May 2021 Fishing Update

What a great weekend with 58 entrants all enjoying themselves. Big thanks to Jason, Darren and Riley for entering all registrations and then weighing in all fish caught.

Arthur and Brian teamed up with Colin unable to make it, arrived Thursday picked up the key and off to unit two only to find cleaning ladies had not quite finished. No worries just come on in, we will be finished in 2 minutes. We downed a beer and heated our food in the microwave realizing we had a very up-market unit, with views over the Lake you would die for, only to have a lady turn up asking if we had the right unit? On examination of the supplied information for room two, we discovered we had read it upside down and we should have been in unit two on the other side of the building! Apologies all round, with Brian and Arthur carting all their gear to the correct unit. This unit was very nice without the panoramic view, we settled in and then went for a fish at Tony’s spot X.

To get to the river we had to go across a paddock which had a hidden muddy ditch in it. Not to worry, fishermen are used to this. We then had to roll under an electric fence to get to the river.

Brian could not believe his eyes, as there wallowing just below the bank under a willow tree was a nice sized Trout rising occasionally to slurp floating food as it passed over him. After 20 casts and three $8 lures stuck in the tree above him, no wonder he chose that spot.

We headed back to the motel, with no fish, for a drink and catch up with many contestants at the Moana Hotel. It was a very nice quite motel until 2:30 in the morning when some guests had tried to cook a feast with a small gas cooker, setting off the alarms to have us all out to the car park.

The next day, Friday, we went round to Ivegh Bay. The lake was like a mirror, and after trolling for some four hours with no fish we headed back to Moana Hotel for a cold drink and a catch up with Darren, Jason and Riley who had manned the registration and weigh station.

Saturday saw the serious side of fishing, with many boats on the water before sunup. Weather had brought some rain and we all got soaked. Sandy had very kindly offered to take two of our competitors on his boat and this was quite an experience. First lesson, there are no toilets on small boats for women so a quick trip to shore for a comfort stop, not as easy to get off the boat without a jetty. Helping set up rods and steering the boat, two times ambidextrous comes to mind, however Sandy being Sandy took it in his stride, many thanks Sandy.

Jason, Barry, Brian, Sandy and Riley set off down the Arnold River to get the winning trout in a rubber ducky and kayaks. Jason was first to land a fish followed by Barry, Riley and Brian. We were soaked to the skin from the West Coast drizzle, however apparently it’s not raining unless it is bouncing at least two feet off the water. We headed back to the Hotel to weigh in all our trout early because of the rain and dry out with a meal and prize giving.

Garry Hill won the Jack Elcock Trophy with a very heavy fish, Best Factor fish was won by Robby Green, and Riley Wilson from Hornby took the Junior Trophy. Most enjoyable weekend with nearly all competitors promising to return next year.

Cheers
The Fishing Crew