdraw the morning of his departure, meaning he had to travel solo and fish by himself on the Saturday. And then because of the change in dates, yours truly had to travel from Canberra and rendezvous with Ben and Stuart in Wodonga.

It must be said, though, that all of these issues disappear when one succumbs to the remote beauty that is Lake Dartmouth. The weather conditions were well and truly in our favour on the Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, where a cool early morning breeze with low cloud cover gave way to a day of brilliant sunshine. Only problem was, the fish also gave way, for after the cloud cover disappeared, trying to land a fish proved problematic, so much so that of those who weighed in, no one had more than a single fish to trouble the weigh master. On this score, Peter Brown had a very nice Rainbow that was nudging 1kg, and JB’s Brown was not far behind. For the rest of us, we were happy with some pan-sized Trout!

The forecast for Sunday was for rain, more rain, and then some more rain. For those up early on the Sunday, it appeared for a while that the forecasters may have been in error, but then from about 7am onwards, the rain started - minus any strong wind - and didn’t stop. However, such is the unbridled determination of Craig to fish, he set up his boat and persuaded Dave C to join him on the water for another session. Everyone else rested on their laurels and were happy having a leisurely start to the day before packing up and heading home. For Craig and Dave, the news was good. Although raining, conditions on the lake were good, and both members weighed in another fish. This put Craig into some points and lifted Dave C into second spot on the results.

So all in all, it was a challenging time but yet again, a great time. For those of us who regularly make the trip, it’s more than just the fish caught. It’s the setting, the pub, the counter meals, the locals, and even the opportunity to stop and have a BBQ lunch cooked on a campfire (by the Haystac crew at least) which all combine to make it such a wonderful and enjoyable experience.

And for those who are perhaps thinking they wouldn’t mind venturing to this paradise, some of us are talking about organising a social competition there in late September, so watch this space.

Until next time, tight lines.

10 April 2016 - Western Port & Outside

Report from Phil Staindl.

With the Portland comp cancelled due to lack of numbers, the only other comp in recent times for points was the one day Western Port comp. Conditions were tough on the day, with a strong NW wind blowing for the best part of the day, which in turn resulted in a number of late withdrawals from the comp. In fact, on the Corinella side, trying to launch a Yak would have been all but impossible, so it gives you some idea of the roughness of the conditions. We had 10 people fish all up with 21 fish being weighed in. Congratulations go to Craig Waller for winning this comp, as his bag of 5 fish, including a couple of nice Trevally, landed him first place. Ron Wilson decided not to expend unnecessary energy, and weighed in only the single fish, but it was a good size elephant fish - in excess of 2.5kgs, and big enough to get him 2nd place. Sandy had the most fish to weigh in, with 7 KG Whiting, and that, as it turned out, was enough to get him third place, so well done Sandy. As for the others, the less said the better. My Demons went down by 5 points to the rampaging Kangaroos, and in the face of that, fishing seemed unimportant! Still, it was nice being out. (I think!!)

So there you have it. I have deliberately not mentioned Paddle nominations in these reports, as I am leaving that to others to do through other forums. (And no, it’s not because I will be the subject of multiple nominations!!☹). The one thing I can assure you is that there are plenty of wonderful tales of misfortune, forgetfulness and bad luck that will make you laugh when conveyed to a wider group. So wait until Presentation Night to hear them all.

20-21 February 2016 - Port Albert

Report from Phil Staindl.

The Port Albert comp is unique in the SAC’s fishing calendar. It’s not so much the fishing itself, but the “before and after” experiences. Nowhere else do we have up to 20 members (usually guys), who occupy dormitory type arrangements, with row upon row of bunk bed being the only obstacle in an otherwise large room. And at night, when the lights are dimmed, that is when the fun begins. The farting and burping, well, that’s to be expected. Some modest snoring - well - you could probably live with that. But when you have what seems to be a team of timber millers with the biggest Stihl chainsaws money can buy, that is when one’s patience can be tested. (And we won’t name names, will we Al!☺) Still, the wonderful BBQ, the banter, the swapping of fishing tales, the sharing of knowledge and the wonderful camaraderie is what makes a Club a special place, an that’s why Port Albert is so special.

As for the fishing, returns were really good, with a total of 91 fish being weighed in over the 2 days from the 15 club members who fish the comp. I think it was a couple of years ago when after a highly successful Port Albert competition by Mark Hocking, I dubbed him ("Gummy”) Well, Mark “Gummy” Hocking showed everyone again, and weighed in multiple gummies over the 2 days with the heaviest being well in excess of 6kgs. This, combined with his total bag of 15 fish over the 2 days gave him a comfortable victory in what seems to fast be becoming his favourite comp.

Michael Shakik weighed in for his first time at a comp, and left nothing to chance by producing the 2nd heaviest bag of a good variety of fish to claim 2nd place. Chris Plant filled out the podium places with a good haul of 13 fish to finish third, whilst Clem Robin, who fished on the Saturday, also weighed in for the first time in a SAC comp. Ron and Craig both caught good numbers of fish, and there were some very small margins between the lower placegetters. Interestingly, of the 15 who fished the comp, 14 weighed in over the two days, which is a pretty impressive effort. (And no, I’m not going to reveal the identity of the unlucky member!!)

14 February 2016 - Port Phillip Bay Whiting

Report from Phil Staindl.

The early forecast for the PPB Whiting comp looked really promising, but as the actual day drew closer, the forecast worsened, and we ended up with quite a strong westerly blowing for the best part of the day, and as we all know, a westerly makes fishing out of the Black Rock-Beaumaris area somewhat problematic. Accordingly, the “Yak” boys found the conditions too tough to get out in, and anyone planning to launch locally also erred on the side of safety and comfort and decided not to put their boat in. There were a few desperados though, who headed south, and fished around the moorings in the Sorrento-Portsea area. This not only proved to be relatively comfortable being out of the wind, but also yielded some decent returns on the fishing front, and certainly meant that we had some fish to weigh in back at the Clubhouse. The only comment I would make is that for those of us planning this journey again, make sure we leave enough time to get back to the Clubhouse!

So there were 4 members who weighed in a total of 13 fish, with Ax, who was fishing on Haystac, coming up trumps with 4 nice fish, with the heaviest coming in at over half a kilo being caught a few minutes before stumps were pulled and thus giving him maximum points. Haystac skipper, Phil, also weighed in 4 fish but they were not quite as heavy Alex’s, whilst Sandy and Ron filled out the other positions between them. Poor Craig and Caroline put in the hard yards and made the long journey before sunrise, but couldn’t jag one of the elusive KGs despite multiple shift on location and different techniques being tried.

31 January 2016 - Western Port Whiting 2

Report from Phil Staindl.

The 2nd Western Port Whiting comp was a very different affair in terms of the conditions, and by and large, proved to be a much tougher day at the office than when compared to two weeks earlier. Once again, there were 15 members who turned out to fish, including Michael Shakik who fished his first ever comp with the Club. But in threatening conditions and a constantly 15k Northerly wind blowing most of the day, it was not easy conditions to fish in, as the results showed. Only 19 fish were weighed in for the day, and given that 10 of those fish were caught on the one boat, you can imagine the sparse returns from everyone else.

The successful boat in question was none other than White Lightning, and just to show his performance at Lake Eildon some months earlier was no fluke, young Bradley Hocking out-fished his Dad to weigh in a total of 7 fish for a total bag weight of 1.41kgs. A superb effort Bradley. Mark did ensure, though, that he got to weigh in, and came in 2nd with 3 nice fish, so well done Mark. Amongst the points were a couple of people who rarely get out to fish, so it was great to see Garry Meehan weigh in enough fish to gain a podium placing, and Alex Pansow (Ax) managed to weigh in a couple of fish as well, so well done to all.

17 January 2016 - Western Port Whiting 1

Report from Phil Staindl.

Still, hot conditions provided near perfect boating conditions for the first Whiting comp of the year, and we had 15 members fish all parts of the Port for a modest to reasonable return of 32 fish. A couple of members got onto decent numbers of fish, but that meant there were a number of members who only weighed in very small numbers of fish whilst a few were unlucky to miss out altogether. I know that Bucko and I fished the Coronet Bay, an area that Bucko knows like the back of his hand, and despite being on the water well before the sun was up, we still only managed a very modest return of 1 fish each.

Willow was fishing around the Middle Spit, and numbers-wise topped the list with a bag of 8 fish. However, that was only enough to snag second place, as Craig Waller, fishing out from Corinella, weighed in some much bigger fish, and his bag of 6 KG’s was enough to scoop first place for the day. Well done Craig! Andres was not far behind in third place, and Terry Black came in 4th with a bag of 5 fish.

Still, it was a very pleasant day to be out on the water!

13 December 2015 - Southern Port Phillip

Report from Phil Staindl.

The final comp of the year saw 10 members head down to Sorrento to fish the southern end of Port Phillip Bay. Being a little reminiscent of Western Port with rapidly varying water depths combined with, at times, occasional strong currents, this comp has a habit of producing the unexpected and varied, and so it proved on this occasion.

Most who fished were able to weigh in something, and for those that didn’t, there was often plenty of action provided by the myriad Port Jacksons, Banjos, undersize pinkies and flatties to slimy mackerals and then onto gurnard! No-one was able to produce that sensational or special fish at weigh in, but there was an array of whiting, flatties, silver trevally and even squid that ensured there was a wonderfully mixed bag presented to the weigh master.

The heaviest bag went to Craig Waller (again), giving Craig his second win of the current season - something from which he obtains immense pleasure. Jim Kavanagh (who simply doesn’t give up) took out second place, whilst third place went to Ron Wilson after he managed to land a few nice whiting in his last hour or so on the water.

The next engagement is a Western Port whiting comp on Sunday 17th January, which marks the first comp for the second half of the season. We hope number will be strong for this and the winds light! In the meantime, to all members, have a happy Xmas and stay safe when on the water. See you in 2016. Cheers, Phil.

October-November 2015 - Snapper comps

Report from Phil Staindl.

Well, probably the best thing that can be said about the snapper season is that we actually fished three snapper comps for the season, although the Twighlight comp had to be rescheduled. The new “flexibility arrangements” whereby members can fish either PPB or Western Port and start fishing from the Friday evening is a fantastic innovation, and allows for greater opportunities for members to hopefully catch a fish.

In the first comp, reigning Club Champion, Craig Waller, showed last season was no fluke and weighed in a beautiful 5+kg snapper caught from one of his secret spots in the Corinella region. A cracking fish, Craig and well done! The biggest disappointment, however, was that this was the only eligible fish weighed in, although one former club identity in John Lindholm, weighed in three very nice Western Port snapper, but sadly is not a current financial member, so maximum points went to Craig.

In the Club Memorial comp, the returns were not much better, with only Willow and Blackie (who fished together) weighing in a solitary fish each. Blackie took the honours with his fish tipping the scales at over 2.4kgs, whilst Ron’s offering was somewhat more modest, but enough to give him second place on the podium. Well done guys.

The rescheduled Twighlight comp saw only 4 fish weighed in by three members, and sadly, no spectacular fish amongst them. Paul Lindholm took out the honours with two fish up to 1.7kgs, and with Jimmy Kavanagh and your truly filling the minor placings on the podium.

All in all, the less said about this snapper season, the better!!

10-11 October 2015 - Lake Eildon

Report from Phil Staindl.

The Eildon comp is fast turning into one of the most popular comps on the calendar, and with 18 members plus a couple of former members fishing, it was great to see such a healthy turnout. Of the 20 who fished, there was a significant contingent who camped out at Fraser National Park and by all accounts, enjoyed each other’s company and a roaring campfire through until the wee small hours of the night, which, I’ve gotta say, is one of the delights of camping. Another significant group kept close company in house within the Eildon township, and enjoyed a BBQ the first night before dining at the local pub the second night.

It was great to see former Club identities, Heather Fraser and Andrew Paice join the group to fish and swap some stories from days gone by. Then there were a few others who were dispersed in various nooks and crannies across the district, suffice to say that most of us came together at the weigh in on the respective days.

There were a couple of notable paddle nominations arising from this comp, but given yours truly was the subject of one, I shall leave it to others to tell the story at some future stage through unbiased eyes!

The good news on the fishing front is that the numbers of fish caught were really good and were spread across a good number of anglers. Brown trout dominated the catches but there were some rainbows, redfins, and a really good yellow belly caught by Ron Wilson thrown into the mix as well.

The biggest story on the fishing front though was that of young Bradley Hocking, who not only out-fished his Dad, but cleaned up the entire field to win the Eildon comp for the year. Bradley weighed in 6 brown trout over the two days, and had the knack of using the right coloured Tassie Devil at the right time. A great effort by Bradley, and there was no way the smile could be wiped from his face at the weigh in, especially on that Sunday morning!

Other placegetters included yours truly, who just nudged out John Bentley to take second place, with Ron’s yella earning him 4th place in front of a swathe of others. A thoroughly enjoyable and successful comp!

27 September 2015 - Melbourne Rivers & Harbours

Report from Phil Staindl.

The returns for the second estuary competition – being the PPB rivers (and local groins – no smart comments ) comp, has been fraught over recent years, but still nigh on 20 people turned out to try their collective luck and fish this comp once again.

Barely a fish has been weighed in over the past couple of seasons, with some memorably bad days experienced in recent years. The early Spring morning though, turned on beautiful weather with light winds and a near cloudless sky, so spirits were high as the day commenced.

The fishing contingent were spread far and wide, with at least 3 boats making the journey across to the Werribee River. Others fished some of the local groins, I heard reports of some fishing from Yaks in the Patterson River, and others chose to keep their locations a mystery for fear they would be inundated with other fisherman. I was with Willow on the Werribee and had company from Slapper and Wallaroo. We had every known bait aboard, and had also picked up local intel as to where to fish and with what baits and lures. The water was so clear there were many occasions when we could see the fish swimming below us and in nearby snags. But do you think all of this made any difference? Absolutely not! Between the 3 boats I think there was only one genuine hit recorded, and like most others, we returned to the weigh-in with nothing to show for our efforts.

There were only three people to weigh in fish, with first place going to Andres Vidovic, second place to John Matheson and third place to Steve Wilson. Well done guys! It was a tough but pleasant day.

12-13 September 2015 - Western District Lakes

Report from Phil Staindl.

Although technically held at the very end of the Winter months, the annual trip to the Western District typically marks the transition to Spring fishing, and it was only logistical arrangements which prevented us fishing at our normal period of mid-September. The conditions weren’t the easiest, with the wind playing havoc from time to time and making it particularly difficult of those who were bait fishing or drifting. We had a good compliment of members and visitors who journeyed to Camperdown, and that always seems to make for some extra fun. Dinner at the pub is always a good time, with plenty of banter, some mixed humour, but above all, great company!

However, with a total of 14 people fishing, the results were poor, with only 5 fish being weighed in. (although this wasn’t due to a lack of effort of variations in fishing techniques). Marco Rizzi weighed in a cracking chinook salmon, tipping the scales at over 1.5kgs, to take out first place, with the sly old fox, JB, giving him a good run for his money by also weighing in a chinook at over 1.3kgs and taking 2nd place. Blackie, Bucko and yours truly all weighed in much smaller rainbow to fill out the minor placings, but sadly, that was the sum total of the action. Still, it was a really pleasant weekend away, and the setting is one which we rarely get to experience.

30 August 2015 - Wurdiboluc Reservoir - Social

Report from Andres Vidovic.

One of the great pleasures of fishing is that you get to spend time outdoors sometimes in areas with beautiful scenery and if you are fortunate can see all manner of wildlife. This is why I personally like the “try a new place comp” as it is a great way of fishing areas that I normally would either never get to, or alternatively would not think to fish.

Once again like the previous two years, the fishing location chosen was a freshwater lake. This year it was a dammed impoundment called Wurdi Bullock, which can be found out just past Geelong way. Unfortunately like the previous two years “Try a new place” comp there were few or no fish to trouble the weigh master.

I turned up to the lake with only an hour to go, as I was returning home from having spent a very quiet weekend fishing Lake Purrumbete. Two things struck me as I climbed to the top of the dam wall. The first was the warning sign saying “no climbing on the rocks” and the second was the amount of fisherfolk, both SAC members and not, who were fishing off the rocks.

The lake was fairly shallow and unfortunately the unseasonably warm day and the sunshine meant the trout were probably sulking either in the shade or had found a deeper hole somewhere. (That’s our excuse anyway). There is nothing more frustrating or humbling than working hard at your fishing, casting hundreds of times, constantly changing your lures for zero return.

Only recently I was reading some fishing reports in a freshwater magazine and found this appropriate quote under the Lake Wurdi Bullock Section “.....It is dubbed the lake of a thousand casts....” This certainly was true for the members of SAC, but wasn’t true for the young boy and his dad soaking a bait under the bubble next to me. They managed to hook and land a lovely big rainbow trout. Sadly, they were not SAC member or else would have won a rod and reel for their efforts.

One final tinge of regret occurred at the end of the day. As I bundled the family into the car for the drive home I saw a gentlemen on the dam wall stuffing a rather large trout into a plastic bag. The fish were definitely there that day, but sadly they did not pay any of our club members a visit.

Oh well at least it was a lovely spring day out in the sunshine for the kids to enjoy.

15 August 2015 - Gunnamatta - Surf

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Nicer conditions at Gunnamatta beach greeted the competitors for Surf 2. Little weed, much smaller surf and less side swell made the fishing much more pleasant. A pleasant calm day with some nice colours in the sky was a suitable reward for the few anglers that rose early for sunrise. The other benefit of fishing the sunrise was that at least you had the pick of the beach. The same couldn't be said from 10 am onwards where as far as the eye could see there was the distinctive silhouette of rod holders and surf rods. For those anglers that did turn up after 10am it was a long walk to the left to find a spare patch of beach.

Sadly for SAC and all the other anglers at Gunnamatta not many of the rods were bent over with fish action. In fact the only moment of joy was late in the day when Dave let out a satisfied holler as he dragged a nice salmon across the sand. A decisive fish that was good enough to win the day.

For myself personally, there was a nervous wait to put my salmon onto the official measuring stick at weigh in. Thankfully in fishing competitions, just like tennis, on the line is in, so the snippet of tail nudging the 30cm mark meant I had a weighable fish. Not my proudest ever fish but significant in that it was my first ever in surf comps and good enough for 2nd.

The lack of fish during the day had some members ask the question, where crabs eligible for weigh in. Unfortunately the answer was no, because if crabs were eligible then we could have had a much more competitive weigh in as I suspect most members had managed to land quite a few during the session.

Another day fishing Gunnamatta finished with the now mandatory stop for fried food and recounting of fishing tales at the Guest Street burger shop. Oh well, a poor start to the year for surf fishing so I guess in true optimistic anglers tradition it’s a good time to change the focus and look forward to trout season.

02 August 2015 - Wonthaggi to Woolamai - Surf

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Typical foul wintery conditions awaited the first surf comp of the year. Wind, big swells, side currents and lots of large clumps of weed made it an extremely tough day. The conditions were such that many anglers could not hold bottom even with heavy lead. This resulted in many members ceasing their fishing early. In fact everyone was that keen to forget about the days action that weigh in (by mutual agreement) was done and dusted well before the scheduled time.

10 members and 1 vistor fished with our anglers scouring the region far and wide. Dave, Ron and Greg fished the Powlett with no luck. Jimmy tried his luck at Shelley beach with no fish to show for the effort. Craig, Chris and myself fished Kilcunda, similarly for no return.

Phil with a friend, tried off Woolamai. Fortunatley they did manage to get onto some fish. Unfortunatley for Phil he could not catch one that breached the crucial 30cm mark. His friend Mike became the only angler to weigh in. If it’s any consolation Mike is a local so we can at least use the excuse that he had home ground knowledge on his side.

On days like this when the fishing is slow it is sometimes good to reflect on events. Its a great way to learn some valuable lessons that can hopefully help improve our fishing skills. Craig learnt that you don't turn your back on the surf and bend over at the same time as cold water rushes into your waders. Chris, new to surf fishing and also fishing his first SAC comp learnt that you can't fish on a Victorian surf beach in winter in shorts. Its a tad too chilly for that. He then went on to learn that you can't easily find waders in tackle shops in those “smaller sizes” on Phillip Island. Finally, I learnt that you should always keep your hands well away from a spinning Alvey reel, especially when weed grabs your line and is being sucked back by waves. I could still feel the pain of the racked knuckles a week later.

So after a long hard day, 10 anglers all walk away with only 2 points to show for it.

11-12 July 2015 - Hollands Landing

Report from the General Meeting minutes.

Weather was good but cold. Seven members and two visitors fished. 3rd place went to Jim Kavanagh with 4 fish, 2nd to Phil Staindl with 4 fish, and 1st to Dave Clark with 9 fish at a total weight of 3.756 kg. Heaviest fish: Bream 0.762 kg, Luderick 0.438 kg.

13-14 June 2015 - Lake Tyers

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Is Lake Tyers on its last legs? Continual week-end forays down past East Gippsland for the last few seasons have sadly produced smaller and smaller returns. At least this year the tight race for the leader board encouraged a few members to attend or risk being overrun for the top position. Not that there was any real risk to the leader board as the Lakes resident bream had apparently decided to take a winter holiday.

Eight members and two visitors made the trip to Lake Tyers. If it was any consolation, at least this year's trip was conducted in some nice sunshine. That would have pleased the large yakkers contingent, as it is always a lot more pleasant to be not catching fish in nice weather.

Regrettably there were also few fish to be found for the boaters, either down near the entrance or up the river in the snags. The only consolation with weekend trips away is that at least the poor days fishing can be chatted away looking into a drinks glass and eating mixed grills at the local hotel.

Only two people weighed in fish for the weekend, with Phil S taking out first place with 2 hard earned bream (0.822kg), and Peter B weighing in for second with a solitary bream. It was a nice size and came close to pipping Phil at .814kg. If you need to take some positives out of a near fishless weekend then, at least all the anglers managed to avoid a paddle award nomination. Oh well there is always next year, or is there?

07 June 2015 - Port Phillip Bay

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The tragic death of three fishermen whom launched from Altona on this day reinforces that angling, especially from water craft or rock platforms has the potential to be a dangerous if not life threatening activity.

The forecast strong winds meant that this competition was cancelled the night before. To all our club members this is a sombre reminder that you should always fish safely and only fish to your level of comfort, skill and the capabilities of your equipment.

31 May 2015 - Mornington Peninsula - Surf

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Another foul wintery blast greeted the 11 competitors for the Mornington Peninsula surf comp. According to some of these anglers, this was some of the most unpleasant weather that the club had fished in many seasons. The one thing that you can guarantee on a beach when you mix strong winds and sand is a lot of sand in a lot of unplanned places. In fact everybody’s gear by the end of the day was thoroughly covered by the gritty stuff. Add to this some swell and weed, really made the day very unpleasant.

The results also mirrored the day. A slow day resulted in only 5 fish being weighed in. Winner Craig weighed in three of those, with a nice 1kg heaviest fish. Dave Clark and JB shared the remaining positions with 1 fish each. And by all reports Craig had such a large lead in the surf competitions that he even had the luxury of practicing catch and release on some of the salmon he had caught. It’s just a shame that he had already gilled and gutted them as a rogue wave tipped his esky over and washed away some of his days catch.

A worthy paddle nomination to Craig, but sadly in a year when everyone else is losing rods and reels, losing a few fish I suspect would not be enough to get his name on that shield.

10-11 May 2015 - Lake Dartmouth

Report from Andres Vidovic.

R Clarke Memorial Trophy. Ah Dartmouth. For many members this trip causes such mixed emotions. Many dream of those large trout that seem so common and plentiful in the lake. Then there is the prospect of an extremely long drive and maybe worse the prospect of freezing cold wintery conditions.This year the club experienced all three.

Foul wintery weather but still plenty of fish captured. Ten members and two visitors made the trip to Dartmouth with most fishing out of boats. Nine people managed to catch at least fish 2. Only one member failed to weigh a fish in and they shall remain nameless.

Dartmouth is also one of those trips that is a sure bet for a few paddle nominations. This year was no different. JB obliged with the usual Dartmouth forgetfulness. On the Friday he left his esky at the house and reels back in the car. This required the mandatory long tedious round trip back over the mountain to retrieve them. Then there was Ron whom was trolling near the dam wall and managed to snag on both rods. This wouldn’t normally be so bad except that he managed to spool those reels in the process.

The fishing for the weekend certainly compensated for the foul weather. The most successful angler was Marco with 6 trout (all rainbows) for a final weight of 4.27kg. JB not forgetting his gear for the comp days came in a close second also with 6 rainbows (3.28kg). Rounding out the podium was Jimmy, with 4 fish at 1.94 kg. The majority of fish caught on the trip were rainbows but Buko did manage the largest brown of the trip at 900grams.

18-19 April 2015 - Portland

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Chris Bouyer Memorial Trophy. Once again the weather Gods did not smile kindly on the plans for a Portland competition. Predictions of foul winds resulted in another cancellation.

12 April 2015 - Western Port & Outside

Report from Andres Vidovic.

A calm start to the day, but quickly blew up to 15 knot South Easterlies. This meant it was much more comfortable fishing early on in the day. 12 members and 4 visitors fished the day, and a strong kayak contingent was to have a successful day. All three “yakkers” launched and fished from the eastern side and this proved a successful tactic taking out first, third and fourth positions.

The variety and quality of fish available out of Western Port is fantastic and this makes these comps always well attended. This competition was extremely successful with 49 fish weighed in. The variety probably tops any competition the club held recently. The bag included the usual suspects such as Whiting, Squid and flathead, but also included some of the not so regularly weighed in species like couta and Elephant fish.

Greg did not disappoint managing to catch and weigh in his now customary leatherjacket. As a guide to how good the fishing was today, many of the clubs best captures for the year came from this competition. For the records, Dave from his yak went on to edge out Craig with a full bag of 10 fish at 7.985kg. This was only 600grams better than Craig whom also managed a 10 bagger. A distant third was Greg with a still respectable 3.83kg and a full bag. I will guarantee that some of these ended up in the smoker.

14-21 March 2015 - Mallacoota Inlet - Social week

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Mallacoota social week is one of my favourite trips of the year. It is my one real chance to land an impressive Dusky, dream of a Mulloway or maybe catch a thumping bream. In reality it is just an excuse to relax and fish for a whole week in a relatively calm, beautiful and tranquil environment. Unfortunately this year some family commitments meant I had to travel down midweek and also returned earlier than desired. This meant I did not cross paths with too many of the Sandy Anglers in my travels, and so their misadventures may go unreported.

The long road trip this year was made even longer with stretches of road-works and controlled burns on the last kilometres before the Mallacoota turnoff. This burning off would unfortunately go on to spoil on one of my planned morning assaults of the narrows. After having hyped up the narrows as a must fish “hot spot” I had convinced Bob, Andrew and Garry to join me on an early morning session to hit the deep water off the banks with soft plastics. The cold an drizzly morning didn’t deter us, but sadly the large “do not enter” sign across the track did. A quick investigation confirmed flames licking all the way down to the water’s edge, from a controlled burn.

Why do I love Mallacoota so much, hopefully I can answer it with one of my more memorable fishing sessions of the trip. I was fishing off the Karbethong Jetty. It was sunrise, I had just got a bite and was fighting a nice medium sized bream. I had managed to finesse it to within netting distance before it managed to take some line, dived under the jetty and busted me off. Oh well I thought I’ll have another crack. I re-rigged, dropped the bait literally under the jetty and within seconds was hooked up. I once again set the hook and the fish dove straight under the jetty and quickly busted me off. I decided to get serious then, tied on a 15 pound leader, locked the drag and dropped the bait. Again I saw my line move off so set the hook. A short hectic tussle ended in the same result. Leader shredded, fish gone. Attempt 4, reminded me of an old quote. “The definition of madness is when you repeat something over and over, exactly the same way and expect to get a different result”. Fish number 4 was also again quickly lost under the jetty. Sadly, just as quickly as the action has started the fish then went off the bite. Bream 4 Angler 0.

It is the fact that I now have 365 days to stew over this drubbing and can plan on how I am going to get my revenge that will motivate me to return. Not only will I have a date with the narrows but a sunrise or two on the Karbethong jetty now has my name on it. Sadly I don’t have too many fishing reports from other members that did the trip this year, but I can recount a couple of the non fishing happenings.

Ron and Terry fished out of “Willow” and decided to have a rod throwing competition. Terry led off by casting at some snags. Unfortunately he did not hang on to his rod hard enough and it sailed off into the sunset. He went on to show off his angling prowess by casting his spare rod and managed to hook and then recover his original rod. Ron, ever competitive was not to be out done, he got his own opportunity later when a bream allegedly snatched his rod clean out of the holder into the drink. Encouraged by Terry’s earlier success he also cast out a second rod and amazingly managed to recover the rod. Shame his luck eventually ran outwhen he managed to snap the top off his favourite rod when catching it on the canopy during a cast.

Anecdotally talking to some of the shore based guys the fishing this year was generally slower than previous years, and I found that fish sizes were also down as confirmed by David Clark who once again generously organised the Fisheries log books and compiled the results from the diaries.

08 March 2015 - Port Phillip Bay - Whiting

Report from Andres Vidovic.

For two seasons the PPB portion of the whiting season has come up short with few or no whiting weighed in. In an effort to change this fortune the competition was moved from the usual January date. Stable weather, reports of good whiting catches in the bay were all positive signs leading up to the competition. Sadly the end result was the same as previous years.

14 members fished, predominantly around the Sandringham to Beaumaris inshore reefs. Sadly these produced only one whiting. Craig and Andres fishing off Walleroo tried something different and launched out of Altona for a sunrise fish. A long fishing session did see a nice mixed bag of fish caught. Thankfully there were five whiting in amongst that bag which was good enough to give Craig the victory (3 fish for 650 grams) and second for Andres with two fish at 546 grams. Rob K finished in third with a solitary whiting.

I was also personally pleased, landing my first ever zebra fish. Oh well PPB whiting has let us down once again. Next season this comp is scheduled for February. Hopefully another different month might bring a better result.

21-22 February 2015 - Port Albert

Report from Andres Vidovic.

15 members made the trip east. A favourite with many club members, as Port Albert always offers good opportunities to catch some gummies or the large local flathead.

The first day started out with a foggy morning, but developed into a hot humid day. This made a pleasant change from the previous year’s gale force winds. The excellent thing about Port Albert is that if the weather permits, then there is a great opportunity to manage some excellent catches. This year lived up to that. The total weigh in was 62 fish with 24.5kg and approximately 8 different species ranging from flathead to gummies, snook, tailor, mullet and garfish varieties. One of the more mentionable catches was Michael Hollands’ Garfish, which weighed in just under club record.

Since the demise of the local hotel, club members improvised with a shared meal. This year was a BBQ complete with healthy salad. Not surprisingly for a fishing club not a single fish was seared in anger.

The other satisfying thing about Port Albert is that it always manages to cough up regular paddle award nominations. This year’s effort matched the quality of the fish weighed in. The paddle award nominations included: a) Al decided to join the long procession of members losing rods overboard. He added a special twist by losing his off his yak. b) Ron maybe distracted recalling the great weekends fishing action managed to remodel the side of his car at the service station when going to fill up. c) Bob endeared himself to his better half by leaving her favourite pillow behind. Not a good way to ensure leave passes for future trips.

The most satisfying thing about this trip was the avoidance of the week long itch following the usual Port Albert trip due to the prolific sandfly bites. Here’s hoping that they stay away for next year too.

01 February 2015 - Western Port - Whiting 2

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The Westernport dual weigh in location was applied for this comp. This is a popular format that encourages our kayak contingent to fish the relatively safe and productive waters of Coronet Bay. 10 members and 1 visitor fished and the day started out threateningly with early showers and southerly winds of 15 - 20 knots. Not that the weather seems to worry people too much when fish are plentiful. An excellent weigh in of 38 fish (totalling 5.872kg) made it a very productive outing.

The fishing was so good that only one member did not contribute at the weigh in. For the record our resident whiting specialist Ronny won with a full bag of 10 at just over 2kg. Second was John M with 6 fish (1.342kg). Rounding out the placings was Jimmy whom opted to leave the yak at home and managed 7 fish for 0.958kg.

18 January 2015 - Western Port - Whiting 1

Report from Andres Vidovic.

7 members and 1 visitor shook off the holiday season excesses to go whiting fishing. Fresh South Westerly winds made conditions a little difficult but this didn’t stop the club venturing far and wide in an effort to find fish. Areas fished included the middle spit, Hastings channel inlet, Coronet Bay and the Corinella pier. There was a very short but hot bite session during the day and sadly if you missed it then the fishing proved to be extremely tough.

First and second on the day was a family affair with Riley and John L weighing in 13 fish between them. You could argue as local ex charter skippers they had a serious home ground advantage. Craig landed 4 whiting for third. Jim managed a solitary whiting earning 16 valuable points to stay in touch on the leader board.

14 December 2014 - Southern Port Phillip

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Predictions on the Tuesday before were for 15+ knot northerlies. By Thursday it was slightly less windy but still over 10 knots from a different direction. Then by Saturday morning we were back to strong 15 knot northerlies. Thankfully at least in the early morning the Bureaus predictions of strong winds didn’t come true.

I set off for a sunrise start from Sorrento with Craig for a beautiful calm sunrise. We headed out past the channel onto a hole 6 to 8m deep hidden amongst the mud flats. The plan was for a bag of snapper, the result was a suitcase full of Port Jackson and Banjo sharks! At least in the lulls between sharks Craig managed to snare a lovely 50cm flathead which definitely punched well above its weight and had Craig thinking nice red, (if just for a moment). I also managed my first gummy, even if it was only an extremely modest size (1.8kg). We then moved in shallower for squid and whiting but once again only found rays, baby flathead, pinkies and lots of gurnards.

By early morning most of the other SAC boaters who were on the water experienced strong gusty winds. At least the sun had some bite to it so there was no risk of getting cold. Dave and JB tried for some whiting, and found the fishing slow only managing a fish each. Ron and Terry on Willow searched long and hard for some whiting and were the only boat to get a quantity of their target species with Ron ending up with 4 whiting.

Jimmy tried his luck out in his yak, but the gusty and choppy conditions made kayaking difficult and slightly dangerous so he quickly called it quits. He did manage a small flathead which squeaked him into the points and allowed him to stay on top of the ladder.

Phil S and Bucko hit a purple patch chasing squid. They did well drifting across a patch of ground near Sorrento. Unfortunately the squid were not the kilo plus monsters, or else they would have filled out the winners list. Phil’s 7 squid (that he kept for weigh in) was good enough for third place.

John M tried his luck off one of the Peninsula jetties. He managed to snare a lovely kilogram sized salmon. Unfortunately it proved to be a costly salmon as he left his rods unattended whilst he answered the call of nature and on his return one of them was gone. He might have had a visit from the sharks and rays as well it appears?

First place was taken out by Andres (with a bag of 2.35kg). This was a very welcome victory as this was my first fish weighed in for what has been a very slow and frustrating season. Craig Waller was close behind with a bag of 2.13 kg. Craig finished the day happy, taking out the maximum 45 points available for the gunboat captains award.

Overall a relatively successful day with a total of 26 fish / cephalopods weighed in, covering a wide variety of species from gummy to whiting, salmon and flathead. Even more impressive this was the first competition in a very long time where every angler that fished the event managed to weigh in at least one fish.

30 November 2014 - 78th Anniversary Twilight - Snapper

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Where have all the snapper gone?, long time passing. Pre dawn starts are made extremely hard when you have made numerous trips on previous occasions and spent countless hours on the water all resulting in zero bites from snapper. Thankfully the Twilight competition format meant that all angling club members could afford to have a welcome lie in. Unfortunately the change in format did not change the results, with once again only one snapper weighed in.

I had a fish with Dave Clark and we fished off Mordialloc, working our way from the 14m mark into the pinnacles and then out to the artificial reef for sunset. At the 14m line we caught stacks of undersize flatties, at the 8m mark we got sackfulls of baby pinkies and finally at sunset at the 10m mark we caught bucket-loads of almost legal to 30cm pinkies. If only we had moved one more time we would have caught a snapper.

The fishing was equally as tough for all other angling club members. The only angler of the eleven that fished to taste success was Dave Oates who was fishing with Ron on Willow. To emphasise how slow a day it was he hooked his fish on the last cast of the day. That solitary 1.644kg fish gave him a comfortable 1st place.

23 November 2014 - Club Memorial Trophy - Snapper

Report from Andres Vidovic.

What happens when you give all club anglers from 6pm Friday evening to 1pm Sunday the chance to catch a snapper? Well 17 anglers from the club took up the challenge and unfortunately 16 of them failed.

Thankfully David Clark managed to catch one nice snapper weighing 3.028 kg. Even moreimportantly in all his years fishing with the club Dave has never managed to win the Memorial Shield. Congratulation Dave.

26 October 2014 - Jeff Worle Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

For many members of the Club, the highlight of the fishing calendar is when the snapper arrive and they can get out of Port Phillip at ungodly hours of the day and night in pursuit of a big red! The first of the Club’s three snapper competitions took place on Sunday, 26th October, although showing great flexibility and initiative on the part of the SAC Executive, fishing was allowed over the entire weekend to assist those who may have difficulty launching due to the lack of public ramps. And by and large, conditions were good to very good, which showed in the numbers that fished.

The comp recorded probably the best turnout in recent years, with 21 members (and the odd visitor) trying their luck. Sadly, the fickle nature of fishing was sheeted home only too well, with only three fish weighed in by three different members. Coming in first was a long time member who I’m sure doesn’t get out on the water as often as he may like to, but Peter Quinton weighed in a nice 3.482 snapper giving him his first points for the season. Well done Peter. And in what is becoming a regular occurrence this season, Jimmy Kavanagh got amongst the points by weighing in the second best fish for the weekend, coming in at just shy of 3kgs. In third place was Andrew Brennan, who, like PQ, got amongst the points for the first time this season with a 2.29kg snapper. Well done to all.

11-12 October 2014 - Lake Eildon/Pondage/Goulburn

Report from Phil Staindl.

In recent years the Eildon competition has also taken on a whole new focus, with really good numbers attending and enjoying the social aspects as much (in some cases more) as the fishing. Of the 17 members and visitors who fished, there was a good sized group which camped out at Fraser National Park and enjoyed the rustic surrounds, a great camp fire and easy access to the water. The rest of us either stayed in town or nearby caravan parks, which had its own attractions, especially when one didn’t have to pack a lot of camping gear on the Sunday morning! And for the first real time this season, there was a pretty healthy return on the fishing front, with many members weighing in for the first time and a couple of other special mentions. All up there were 12 fish presented at the weigh in, with yours truly finally getting on the board with a very nice 2.318 kg brown trout taken on the troll in the Big River arm.

One of the Club’s newer members, Bob Shovelar weighed in a very nice rainbow trout that tipped the scales at 1.454kgs - well done Bob, whilst a regular at the weigh ins this season, Jimmy Kavanagh, came in third with another nice Brown that went 0.89kgs. Dave Oates weighed in a little reddie caught literally on his last cast for the comp, but in order to avoid any embarrassment of Dave, we will not mention the weight of his catch in these columns! By contrast, and worthy of a very special mention was a nice sized brown trout weighed in by one of our Junior members, Bradley Hocking. Fishing with Dad (Mark), Bradley scored his fist fish for weighing in by landing a trout on the troll – a great effort Bradley and well done! A number of other members weighed in with browns to various sizes, and it was pleasing to see that the return for effort was considerably improved from our visit to the Western Lakes.

Finally, a special mention has to be made of the Murray Cod caught by reigning Club Champion, Ron Wilson. He was one of the only members not to weigh in for the weekend, but the photo of a truly splendid looking Murray Cod – estimated to be around 5kgs - which Ron snared by flicking a stump jumper lure heading up towards the Bonnie Doon end of the lake. It was a great fish, and from the look on Ron’s face, was a thrill to catch and then safely release. Just a pity about that closed season, hey Ron!

21 September 2014 - Bostock Reservoir - Social

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The second running of the “try a new place” social event saw the club once again try a fresh water location on the fringes of metropolitan Melbourne. A small but determined band made the trip out north west on a crisp but clear day.

The boating restrictions on the reservoir meant that it was standing room only on one particular rocky outcrop. It’s a shame the fish weren’t informed that we were there as there was only a solitary trout caught by our president. It appears he’s on a red hot fishing streak and is not only winning and placing well on our regular competitions but also took out this year’s social event. A marked improvement on his effort lastyear where he could only bag a water fowl.

6-7 September 2014 - Western District Lakes & Rivers

Report from Phil Staindl.

The trip to the spectacular Western District has become a social highlight in recent years, with a number of our younger families making the journey to Camperdown to enjoy a wonderful weekend away and allowing some of the family members to enjoy a spot of fishing in the process. And when conditions allow, the volcanic lakes of Bullen Merri and Purrumbete offer some of the most beautiful surrounds imaginable in pursuit of fishing. A very good contingent of 16 anglers, including 4 juniors, enjoyed their time at these magnificent lakes, and the weather even did its bit by being calm, and, once the morning fog lifted, evolved into glorious sunny days. It’s just a pity the fishing results didn’t match every other facet of the trip. Only 2 fish were weighed in, with the old trout specialist, Peter Brown, landing a beautiful 1.724kg brown trout in Purrumbete on the Sunday morning to take out full points for the competition. (Brother Russell landed one as well, but was in the visitor category). Dave Clark was the only other Sandy Angler to weigh in, with another brown trout of .275kgs – enough to earn him 20 valuable points in the Championship race.

24 August 2014 - Gunnamatta

Report from Phil Staindl.

Glorious conditions greeted a hearty contingent of 12 eager Sandy Anglers who made the journey down to the Mornington Peninsula to fish the annual Surf Competition held at Gunnamatta beach backbeach in late August. A rolling swell, very little weed and glorious sunshine greeted us on arrival, and spirits were high for a successful day’s fishing. Sadly, what has become the norm in recent visits to Gunnamatta continued, with the surf offering up only three fish to the weigh in. For the overwhelming majority of us who didn’t weigh in, I think frustration was the overriding emotion. However, no one could wipe the smile off the face of Craig Waller, whose sole offering was a thumping 2.344 kg salmon, easily enough to give him a well deserved victory in the competition. A great fish Craig – well done! Dave Clark and the ever reliable JB both presented considerably smaller offerings at the weigh in which were enough to secure 2nd and 3rd placings respectively, but in an otherwise unremarkable day, it was Craig’s fish that was the absolute highlight.

10 August 2014 - Melb. Rivers/Harbours

Report from Phil Staindl.

The first competition to report on is the Melbourne Rivers competition held back on August 10th. The conditions were best described as terrible! Squalls, windy, cold and bleak. But did that deter the Sandy Anglers? No way! Fourteen intrepid souls braved the conditions and chased fish from locations as far and wider as the Maribyrnong river, the Warmies, the Patto and even the local Sandy Harbour. And you guessed it – the only fish (a nice little pinky) to be weighed in was caught by our intrepid President in the Sandy Harbour. Well done Jim!

27 July 2014 - Wonthaggi to Woolamai

Report from Phil Staindl.

The weather was a little kinder to those who ventured out to fish the first surf comp of the season with relatively gentle winds and temperatures almost nudging double figures. Eleven members and two visitors fished the comp, but sadly, only 3 fish were weighed in. The one good thing about this was that 3 different people weighed in the fish! A big congratulations to Craig Waller who weighed in the heaviest fish for the day at 0.986 kgs, giving Craig his first win in a Sandy Anglers’ comp, and a second podium finish in his only three comps. And as if we didn’t see enough of him on the podium last year, Ron Wilson jagged a fish about half an hour before pulling up stumps which was enough to earn him 2nd place. Well done Ron. Congratulations to Greg Stephens who did enough to take out third place. The fish were caught in the Kilcunda and Powlett River beaches, with none being caught from the Woolamai beaches. However, everyone seemed in good spirits at the weigh in, including a couple who had been fishing (or drinking) for a lot of the night. But hey, who am I to tell. What happens on the fishing trip stays on the fishing trip! Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

In the meantime, tight lines!

12-13 July 2014 - Hollands Landing

Report from Phil Staindl.

The new season has commenced in what can best be described as “challenging conditions”, but the commitment and enthusiasm of anglers from Sandringham cannot be faulted. The most amazing thing about the opening two competitions for the new season is that both were taken out by first time winners.

At Holland’s Landing, one of our country members, Mike Whelan, who lives at Phillip Island, was fishing with good friend, Phil S on Haystac and had a “purple patch” in Toms Creek whilst fishing with sandworms. In the space of an hour in the early afternoon, Mike landed no less than 4 good size fish over 30cm, an effort made even more meritorious by the fact that he had never actually previously targeted bream in his fishing endeavours. And those 4 fish – at a bag weight of 1.958 kgs were enough to see him gain maximum points and take out his first ever Sandy Anglers Fishing Comp. I should point out that yours truly did catch a number of fish during the same session, but all were just below size. Pity!!

A special mention must also be made of John Matheson’s efforts. Not only did he also weigh in 4 nice bream whilst fishing from the dock area at Holland’s to snag second place on the podium, but it was John’s efforts in making the journey to Nicholson to purchase some sandworms for many of those fishing which actually yielded some good results. All fish caught over the weekend were taken on worms, so thank you very much John. It almost seems a pity to mention about the flat battery, doesn’t it John!! :) (OK, we’ll leave that for another time!)

In third place was another relatively new member, Rob Kaldor, who fished with JB on Redgum and caught the weekend’s best bream at 0.638 kgs. Well done Rob. All in all of the 11 members who fished, 7 weighed in over the two days, with Al Fairley coming from nowhere on the Saturday night to weigh in two fish on the Sunday and snare 4th place.

And finally, we couldn’t leave without making mention of the fantastic fire a number of our group had raging on the Friday night in the camping ground. It was a bitterly cold night, but some of the lads had one of the best fires burning to beat the cold, so hot that it could melt cans (empty of course) in a matter of minutes. There was much laughter, story telling and frivolity with some members making the most of such a great fire. And I’ve gotta say, that’s what makes fishing trips like this in the dead of winter worthwhile. Just a pity the fire wasn't rebooted on the Saturday night, because it was still bloody cold outside!

14-15 June 2014 - Lake Tyers

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Ahhhh. Lake Tyers. A location reintroduced to the fishing syllabus two year’s ago. It tempted us with one seasons’ fantastic bream fishing that had club members enthusiastic to return. Since then it’s given us nothing but doughnuts.

Twelve members made the trip to Lake Tyers and SAC were the only boats on the lake. It started raining Saturday mid-morning and steadily got worse and worse. The were very few fish around during the whole weekend, and the locals had advised that there had recently been a fish kill in the area. The conditions got worse on Sunday with steady rain being followed up by wind.

This saw many members pack up and head for home early. Only three members weighed in fish for the trip, with Dave in his kayak taking out first place, Bucko 2nd and Ron rounding out the places.

To make a bad trip worse, some members experienced some bad luck. Terry had the misfortune of holing his boat during the trip and we need to give an honourable mention to new member Ian. He made the common rookie mistake of forgetting his sleeping bag on a weekend trip. Although he gained no points for the trip at least it puts him in the running for a paddle nomination.

01 June 2014 - Port Phillip Bay

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The winter weather I feel has put off many of our fishos’ from attending recent competitions. Only 8 members and 2 guests fished this competition that was held on our door step. Even though the day was cold thankfully it was calm and only spoilt by some early mist (oh and the lack of fish).

By all reports there were plenty of fish caught, in particular pinkies but unfortunately none of these were large enough to exceed the 30cm club limit. Paul used the occasion to fish with his family (brother and father). Unfortunately they did not trouble the weigh master.

In fact it proved a frustrating day for the boaters all round as Willow was the only one who managed to weigh in a fish. This was a Yank flathead of 380 grams and on a slow day was good enough for third.

The yakkers who spent the day fishing out the front of the clubrooms had the most success. In fact for Jim and Greg the 7 flathead they caught between them proved to be good enough for first and second place. This proved to be a historic day for the Sandringham Angling club as it was the first time ever that kayakers had taken out first and second place in a competition.

For the record Greg took out the victory on the day with his four yank flathead totalling 1.24 Kgs. Jimmy was very close behind weighing in 3 flathead for a total of 0.97 kg.

17-18 May 2014 - Lake Dartmouth

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The traditional Dartmouth weekend for some members is almost as popular and compulsory as the Mallacoota social week. One thing’s for sure it is almost as far in travel terms. Most anglers brace for the frigid mornings when they fish the lake. This year was a pleasant surprise with some mild weather and the chill not as bad as expected.

Nine members made the trip to Dartmouth with most in boats, our president trying his luck fishing off the banks and Greg as always with his trusty kayak in tow. The exceptionally clear weather with little wind certainly made ideal weather for kayaking. It was maybe this clear weather that made the fish a little hook shy and harder to find than in previous years.

Phil with his son Ben on board spent the two days trolling and managed to catch 4 fish between them for the weekend. This was good enough for fourth and third place respectively.

JB trolled his way around the lake and only managed to catch 2 weighable fish for the trip. One was a brown and the second a small rainbow which was the only one weighed in that weekend. This bag was good enough to win second position.

Peter backing up from last year’s successful trout season managed a solid 4 fish (all browns) which took him to another freshwater competition victory. Peter fished with his brother who also managed to catch a couple of smaller browns.Showing his dedication to catching trout Peter took some time out of fishing to show everyone how not to troll, especially when it results in backing your boat up and cutting all your own fishing lines. Surely an effort worthy of a paddle award?

27 April 2014 - Woolamai to Wonthaggi - Surf

Report from Andres Vidovic.

A difficult day in the surf. The day itself was a pleasant one for fishing with some sunshine and light winds. There was however, some side current and heavy swells after a windy week beforehand.

Five Sandy Anglers fished this competition and there were many other anglers on the beach but little action. The beaches that were fished included the Powlett river mouth and Anzacs. After a slow day only 1 fish was weighed in.That was a salmon of 860 grams. Congratulations go out to John Matheson, a new member who has now won his first surf competition.

13 April 2014 - Western Port - Whiting

Report from Andres Vidovic.

The third and final whiting competition for the season was held at Western Port. Once again a dual weigh in location was trialled. The first was at Stony Point and the second at Coronet bay, which is a favourite for the kayak contingent.

It proved to be a very tough day on the whiting. 11 members fished and their locations ranged from the Middle Spit, Coronet Bay and San Remo. Plenty of fish species were caught but not many of them were whiting. Dave made the best choice fishing San Remo in his Kayak. This led to a productive session catching 13 Whiting of which his heaviest 10 went for2.045 kg. On a slow day Craigs’ 1 fish (0.182kg) was good enough for second place. Congratulations to Craig who takes out a placing in his first competition.

22-29 March 2014 - Mallacoota Inlet - Social week

Report from Andres Vidovic.

For me this is the most anticipated trip for the calendar year. Not only is Mallacoota a fantastic fishery where even on a bad day you can still catch some fish. It also has some magnificent scenery and lots to keep an active family entertained just a short drive, walk or bike ride away.

It appears the many other club members feel the same way as we had a large turn out making the long trip this year. Sixteen members, several families and one visitor fished. Eight members were fishing from boats, the rest from kayaks or shore. Some keen fishos, (namely Phil and Bucko) even made the long journey just to fish for a few days.

The club booked out the usual digs, two units and the large house at the usual Adobe mud brick units. Unfortunately for myself and the family we had left it too late and could not get a booking so ended up staying in town. This meant I missed the usual evening banter and rumours recounting the days fishing exploits. The one advantage in staying somewhere different is that I had a chance to fish new areas that I had not visited during last year’s trip.

One member, Willow had the worst of luck. A back injury sustained on the eve of the trip meant he was unable to fish for most of the week. This must have been torture looking out of the unit windows at the expanse of fishy waters and knowing that he couldn’t get amongst it. Oh well thankfully in Mallacoota there is always next year.

My two goals for this Mallacoota week were simple, trying to catch a big blue nose bream and a big crocodile of a flathead. On three occasions, I was fishing at night from shore, I had that momentary excitement of believing I’d hooked a croc. A strong bite with the drag starting to peel off line always puts the heart in the throat. Unfortunately the joy was short lived as the “big” run ended in a dead weight which took a locked up drag to shift. Two stingrays, two lost rigs. The third run was more positive, heavy with thumping head shakes. End result about a metre and a half of thick eel. Oh well no crocodile this year but at least I ticked off on the big bream. My only one for the trip but a beauty. The good thing is that it gives me further incentive to come back next year.

Terry also got into some nice bream as did JB whom managed the equal largest for the trip. The good thing this year was as I ranged far and wide fishing the various jetties and shore based spots, I had the fortune to continually run into other club members frequenting the same jetties. This included John M, Ronny R and Jim. They seemed to be catching their fair share of fish land based and were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

If you don’t have access to a boat and want to participate in some of the most varied and potentially successful land based fishing then I thoroughly recommend you make the trip next year. The fishing this year was definitely tougher than last year, as was the weather.

Eight members again participated in the DPI survey log book programme. Dave Clark, once again generously organised the log books and compiled the results. They show that the fish in both quantity and size were down on last year.

The now traditional Paella Night, once again cooked by David Oates, was another roaring success. Hopefully next year I will get to stay closer to the group and enjoy some of this mythical fare. One last club tradition was also completed on the final night of the trip, a meal at the local pub. This year entertainment was provided by a travelling sporting club that was having an end of season dress up. This provided much amusement amongst the other pub patrons.

So that’s it for another 12 months. For many it means a long wait before we can do it all again. I know that I am certainly counting the days down. The biggest down side to Mallacoota is that it is such a long way away. JB had an unexpectedly longer trip home thanks to a trailer malfunction. A punctured tyre along with a seized wheel nut led to a long delay. Some assistance from other club members including our president saw him back on his way. A gentle reminder that regular maintenance on your trailers is always recommended. Even more so if you are planning on doing those long trips away .

15 March 2014 - Western Port - Whiting

Report from Andres Vidovic.

Strong Northerly winds to 20 knots dampened the spirits of anglers and only 10 members turned up for this whiting competition. Surprisingly four members braved the conditions in their yaks. Unfortunately none of the yakkers managed to land a weighable fish. Of the remaining anglers only 4 weighed in.

Steve showed the way bagging out with his 10 for a combined weight of 2.71 kg. His father Willow came in second with 7 for 1.618 kg and Phil landed 5 for a distant third (1.18kg).

22-23 February 2014 - Port Albert

Report from Greg Stephens.

Ten members made the trek south to Port Albert, the town with no beer after the local historic pub burnt down earlier in the week. Fortunately, the Victoria Hotel in Alberton provided a courtesy bus to allow the intrepid travellers some time to relax with a pre-comp Counter Meal and a few beverages.

Awaking on Saturday morning, the eager fishos were greeted with a howling wind. Not to be dismayed, 4 boats and 2 kayaks ventured out and fished for the best part of the day, although restricted to the inlet due to the winds.

After Day 1, Mark Hocking led the charge despite a banana being spotted on his boat the night before. Plenty of nice sized Yank Flatties and some mullet were weighed in with the overnight leaders being Mark, David Oates, and new member Robert Kaldor competing in his first comp.

After another Counter Meal and few more beverages at the Victoria, the lads retired to bed early and awoke to glorious conditions on the Sunday.

Once again the 4 boats headed out but the kayakers decided to pack up early and have a quick fish from the jetty instead. Once again it was a day of Yank Flatties, mullet, and even an undersized Salmon from Al on the jetty. The final results saw little change in the overnight leaderboard with only one change - Ron nudging out Robert for 3rd place.

Final results: 1st Mark Hocking with 10 Yank Flathead for a combined weight of 3.20kg, 2nd David Oates with a 7 fish combination of Yank Flathead and Mullet weighing in at 2.93kg, and 3rd Ron Wilson with 4 Yank Flathead weighing in at just under 2kg. Special mentions to Robert for an impressive 4th place in his first comp, to Terry for the heaviest fish (a 0.89kg Yank Flathead), and to Al and his 'pedal' kayak after leaving his pedals at home!

19 January 2014 - Port Phillip Bay - Whiting competition

Report from Phil Staindl.

The less said about the first competition in the New Year the better! Lumpy seas, NO King George Whiting and plague proportions of baby (and I mean baby) pinkies greeted the 10 or so members who fished. Not one whiting weighed in, but it has to be said that the sausage sizzle was most enjoyable. Thanks Gary! Tight lines!

15 December 2013 - Western Port Competition

Report from Phil Staindl.

Good weather and good numbers marked the first trailer boat competition of the season on Westernport, with members having the choice of two weigh in locations being Hastings and Corinella. All in all, the fishing was a little disappointing, with only 36 fish weighed in for a catch total that did not even tip over 10 kgs. The one saving grace was that all members bar one weighed in a fish, which was pleasing. King George whiting was the dominant species weighed in, with Mark Hocking getting amongst them, as well as a few other species, to weigh in a bag of 9 fish at a combined weight of 1.698 kilos to take out first place. Well done Mark! Second place went to your scribe, Phil, who, believe it or not, had been unable to trouble the scorers since June of 2013! I think the sensation experience was more one of relief than joy, but 4 whiting and a salmon were enough to give Phil 2nd place on the podium. Greg Stephens, fishing from his yak on the Corinella side, landed a mixed bag including a leatherjacket, and took out 3rd place, whilst Deb Wilson weighed in a lovely leatherjacket that went more than half a kilo. Amongst the other regulars, plenty of fish caught, but none of those great snapper or gummies one hopes for when fishing Westernport. Still, catching some fish was certainly better than catching no fish!

1 December 2013 - Snapper Competition 3 – Club Memorial Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

The good thing about having a backup date for a snapper comp is that invariably you will need to use it, and so it came to pass. With strong winds blowing out the original competition date, the wind gods were considerably kinder to those who fished the backup comp on Sunday 1st December. Gentle easterlies greeted those fished, although numbers were down on previous comps – most likely because of the rescheduled date. Only 9 or so were able to fish, and surprisingly, the snapper seemed to have quietened down a bit after a frenetic October and November. Only 4 fish were weighed in by three members, with the size and weight being smaller than in the earlier comps. But if you’re looking for different names in the place getters, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The order may have altered slightly, but three of the “snapper guns” occupied the podium places, with Ron Wilson taking our first place with a bag weight nudging the 5kg mark. And to keep it in the family, son Steve weighed in a fish to take our 2nd with Andres finishing 3rd. A great effort to all concerned!

16 November 2013 - Snapper Competition 2 – Twilight Comp

Report from Phil Staindl.

Once again there were healthy numbers fishing the twilight comp, but unfortunately the earlier promising forecast of 10-15knot winds turned out to be somewhat inaccurate with a 20 knot southerly blowing pretty much the entire afternoon and evening. For those who ventured out, it was tough going, and made worse by the plagues of hungry Shearwaters that were looking for any sort of food,, which often included baits! As a result, only 5 members (and 1 non member from the Wilson clan) weighed in a total of 11 fish at a combined weight of more than 25 kilos. The pleasing aspect was the new names on the podium! Steve Wilson claimed first place with a nice bag of three fish, whilst Peter Brown’s bag of two – including the heaviest fish of the day at 3.154 kgs was enough to claim 2nd place. Gary Ling made a welcome return to the Club and claimed 15 points with a good fish, whilst Alex “Ax” Pansow (Phil’s mate) caught his first ever snapper and snared 16 points. Oh, and in case you’re wondering who claimed 3rd – it was Ron Wilson – AGAIN! (Well done to all!) And one final point! Greg, not to be outdone in missing out on the snapper action, caught a lovely flathead!

27 October 2013 - Snapper Competition 1 – Jeff Worle Trophy

Report from Phil Staindl.

There was a very healthy turnout of members (and 1 non-member) who fished the opening snapper comp of the season, and enjoyed light winds and plenty of fish, with 7 members weighing in at the traditional sausage sizzle. Following on from his extremely good snapper form of last year was Andres “snapper” Vidovic, who weighed in 3 beautiful fish – the heaviest of which was 4.492 kgs - for a total bag of 11.375kgs. Sensational effort Andres, and fully deserving of first place! Hot on his heels was Mark Hocking, also with a bag of 3 fish weighing in at 9.820 kgs. The lads fished a lot further south in the Bay – something to remember next year! Third place went to local snapper guru, Ron Wilson, who, whilst only weighing in 2 fish, managed the heaviest fish for the day with one just over 5 kilos. Others to weigh in included Paul Lindholm, who finally christened his new boat – well done Paul, Jim Kavanagh with 2 god fish, and Dave Clarke and Peter Brown both registering with the scorers. All in all, 14 fish weighed in for a total weight of over 43 kgs! Well done to all concerned.

12-13 October 2013 - Lake Eildon

Report from Andres Vidovic.

An excellent turnout once again for the second of this year’s freshwater competition with 16 people making the trip away to Eildon.

Club members were scattered far and wide across Eildon for this trip. Approximately half a dozen members chose to “rough it” by camping out in the Fraser National Park. A fantastic location with great scenery, excellent access and tent sites right on the lake edge. This meant the yakkers and the one boat staying there could leave their crafts by the shore at night ready for those predawn fishing trips. Not that some members would have got up early for sunrise as I overheard that one club member was having a big night and around midnight was heard to call out “Does somebody want to have a drink with me?. I’ve got beer”.

For the other half dozen members it was the not so “return to nature” option of the caravan park. And even more upmarket still one family chose to stay at the motel.

Ronny had a pre-fish on Friday repeating last year's success at Bourke St on the Pondage. Ron was using his go to soft plastic (Black and Gold Squidgie Fish) and landed a nice 1kg+ Rainbow. Unfortunately he could not replicate this success for the rest of the weekend. He both trolled and bait fished using mudeyes but couldn't raise a fish. You would have to go back quite a few competitions to not see a fish against Ron's name.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful and sunny with little wind. The fishing on the other hand was not so kind. Only three people managed to weigh in fish on the Saturday. The first was JB with a thumping Brown trout of 2kg. Our angling Secretary having gone back through our records found that this is the heaviest trout weighed in for over a decade. A big congratulation to JB. For the record I believe that he landed it trolling.

The only other boat to have any luck was Fishinator. Peter weighed in a couple of small browns (approximately 1 kg) and Glen caught three trout for a bag of 2.3kg. Once again the trout were caught trolling and where caught around Coller Bay. Not keen to give away the secrets of his success, when asked at what depth he caught them in, Glen replied ‘between 5 and 50m’.

For others bait fishing or trolling it proved to be a frustrating day with very few bites. I fished the Eildon pond and Goulburn river and did not even see a fish rise. This was in contrast to last year where there were lots of river trout jumping. The water levels in both thePondage and Goulburn river were much lower than last year.

For a Saturday night feed the club enjoyed its traditional meal at the Eildon pub with a few drinks and plenty of food enjoyed by all.

The Sunday again saw some lovely weather. But again the lovely weather did not equate to fish. JB and Dave C didn’t get off to a good start, with boat problems relegating them to a fish in the Eildon pond. Apparently a lot of worms breathed as a sigh of relief that morning as they couldn’t raise a bite.

The Kayakers Greg and Al and Jim, packed up their camp sites and decided to also try their luck at the pond again for little return. Andre once again ranged far and wide looking for fish. He tried the Pond at sun rise, in some of the deeper sections. He even tried fishing off the steep sloping banks at Jerusalem Creek. It was promising looking country with deep water straight off the banks and lots of inundated scrub and trees to aim at. He even tried on some snags on the Goulbourn river. Unfortunately for all his efforts he could not buy a bite.

Mark who normally doesn’t fish the fresh had had a frustrating day trolling on Saturday. Keen for a few pointers he went out with Phil. Unfortunately they just couldn’t find the fish. Hopefully Mark isn’t discouraged with the lack of success and gives it another go.

Peter B with Glen on board “Fishinator” showed that their efforts on Saturday was not “just luck”. They again managed to get onto some fish whilst trolling. Unfortunately Glen managed to drop his two hook ups which cost him the competition victory. Instead he had to settle for second. Peter managed to convert his bites and weighed in three more Browns for a bag of approx. 1.5kg. This was enough for him to take out the Victory for the weekend which is his second Freshwater competition win. A fantastic effort for a relative new comer toour club competitions.

7-8 September 2013 - Western District Lakes & Rivers

Report from Phil Staindl.

The first freshwater competition of the season took place in early September, with the location being the stunning setting of the two volcanic crater lakes just outside of Camperdown, namely Lakes Purrumbete and Bullen Merri. Being relatively family friendly, it was fantastic to see a number of families of club members attending and participating in this particular competition, with a grand total of 19 members (including juniors) in attendance. A special mention needs to be made of the great enthusiasm brought to this competition by three very junior members, namely Lachlan Wilson, Harry Brennan and Aidan Vidovic. Well done team!

As for the fishing, conditions were very windy on the Saturday, making trolling for trout and salmon challenging. A new concept was trialled whereby the first day’s weigh in was held at midday to enable those members who wanted to be on the water late in the day the opportunity to do so. And so it transpired that the theory worked well in practice, and proved instrumental in seeing passionate bait fisher, Ron Wilson, land a very nice brown trout late on the Saturday. Ron was targeting those areas that trout love to patrol late in day, and floating a mudeye underneath a bubble float proved too tempting for a patrolling brown. Unfortunately for Ron his good form did not extend to his beloved Magpies in their knockout final against Port Adelaide that night. Ron and a host of other Magpies supporters had to suffer the ignamy of a Collingwood defeat whilst watching on the big screen at the Camperdown Pub that night, whilst elsewhere Phil S was immersed in his iPad studying the latest election results across the Nation. It was a toss up as to who was the unhappiest - Ron or Phil !!

The Sunday morning saw perfect conditions welcome all of those who decided to fish. Calm settled conditions made trolling significantly easier, but sadly the fish did not take the same view. To prove that his catch of the previous evening was no fluke, Ron repeated his effort and landed another very nice brown trout, although this time it was caught out in the middle of Purrumbete and well down in the water table. Two browns over 1kg in weight each is no mean feat and enough to give him another competition win - congratulations Ron. Of the others, only Glen and JB managed to weigh in a fish, with both members weighing in a chinook salmon. (For the record, Glen’s fish was slightly bigger, giving him second place and JB third.)

Other members caught a number of salmon, especially in Lake Bullen Merri, but as it has been stocked relatively recently, many of these fish were not yet size. Although the fishing results were not fantastic this time round, the setting is superb, and if one can appreciate the beauty and serenity that greets us in this prized location, then any joy with fishing becomes a bonus!

Tight lines.

24 August 2013 - Gunnamatta

Report from Phil Staindl.

Whether it was the harrowing experiences of the earlier surf competition or people were just a little wiser, numbers for the second of the Season’s Surf Competitions were down a little and an intrepid band of 6 Club Members fished the surf at Gunnamatta on 24th August. Conditions were greatly improved, although the surf was still pounding and the currents strong. Action for the first few hours was few and far between, and it was only after the change in tide that 3 out of the 6 club members fishing actually landed some fish. Fresh from his relaxing sojourn to the warmer climes in Europe, reigning Club Champion Ron Wilson showed that he will once again be a force to be reckoned with, weighing in two fish, the biggest of which was a thumping 1.42kg salmon. Well done Ron. And not far behind was Ron’s regular sparring partner in JB, who also weighed in 2 fish, enough to snare him 2nd spot. Our resident Mornington Peninsula member, Ron Rolls, managed a modest sized salmon on what was close to his last cast for the day and resulted in him claiming third spot on the podium. Greg, Al and yours truly all failed to trouble the scorers, but had an enjoyable experience in case.

11 August 2013 - Devilbend Reservoir - Social

Report from Andres Vidovic.

In an effort to give members an opportunity to suggest new fishing spots or just to freshen up the fishing syllabus this year we tried something new with a “try a new place” competition. Club members discussed the options and it was decided to try our luck at the newly opened Devilbend reservoir for a spot of freshwater action. If you’ve not heard of Devilbend Reservoir then try Melways Map 152 ref H-2. Its proximity to Melbourne (being just down the Mornington Peninsula) was a bonus.

Twelve Club members and one guest made the trip to the Reservoir. Restrictions to where Anglers can fish in the Reservoir made the fishing “not so squeezy”. The facilities were excellent though with a nice new fishing platform complete with rod Holders. The fishing was also slow with only JB and Glen managing to catch a fish. JB landed a medium size Redfin and Glenn a small trout.

Equally as exciting was our illustrious president managing to finally land something. If you can recall when Jim actually last weighed a fish then please let us know. Unfortunately Jim wasn’t able to break his duck as it only turned out to be a moor hen. (Apologies to any ornithologists as I am not an expert on bird identification). The bird was promptly and safely returned.

4 August 2013 - Wonthaggi to Woolamai

Report from Phil Staindl.

The sanity of up to 10 members of the Sandringham Angling Club was called into question on Sunday, 4th August when a hardy contingent of members turned out to fish the first of the new Season’s Surf Competitions in the Wonthaggi area. Fierce winds, driving rains, frequent squalls and low temperatures should have been enough to keep any sane person safely ensconced at home or somewhere else indoors, watching football, reading papers or doing the crossword. But to fish some of the State’s most exposed surf beaches in the face of a howling South Wester - to quote Manuel of Fawlty Towers fame “CRAZY!”

Needless to say, no one had any success in catching any fish. Steve and Deb could have earned an early season Paddle Nomination for bringing young Lachlan out in such terrible conditions, but then there was a strong degree of admiration for their collective commitment to the cause. However, there was no such doubt in the case of Jimmy Kavanagh. Hot on the heels of last Season’s successful (shared) Paddle Award winner, Jimmy leapt to early season favouritism by being bowled over by a rogue wave whilst fishing near the Powlett River beach, and getting a nice wet sandy bath in the process. Needless to say, it capped off “one of those days” for the hapless Jimmy.

All in all a disappointing day’s fishing, but pleasing to see so many members committed to the cause.

NB Please contact the Club’s Social Secretary to check on visiting hours at the Asylum! :)

13-14 July 2013 - Lake Tyers

Report from Phil Staindl.

After last year’s standout fishing results at Lake Tyers, expectations were high amongst the Sandy Anglers of another great weekend’s fishing. Once again a very healthy contingent made the journey to the east of Lakes Entrance on the Friday (and in some cases, early Saturday morning), and were greeted with spectacular winter fishing conditions on the Friday afternoon and Saturday. Crisp mornings, clear skies and virtually not a breath of wind made for an idyllic setting. The preceding month’s torrential rains meant the mouth of the lake had opened for the first time in a year, resulting in a drop of roughly a metre in the water level of the lake overall which in itself created a few problems for a number of members (yours truly included) who decided to try their luck at mud ploughing at various times over the weekend. However, with the mouth of the Lake open, the wise old local sages at the Pub on the Friday night told us that had caused many of the fish to try their luck out at sea for a while, meaning the fishing was extremely slow. And guess what- they weren’t wrong.

Catching fish to weigh in proved to be an elusive task, with only Willow and Blackie troubling the scorer. Blackie persisted fishing in the main lake for the entire day, and was rewarded in the late morning with a 1.174kg bream – a truly beautiful fish. Willow ventured well up the top of the Nowa Nowa arm, and was fortunate to pull an almost 1kg bream out from under the snags to present at the weigh in. Numerous other fish were caught, but unfortunately were not of a size that could be weighed in. (Well most of them – isn’t that right Dave C!) Phil’s only success came in winning the Pub raffle, and proceeded to cook up his winning meat tray for breakfast for all members on the Sunday. And in contrast to last year’s season opening competition, there were numerous nominations for Paddle Awards, most of which will be held over until Presentation Night, but a special mention to Mark for his knot tying efforts when launching! Aaah – it’s all good fun.

So a win to Blackie for the opening competition of the season and reigning Club Champion Willow the only other person to score more than 2 points. But Lake Tyers is a magnificent location and, who knows, with the mouth of the Lake closed next time, the fishing should be superb!

Tight lines.

18-19 May 2013 - Lake Dartmouth

Report from Phil Staindl.

For many Club members, the long trip to Dartmouth to chase high altitude trout is a highlight of the angling year. Not only do we get to test angling skills on a massive body of water nestled just below the imposing structure of Mt Bogong, but the remoteness of the township of Dartmouth adds its own special feel to what is often a memorable weekend. This year saw a total contingent of 11 make the journey to the distant North East and, although not in huge numbers, everyone bar one managed to weigh in by the Sunday afternoon.

Conditions were remarkably good with cold and foggy mornings giving way to clear days. There was an occasional breeze which can present its own challenges when trolling, but given how wild the weather can be up there in the late Autumn, all fisherman were grateful for the relatively benign conditions. And to the results! New member, Peter Brown, fishing with his brother Michael were the standouts for the weekend. Peter weighed in a total of 7 fish over the 2 days for a bag weight of 2.178 kgs, with his best fish being a rainbow (the only caught on the weekend) being 0.352 kgs. Michael had a very respectable 3 browns in his bag.

In second place was Phil Staindl who just nudged Ron into 3rd place by virtue of a very nice 1.134kg brown trout that was caught within minutes of launching from the ramp on the Sunday morning. The father-son combination of Phil and Ben didn’t have anything to show after a full day on the water on the Saturday, and travelling for a long distance up the Mitta Mitta arm, but a couple of fish on the Sunday gave Phil a podium finish. Ron had no luck with bait fishing, but did manage to boat a very nice brown trout that just tipped the 1 kg mark.

A few of the troupe were out in kayaks, and Dave Oates managed a nice brown on a soft plastic, which was good going, and Steve Wilson also picked up a brown trout. In the other two boats, JB and Bucko landed two fish each, whilst last year’s winner, Dave Clark together with Blackie both weighed in a brown trout on the Sunday.

And as for the laughs and banter at the Dartmouth Pub on the Friday and Saturday nights, the joys of sharing accommodation with other middle aged men, and the competition on the water, well, that’s what goes to make Dartmouth such a special spot – a must inclusion in the Sandy Anglers’ fishing syllabus!

5 May 2013 - Port Phillip Bay

Report from Greg Stephens.

After a break in the fishing comp syllabus, it was time to wet the lines once again. 13 members fished, several land-based, Greg in his kayak, and the rest from boats. Once again the fish proved difficult to find with only 2 members weighing in. In a reversal of the norm, the winner came from the land-based anglers, 2nd from a kayak, while the boaters all failed to trouble the scorers.

Andres fished the Sandy Breakwall and Hampton Pier for a winning return of 5 fish consisting of Snapper, Salmon & Flathead with a combined bag weight of 3.368 kg. The only other fish weighed in was by Greg (his first weigh-in) with a 0.978 kg Salmon caught flicking soft plastics at the north wall of Sandy Harbour.

No Paddle Award nominations but for the third time this season, an eligible fish managed to escape from Greg's kayak - this time a nice flathead of about 35-40cm. But, with his Salmon already secured in his bag, he managed to keep the swearing to a minimum.

Overall, an interesting day with all fish weighed-in being caught within a few hundred metres of the Club Rooms!

3 March 2013 - Hastings & Coronet Bay - Pt2 Coronet Bay

Report from Greg Stephens.

Over on the other side of Western Port, Jim, Al & Greg fished the Reef Island end of Coronet Bay from their kayaks. After landing his 'season record' Leatherjacket, Greg landed what he thought was a large whiting with strange eyes and, later on, word reached him that Jim had also caught one. Returning to shore, Greg held up his large fish to Jim and said "This is a Whiting, isn't it?". Jim laughingly replied "No you goose, that's a Yellow Eyed Mullet". Pulling out his large fish, Crocodile Dundee style, Jim continued, "THIS is a King George Whiting!". "Err, Jim mate, your fish looks the same as mine." Yep, Jim's 'Whiting' was also a large Yellow Eyed Mullet. Paddle Award!

3 March 2013 - Hastings & Coronet Bay - Pt1 Hastings

Report from Phil Staindl.

Capping off a busy competition period was the Whiting comp last Sunday. 9 members fished, and not only were there strong NE winds of up to 20 knots, sadly the whiting proved difficult to find, with only 2 members weighing in. After a long absence, former Club President, Colin Grenfell showed he’s not just a pretty face by weighing in a bag of 5 fish, including one that just nudged half a kilo. The only other fish weighed in was by Phil S. And the one paddle nomination of note - the weighmaster was late to the weigh-in!

23-24 February 2013 - Port Albert

Report from Phil Staindl.

For the 11 members who made the trek south to Port Albert, hopes of a repeat of last year’s benign conditions were dashed quickly, when howling easterly winds greeted us as we awoke at dawn on the Saturday. Two other angling clubs who were in town to fish did not even venture out on the Saturday. Call it dedication or madness, but 3 Sandy boats ventured out and fished for the best part of the entire day, in spite of there being no respite from the winds. And for Mark “Gummy” Hocking, he could do no wrong, dominating the competion from day one. Mark bagged 3 gummies over the weekend, the best weighing in at 3.65kgs. Willo bagged one gummy and a whiting to come in second, whilst Phil and Alex battled out 3rd position with a good haul of flatties. Special mention has to be made of JB in Redgum, who provided many good tales over dinner that night with multiple paddle nominations. However, to find out more, you will have to await Presentation Night!

10 February 2013 - Western Port

Report from Phil Staindl.

Strong southerly winds greeted the brave members who entered the Whiting competition out of Hastings on February 10th. For the 7 members who weighed in at Hastings, all members were able to present at least 1 fish to the weigh-master. A total of 30 fish were weighed in, with the best being a 0.606kg thumper landed by Mark Hocking, giving him 3rd spot in the comp. However, it was Mark’s crew member, Andres, who blitzed, and weighed in a magnificent bag of 10 wonderful whiting to dominate first position by the proverbial country mile. And a welcome return to both competition and form saw Deb Wilson take out 2nd place (and out fish her father-in-law) with a good bag of 5 fish. Greg and Al who braved the conditions and fished from kayaks across at Coronet Bay once again, sadly, were not able to trouble the scorers in the weigh in which they would have preferred. Oh, and a special mention should be made of Ron W’s club record catch 0f a .646kg yellow eyed mullet. Well done Ron!

19-20 January 2013 - Portland

Report from Phil Staindl.

A hardy group of 8 anglers made the journey to Portland in the far south west of the State on the weekend of January 19th and 20th. With a few enthusiasts arriving by early Friday afternoon and enjoying early success on some whiting, spirits were high on Friday night for a successful outing on the Saturday. However, windy conditions limited the fishing options, and the whiting were not even quite so obliging as the previous day. Ron and the ever reliable JB managed to get a few whiting between them whilst Alex landed a modest flattie to join them as the only anglers to weigh in on the end of Day 1.

Conditions on the Sunday morning were a little better, although it was by no means smooth sailing for the couple of intrepid boats that ventured out to Lawrence rock and beyond. Ron added a lovely snook to his bag from the previous day whilst JB landed a nice size couta. The only other action on the Sunday occurred when Phil and Alex had a brief encounter with a school of salmon, with Phil bagging 4 and Alex bagging two. Results of the weekend finished up with Ron claiming 1st position (again – congratulations Ron), Phil sneaking into second spot with his salmon, Alex in third and JB finishing in 4th. Al, Greg, Blackie and Michael H cannot go unreported however. All 4 added colour and action to the weekend, especially with Al finding a novel weigh to come ashore in a kayak! (more of that come paddle nomination time.)

13 January 2013 - Port Phillip Bay - Whiting

Report from Andres Vidovic.

A nice calm start to the day had the group of boat and kayak anglers optimistic for a pleasant day of fishing on the bay. Unfortunately a gusty South westerly blew in early morning making for slightly uncomfortable fishing conditions.

JB on Redgum and Terry with Andres on board concentrated their efforts around the inshore reefs just beyond Mordialloc creek (Horse Paddocks and slightly further offshore). It appears that pinkies where to be the order of the day here. Unfortunately for the anglers all these hovered between the 20 and 25cm mark. JB’s perseverance did however manage to land two nice whiting with a total bag of 0.73 kg. This would be enough to land him 2nd position.

Ron and Steve were out early on willow fishing around the Black Rock region. They thought they were going to have a good day when they quickly landed a few nice whiting between them. Unfortunately the whiting went off the bite and they were not to find them for the rest of the day. They did however manage to attract to the boat with berley a nice school of trevally. This proved to be a lot of fun on light gear. Steve weighed in his heaviest trevally to now lead that category for this year’s heaviest fish. His two whiting were also good enough for 3rd with 0.49kg. Ron with a 3 whiting bag totalling 0.96kg did enough to take out top position.

Phil with family members Keith and Michael on board also fished that Black Rock area but were not able to find the whiting. Their day was fairly slow with one of the few moments of joy was catching and releasing a nice leatherjacket.

A slow day also for the 3 kayak anglers Greg, Al and Jim who fished the competition, with no eligible fish to weigh.

02 December 2012 - Western Port & Outside

Overcast and slightly threatening weather for the first Trailer boat competition at Western Port. The wind started as a slight southerly early but unfortunately blew up to a howling 25 Knot SSW. This forced the small contingent of boats fishing to stay close to shore in sheltered areas limiting fishing opportunities.

Mark and Andres were on the water by 7.30am with plans to catch fresh bait and then target gummy sharks. It was going to plan with the first yakka in the bait tank early when unfortunately it all went pear shaped. A slipping anchor had them drifting quickly towards the pier. Mark couldn’t get the motor started so nervously watched the pylons zip past and the rods buckled in the rocket launchers as they bashed into the top of the pier resulting in a broken rocket launcher but thankfully no broken rods. After a mad and hectic 15 seconds of fruitless paddling they were through the pylons with minimal boat damage. The anchor was dropped and after 30 mins of effort not being able to restart the motor it was time to call for help. Thankfully Ron and Terry were able to lend a helping hand and provide a tow back to the Stony Point ramp.

Ron and Terry went on to fish close in on a small channel edge in 7 -8 metres of water between Hastings and Stony Point. The fishing was slow with lots of small flathead. Ron went on to win the competition with a real mixed bag of several whiting a leatherjacket, squid and a trevally. After motoring around looking for whiting they finally found a small school but strong winds saw their anchor slip and by the time they motored back they could no longer locate the school. During this time Terry had managed to catch one eligible whiting.

Dave with Michael on board was the only other boat competing. They were fishing in a similar location to Ron and were also plagued by large quantities of small flathead but did not catch any eligible fish.

A big hats off to Greg. who braved the gusty conditions and set out for the day in his yak. Unfortunately his dedication was unrewarded and he did not catch any eligible fish. Not a regular fisher at Westernport he struggled to get enough lead onto his plastics and couldn’t effectively reach the bottom to target the fish. A good learning experience he also found a new safe and convenient place to launch his kayak. Although reports are that it is a very muddy and long walk out at low tide.

17 November 2012 - 76th Anniversary Twilight Comp - PPB

Eleven club members went out in slightly swelly but otherwise pleasant fishing conditions for the twilight competition on Port Phillip Bay. This competition highlighted the fickle nature of snapper fishing. Today you were either in the right spot and bagged out or you were not and missed out.

The inner artificial reef off Carrum in 14m of water was the spot to be today. Mark and Dave fished here as did Paul and Andres. Coincidently the two boats were anchored approximately 100m apart without realising it. The fishing at this spot was fast and hectic with multiple hook ups followed by long periods of quiet before it went hectic again. It appears that the schools of snapper were quickly moving through the area and feeding vigorously.

Mark quickly bagged out and the constantly biting snapper gave him a good opportunity to continually upgrade his bag. This proved to be the winning tactic on the day as his 3 snapper totalled 10.4kg with his biggest and the biggest of the day at 4.07kg. Marks’ fishing partner Dave managed to break his snapper duck with his first successful snapper catch. To show it wasn’t a fluke he went on to bag out with a total of 5.4kg (biggest 2.2kg).

It was a welcome and successful return to competition for Paul whom, hadn’t fished in a club competition all year. He had a fun and busy day boating 5 snapper and still managing to hook but lose approximately the same number of fish. Paul took out 2nd place with a total bag of 7.8kg (biggest 3.6 kg). All fish were caught on pilchards or Silver Whiting.

Andres trying for a clean sweep of victories in the snapper competitions also bagged out catching 4 snapper on the day, three on soft plastics and one on pilchard. This was only good enough for third position with a bag of 7.4 kg (biggest 3.78kg).

Unfortunately for other competitors who fished other areas it proved to be a quiet and frustrating day. On board “Slapper” Dave was fishing with JB off Carrum for no return. Later in the afternoon they ran into Paul who passed on the coordinates of the spot he had successfully fished earlier in the afternoon. As it so often seems to happen Dave and JB had no luck at the same spot that had hours earlier fired.

Phil, Ben and Alex fished out in 19m of water out from Beaumaris. This is a spot that Ron has been fishing of late which has produced some good fishing. Unfortunately today it did not fire as there was only one eligible snapper caught by the three anglers. Congratulations to Ben who was extremely happy to have caught and weighed in his first SAC competition snapper at 2.54 Kg.

Avid kayakers, Greg and Jim once more tried fishing for snapper from the kayaks, this time at Greg’s “Secret Spot” just out from Sandringham. Unfortunately they did not encounter any snapper, with Greg only managing some undersize pinkies earlier in the afternoon.

A nice relaxing late evening bbq back at the club house rounded off what has been a successful and enjoyable snapper season.

04 November 2012 - Port Phillip Bay

Another calm, swell free morning saw a good contingent of club boats and kayaks out for the sunrise attempting to catch snapper.

JB and Andres fishing on Redgum left Carrum before 4am to set up in 18m of water. They were fairly optimistic ofcatching a good haul as the sounder lit up full of promising arches. Sadly the anticipated bite frenzy as the sun rose didn’t arise and even the change of tide passed quietly by. JB did manage one small snapper early (2.8Kg) which would prove good enough for third on this tough fishing day. It was an extremely quiet day for Andres who only managed one bite all day. At nearly 6kg this proved to be the winning fish and would make it two snapper wins in a row. Both fish were caught on pilchard and whiting baits.

The same story was repeated on other boats as they saw plenty of action on the sounder but this was not followed up with action on the rods. Ron with Phil onboard tried all his usual haunts but could only manage to entice 1 snapper on board. Similarly Mark had a tough mornings work for only one smallish snapper.

For the kayak contingent Steve again showed his results from the first competition were not a fluke. He managed to find a good patch of feeding fish off Beaumaris and bagged out. With the most fish but only a total bag of 5.2kg he was cruelly relegated to 2nd position. Once again Jim, Greg and Al tried their luck in the kayaks off Beaumaris, but could not find the same feeding fish that Steve had and returned empty handed.

So with only 7 fish landed amongst 10 anglers it proved a very quiet and frustrating day. Maybe it can be attributed to the slightly cooler water (about 1 degree Celsius cooler when compared to the fortnight ago) making the fish go off the bite. The lack of fish did not dampen the appetites or enthusiasm as everyone tucked into some drinks, and snags at the weigh in.

28 October 2012 - Port Phillip Bay

Jeff Worle Trophy. The weather finally allowed us to have a lovely days fishing. Light wind and little swell made it relatively comfortable to launch and ride out to the morning spots.

Ron & Andres fishing off Willow at one of Ron’s new marks in 19m, where quietly confident as they turned up to find some nice arches on the sounder. It didn’t take long as Ron quickly had two big bites sadly missed but he turned his day around with two nice snapper in the space of 5 minutes. Pilchards were his bait of choice as the snapper seemed to be avoiding the squid baits. Ron soon bagged out with two more snapper in 2 minutes allowing him to select the biggest for the weigh in and the smaller one returned to fight another day. Andres got on the board with two fish in two casts. His first took a good solid fight to bring on board and would prove to be the fish of the day. The second took a soft plastic which had been left in the rod holder and was soon netted. Fishing went quiet for several hours and it wasn’t until the last cast of the day that Andres netted his third snapper on a mullet bait. This allowed the willow crew to have an early finish and return to shore by 10am.

Ron called a few of the SAC members over to the spot but as so often happens when Phil arrived on Haystac the fishing had quietened and a hoard of small flathead had moved in. JB and Brendan on Redgum were fishing off Carrum and JB managed to bag out with Brendan landing a nice 4.2kg snapper.

Steve in his Kayak out off Ricketts point hit a purple patch and went wild with over a dozen fish and keeping his best three for weigh in. Al, Greg and Jimmy also fished out of their kayaks off Ricketts point for no return. It goes to show how it doesn’t take much to be on a blinder or out of the major strike zone.

13-14 October 2012 - Lake Eildon/Pondage/Goulburn

Report from Phil Staindl.

The prospect of bleak weather did nothing to dampen the relatively small but enthusiastic group of Sandy Anglers who ventured north to Lake Eildon recently. And as fate would have it, the conditions were nowhere near as bad as originally forecast, with cool but relatively calm (and for the most part, dry conditions being experienced for most of the weekend.

With two boats in Slapper and Haystac (on the Saturday at least) on an Eildon Lake that was lapping the edges at 100% of capacity, and some kayakers trying their luck and the odd member fishing the pondage, there was considerable interest in which method would prove most successful, especially after Ron W landed two beautiful trout on the Friday afternoon fishing with soft plastics in the pondage.

Andres Vidovic won points for commitment, being out the door well before first light in an effort to entice a trout of two onto his line. From his point of view the effort may hay been slightly misplaced, and his only successful catch was actually from the Goulburn river during the afternoon session. Top marks for effort though Andres!

Dave C and JB - fishing on Slapper, set a fast early pace with reports coming in thick and fast of nice browns being taken “on-the-troll” during the morning session, and it looked as if it may be a case of “how far” for the intrepid duo. Ron W - fishing on Haystac - was on the board early snaring a nice sized brown on a mudeye not long after the sun had risen, but for the next 6 hours or so, no amount of enticement through bait or lure could snare a second fish. And just when Ron was making less than complimentary remarks about the merits of trolling, within the space of ten minutes or so, both Ron and Phil landed a nice brown each on lead line and a green and gold sparkling tassie devil.

At the weigh-in at the end of Day 1, Dave C held a nice lead, weighing in 5 trout, with Phil S being in second closely followed by Ron in third place. The Sunday morning session did nothing to alter the positions, with Dave C being the only member to weigh in a fish, thereby extending his lead and placing his win at Eildon beyond doubt. A special mention is given to Andres for his dedication and preparedness to “do the hard yards”, and a special acknowledgement also to Greg Stephens and Al Fairley for their participation with kayaks. Best fish was Phil’s brown weighing in at 1.128 kgs, but congratulations go to Dave C with a bag of 6 fish weighing in at 2.258kgs and giving him full points for the second freshwater competition on this year’s syllabus.

1-2 September 2012 - Western District Lakes/Rivers

Conditions were perfect on Saturday, no wind and the hottest day in a long time. Most of us fished Lake Bullen Merri, and it proved to be very quiet. "Redgum" got some action early, with JB pulling a nice 850g brown up from the depths. He lost an even bigger one by the boat soon after.

Steve and Dave O trolled every inch of the lake in their kayaks for no return. There appeared to be little on the sounder or fish on the surface compared to usual. Willow, Deb and Little Lachie away on his first SAC competition, bait-fished for zilch also.

Jimmy appeared to be the smart one of the club, not venturing far from the ramp, sitting on the bank in the sun with a camp fire by his side. He managed a couple of undersized salmon and a few zzz's.

Andre and his family fished Lake Purrumbete both days and caught a redfin on the Saturday and a nice 800g trout from Hoses Rocks on the Sunday.

The locals all ventured out for dusk on Saturday as we all headed in after a long day. This appears to be the best tactic here as we heard they did well. But after a long day out on the water, a shower, a counter-meal and the footy were calling us all in.

Sunday was a repeat for most of us except this time at Lake Purrumbete. JB caught another trout trolling, to knock off Andre and take the honours for the weekend. Sunday was a lot windier, and by weigh-in time it was howling.

A good weekend away, cold beers at the pub Saturday night, Cloke back in form...

19 August 2012 - Gunnamatta Beach - Surf

Reasonable weather with no wind was a good omen for the angling club's second surf competition for the season. Once again seven members fished the competition and two groups formed with one fishing near the car park of the surf life saving club and the second fishing 500m further to the left along the beach.

For the group fishing left on the beach it proved a winning tactic as all caught fish. For the group near the SLS car park it was a fishless outing. All fish were caught on the mid to high tide on either pilchards or surf poppers.

Congratulations to Phil on taking out the day with a full bag of 10 Salmon totalling 5.36kg with a nice respectable salmon of 1.274kg as his biggest fish. Ron came in a close second with 7 salmon and Steve was the final person to weigh in fish with 3 salmon.

04 August 2012 - Wonthaggi to Woolamai - Surf

Reasonable weather for the angling club's first surf competition for the new syllabus. Seven members fished the competition and they mostly fished Williamson's and Woolamai.

A brisk westerly and a bit of weed made fishing conditions a little tough and no eligible fish where weighed in.

14-15 July 2012 - Hollands Landing

Heavy rains and extensive flooding throughout much of the Gippsland Lakes system in June instilled a sense of trepidation amongst the hardy troupe from the Sandy Anglers who ventured east for the first competition of the new season.

The initial fears about flood damage to caravans and cabins proved unfounded, as the newly raised cabins proved to be out of the reach of the encroaching flood waters (just!). However, the effects on the fishing were still being felt with the result being only 2 bream being caught by Club members of the entire weekend.

JB and Bucko fished targeted the upper reaches of the McLelland Straits on the Saturday, and although sharpening their angling skills on light tackle, the only catches were large quantities of carp and the occasional eel. What these results showed was that the fresh water was still prevalent throughout the entire water table and as such, was not going to yield many (if any at all) bream.

Others went further afield, including across to Loch Sport and, of course, the age old favourite of Tom’s Creek. Sadly, there was no joy on the fishing front. The only fish caught on the Saturday was done so very late in the day by veteran kayaker, Dave Oates, who managed to hook and net a nice bream just prior to dusk. Everyone else had a good time, but rued the lack of angling action.

The Sunday morning saw the wind blow up, making life tough for the kayak contingent who had made the journey to Hollands. For those who decided to fish, Toms Creek was the only option given the strength of the wind, and to show that his recent good form in estuary fishing was no fluke, Bucko landed a very nice bream to take out the competition ahead of Dave Oates.

A wonderful BBQ feast was had on the Saturday, and in spite of the loud and unruly behaviour of a volatile group from Rosedale, everyone from the Club seemed to enjoy themselves.

Tight lines.

16-17 June 2012 - Lake Tyers

Report from Phil Staindl.

Kayaks Are Kings!

What a revelation Lake Tyers turned out to be for those Sandy Anglers experiencing the delights of Lake Tyers for the first time.

A picturesque location, good accommodation (by comparison to some other notable locations), a good pub that served decent food and wine, and above all, a superb fishing environment. And despite the threat of rain, the weather was, by and large, nothing short of fantastic given it was mid June, and the fishing was great to boot!

With 9 members fishing what turned out to be the final competition n the 2011/12 syllabus, and the Club Championship up for grabs, there was plenty of banter, good humour and “foxing” on the water being had by all. The only member to get the chance to fish on the Friday afternoon was Dave Oates, who, fishing from his kayak, duly landed a lovely bag of bream caught by using a combination of soft plastics and prawns as bait. The expectations of the entire group were extremely high on the first morning of competition, no less so because by 10 am, Dave Oates had repeated the efforts of the previous afternoon and had 5 in the bag. The kayak was certainly dominating.

For those of us on boats, the fishing started slowly but as the day wore on, virtually everyone was able to report at least one fish per angler. Ron W was getting a little worried about his Championship lead when, by early afternoon he had yet to “get on the board”, and his nearest rival, namely yours truly, had managed a fish which took me to the lead, albeit temporarily. Suffice to say, when Ron landed a fish and backed it up with 2 more lovely fish on the Sunday morning, he ensured that he will carry the mantle of Club Champion for another year. Congratulations Ron.

Meanwhile, back on the water, Dave Oates’ ability to keep landing fish seemed to have deserted him, whilst Michael and Dave C fishing in Slapper had a hotspot and landed considerable numbers of good size fish, although Michael very nobly chose to return all bar one to the lake! (Well done Michael!) However, there was considerable excitement when Bucko, who until this stage was very quiet, managed to land an absolute thumper, with a beautiful bream weighing in at a massive 1.68 kgs, which was a mere 148 grams off the long-time Club record held by Bream maestro, Ralph Doderill. And a burst of good fishing late in the day brought the “quiet-achiever”, Terry Black into contention, who followed it up on the Sunday morning to weigh in a total of 7 fish and come in second.

The honours for the weekend, however, belong fairly and squarely with David Oates, who weighed in a total of 9 fish to take out his first competition win with the Sandy Anglers. Well done David! All up, 35 fish were weighed in for a total of 24.55kgs, and a number more released without weighing. And in between poetry recitals on the Saturday night (with Michael H and Ron W leading the way), the view amongst all members present was that Lake Tyers is the best estuarine fishing location the Club has been to in years. A repeat visit next year is a certainty.

Good fishing.

19-20 May 2012 - Lake Dartmouth

Report from Phil Staindl.

An excellent weekend at Dartmouth.
Unfortunately only 6 members fished, but what was lacking in quantity was more than made up for in quality

Cool conditions were, unsurprisingly, the order of the day, and although there were the odd periods of the weekend where the breeze “got up a little”, all in all, conditions were extremely good for this particular location at this particular time of the year.

All members fishing were successful and weighed in at least 1 fish each.

Dave Clarke took out the Roger Clarke (a certain synergy there don’t you think!) Memorial Trophy with his first ever freshwater competition win. Dave landed 4 good-sized brown trout over the weekend for a much deserved victory.

Hot on his heels all weekend was young Ben Staindl, who was chasing his inaugural Sandy Anglers competition win. Although weighing in the best fish of the weekend with a lovely 860gram brown trout, Ben had to settle for second place. However, there was a small smirk of satisfaction on his face when he beat his dad into third place on the podium! Mike When, Dave Oates and Jimmy Kavanagh made up the rest of the contingent.

Interestingly, virtually all fish were caught using either paravanes or lead-line, with only 1 or 2 taken by flat-line trolling. And the usually reliable pink Tassie-Devil lures failed to land a fish this trip. Virtually all fish were taken on lures with brown and yellow colourings, including a highly successful newly released Tassie called the “Corroboree” lure. No fish were caught using bait. All fish were in excellent condition and were a good weight to size ratio.

Finally, and to the disappointment of most, there were no obvious paddle nominations. A good weekend was had by all!