Big fish, everybody loves to catch big fish, at last we were heading to a Lake that promised us either big fish or heartbreak. The reports that were coming from the lake had been very promising; Brown trout in the 2 to 3 kg range with the occasional Quinnatt in the same size range certainly had my interest.

Eight club members along with 2 juniors and a non member made their way down the highway to Geelong and then on to the Western crater lake area.

After a blowy Friday night, we woke to find a calm flat lake with the promise of a nice sunny day waiting for us. As it turned out Saturday was a bikini models dream day. (Plenty of sun to strip off for to get a tan on the pins and the rest of the body.) Once on the water plenty of fish from the last release were on the surface feeding actively. It wasnÕt long before the trusted, LoftyÕs & TassieÕs had the drags on the reels humming. The majority of those fish were all between 30- 35cm in length. Not exactly the fish we came here for. All who were trolling must have released at least a dozen of these fish per boat before lunch. Once the cobwebs were blown away it was time to get the sounders sorted to locate the larger fish and try to entice some of them to the lures. Try as we might it was only Tony Dorner who managed to get a good fish on a bibbed lure, make unknown pattern unknown. (Mc Grath Wide bodied, Brown trout) TonyÕs Brown trout tipped the lie detector at 1.750 kg. Meanwhile junior Dale Bethridge was quietly having some fun of his own. Dale who I think is only 11 or 12 showed us all how it was done producing a Brown Trout that tipped the scales at 2.245kgs. A great effort by a passionate young fisho.

While the lake trollers were doing their thing the bait fishos were quietly going about their business trying different rigs and baits to entice their quarry. They unfortunately did not fare to well on the Saturday, but were forever optimistic of landing a good fish. Best lures on the first day were Tassie style lures in oranges, pinks, whites and browns. Other lures to catch fish on the first day were Jointed Rapalas and wide body Mc GrathÕs. Best bait was power bait & worm.

On a weekend of contrasts Sunday greeted us with an overcast day that threatened to rain. Whilst the weather did not satisfy the fishing certainly picked up. Once we started trolling the Sounders quickly started locating large fish from 5 metres thru to 30 metres. The only trouble was getting them to co-operate. Damien Coter certainly got them on the chew as he caught 8 fish in that morning session, but decided to release the majority of them after he landed a Brown trout that went 2.470kg cleaned. Les Penrose, certainly showed us how good a bait angler he was managing to entice two quality fish to the net on Bull Heads. The first was a Brown trout that went 2.360 kg cleaned, and the second was a Quinnat Salmon that weighed in at 3.500 un cleaned. Its cleaned weight was 3.010 kg. A great effort by Les on very light gear. Later on Les told me that if it had not been for Peter PattersonÕs skill in netting the fish both would have been lost at the boat. It just shows that teamwork and skill pay off.

For the competition a total of 21 fish were caught by 11 anglers. Our total weight was 18.145 kgs. The total bag consisted of 16 Brown Trout, 3 Rainbow trout, 2 Quinnatt Salmon, and 1 Bass.

Our Competition Winners were as follows: 1st Les Penrose with 3 fish for 5. 660 kg 2nd Damien Coter with 3 fish for 3.430 kg 3rd Tony Dorner with 6 fish for 3.270 kg Best junior was Dale Bethridge with 2 fish for 3.045 kg

Well done members on a great weekend and many thanks to our sister club Camperdown for making the rooms available to us.