Eight members from Preston joined many other clubs to fish the first and hopefully annual Essendon Angling Club Masters competition. The weather was fine, calm and warm. Size fish were very few and far between and made more difficult by many little bait stealing fish. The best fish were taken on lures fished from boats.

The Essendon Club were the most successful winning the inaugural trophy with a nice bag of bream. Pinkie snapper were taken also up to 600 gms by many anglers although many of the 63 anglers anglers failed to take a size fish

Preston Northcote only weighed one bream for 260 gms. The successful angler being Les Chadwick.

A very nice barbecue with the presentations was enjoyed by all. Special thanks must go to Martin Corkhill, the Essendon Club President, for his efforts in organising the event.

The Goulburn river at Thornton.

Our annual club competition out of Werribee is usually a hit and miss affair, this year was to be no exception. We’ve heard from the old timers the stories of the glory days, when Snapper of prodigious sizes could be caught with regular monotony, the KG Whiting running thick, large Flathead etc, when is our luck here going to change?

The weather was perfect with a variable wind to 5 knots, overcast morning and no rain in sight. What a start to the day!!! Nine members had entered on our competition. What results would the day bring?

Ron De Bono, Frank Maiolo, Alf Breci & Tony Valier-Di Bate, fished the Campbell’s Cove area, whilst John & Julian Costa headed to Point Wilson.

Ron took 13 Flathead, ranging in size from 32 cm to 40 cm, Frank had a fun day on the Garfish where he bagged 18 and also took 9 Flathead. Tony took ten fish eight of which were Flathead. Julian took 6 Flathead and two lovely Whiting at around the 35cm.

Best baits for the day were Pilchard, Pippi and Mussell.

All members were plagued by large numbers of Pinkie Snapper ranging from 20cm to 29cm. These little fish are extremely voracious and destroy baits laid out for other species.

John and Julian were also lucky enough to have a dolphin and its calf working in close proximity to their boat. It is great to see these majestic mammals up close and personal.

All in all it was a great day out on the water, maybe a little too pleasant to be conducive to great fishing.

Five members fished the Khancoban pondage in fine and hot weather. The pondage was full and the surrounding countryside wonderfully green with lots of wildlife including some sightings of deer on the way to the boat ramp. The caravan park is as good as it gets for fishermen and families. The pondage holds many trophy size trout and a good population of excellent redfin. Five trout were weighed in the two kilogram plus class.

A total of 19 fish were weighed for a total of 19.662kgs cleaned weight. They included 14 brown trout, 2 rainbow trout and 3 redfin. The best fish was a brown trout of 2.330kgs taken by Ron Cocking. He completed the double with the best rainbow trout also with a lovely fish of 1.370kgs cleaned weight.

The best aggregate weight caught was by Tony Dorner with 7 trout and 3 redfin for 10.680kgs. Les Penrose was runner-up with 3 trout for 3.805kgs and third place went to Ron Cocking with 2 fish for 3.467kgs. The best baits were trolled lures,mudeye and worms.

Tony Dorner spent so many hours trolling for his fish to the extent he ran out of fueland had to be rescued. A little bit careless Tony! Tony was eligible for two loose bearing awards as he also attempted to bend a tree in the Caravan Park with his car.

A very enjoyable trip by the anglers and the wives her accompanied them.

Les Penrose

Six members and two visitors went to Eden for the week in anticipation of having a great fishing experience and they did. The weather was not perfect but was very fishable albeit conditions were not good out in the deep. No fewer than four new club records were set for Yellowfin Tuna, Striped Tuna, Kingfish and Dolphin Fish.

A total of 100 fish were brought to scale for a total weight of 300.32kgs. Eight species were weighed including 58 Kingfish, 20 Striped Tuna, 10 Mackeral Tuna, 5 Flathead, 4 Salmon, 4 Snapper, 2 Yellowfin tuna and a Dolphin Fish. Many fish were returned to the water.

Micheal Molinaro won the competiton with 19 fish for a total weight of 59.31kgs followed by Steve Conder with 11 fish for 45.74kgs. Steve Guzman was third with 8 fish for 36.38kgs.

Steve Guzman is now the proud holder of three club records with a Yellowfin Tuna of 9.60kgs (cleaned), a Striped Tuna of 5.40kgs and a Dolphin Fish of 1.02kgs. Steve Conder also landed a club record Kingfish that tipped the scales at 6.14kgs. The best Australian Salmon was 2.62kgs.

A highlight was the viewing of a Sunfish as it drifted under one of the boats. It was estimated to be greater than 5 metres in length. An amazing sight.

A great week was had by all.

Over the Friday afternoon & Saturday morning sixteen members and three non members found their way to Barwon Heads to chase some fish. The reports had come in thick and fast with Whiting and large Snapper being taken in and around the Bellarine Peninsular. Garfish were also said to be there in numbers.

On the Saturday most competitors got off to an early start. Some of the more adventurous launched at Barwon Heads and headed out into Bass Straight in search of larger quarry.

The others were happy to launch at Clifton Springs and chase the Whiting and Garfish.

A light westerly was blowing for most of the day but picked up after lunch to make it a tad uncomfortable. To make matters worse it coincided with an extremely low tide that made it a little difficult to work back into the Barwon river. I was told it was hard going with very little water under the boat.

Greek no 1 had the best bag for the day with three Pinkies that weighed in at 2.06 kgs. Bob Beeson also caught a good Trevally that went 740 grams.

The Sunday was pretty much the same as the Saturday except that the wind was a lot stronger.

The final weigh in saw Danny dib take out the competition with 14 fish for 4.18 kgs. Danny’s bag included 10 KG Whiting. John Costa came second with 11 fish, his bag weight was 3.740 kg. John had 6 whiting and 2 good Flathead in his bag. Bernie Harris ended up with 4 KG whiting and 4 Pinkies for a bag weight of 3.220 kg.

Best baits were pippies, mussel and Pilchards.

The merry mob at Barwon Heads.

John Clarke, John Alexopoulos and Harry Braidwood teamed up to travel down to the Port Arlington to try their luck at winning the competition. Harry and John arrived at John A’s at 7.00 am on Saturday morning. It was bucketing down with rain as we loaded up. At this time John C remembered that he had left a huge bowl of coleslaw in his fridge at home which was meant to be his contribution to the Saturday night BBQ. We had to stop at Port Arlington IGA to buy another lot of ingredients.

After arriving at John A’s holiday house we could not unload fast enough so that we could launch the boat and start fishing. I cast out first, hoping to catch the most Fish. Bang! The rod bent over, nearly snapping in two. I was on my way as I thought to catch the most. After landing a reasonable sized Flathead I sat back with a sigh of contentment, hoping that I might win the competition with this one. But alas I was sadly mistaken as John A and Harry H reeled in fish after fish. I sat their watching, with rod in hand thinking what I have done wrong. King Neptune must have placed a curse on me or was it a case of “Pride comes before a fall.

We arrived back at John’s holiday home and met up with all the other lads and sampled various home made wines, olives and Greek nibbles. John A. gave the command that we should get ready to attend “THE BBQ” at Barwon Heads. I quickly made the coleslaw and then set off.

We arrived at Joe Perris’ place where approximately 30 members, friends and wives taking part in the competition had gathered. I must say that some had really put themselves out to prepare delicious salads. The meat was superbly cooked on a vertical spit and lasted the whole evening. This was all washed down with lots of beautiful homemade wine. It was a most enjoyable night as everybody mixed in and had fun. I feel that the thing that really made the night a great success was having a few ladies present which added a bit of decorum to the occasion.

On behalf of the members who attended, I would like to express our thanks to Joe Perri and John Alexopoulos for their hospitality. I would also like to thank Dino, Pamio and Petro for doing such a splendid job in cooking and serving the meat.

Due to the windy weather not many fish were caught but we all had a great time.

Nine members from Preston joined many other clubs to fish the annual native fish catch and release competition. The weather was extremely hot. Size fish were very few and far between and made more difficult by the lack of shrimp in the river.

Small Murray Cod and Trout Cod were biting well on yabbies, worms and cheese with cheese being by far the best bait. Very few size Cod or Yellowbelly were recorded with many clubs failing to record a fish. Preston recorded one fish that measured 337mm. Phillip Brandi was the successful angler.

The Teams event was won by the Knox City Angling Club. The best Murray Cod was 580mm and the best Yellowbelly was 510mm.

A very nice barbecue followed the presentations. special thanks must go to Graham Creed and Caroline Creed for there organisation and to all the others that helped on the weekend.

The competitors.

The camp on the Broken river a little worse for wear.

The fishing was quite good in Lake Mokoan and the Broken River. Peter Patterson fished from the bank at Lake Mokoan in very windy conditions for 6 yellowbelly for a cleaned weight of 2.585 kgs. Three members had success in the Broken River taking 3 Murray cod and 6 yellowbelly taken mainly on shrimp in very low water conditions. Only 1 trout was taken in the Goulburn River.

Doug Hughes won the competition with 2 Murray cod and 2 yellowbelly for total cleaned weight 4.150 kgs. Allan Russell was runner-up with 1 Murray cod and 3 yellowbelly for a cleaned weight of 3.405 kgs. Allan landed the biggest fish which was a cod weighing 1.360 kgs.

The final weigh-in resulted in a total of 18 fish being brought to scale including 3 murray cod, 13 yellowbelly, 1 brown trout and 1 redfin for a total cleaned weight of 12.070 kgs. This was a good result considering the very difficult water and weather conditions.

Twelve members and four guests headed to Portland for the Australia Day long weekend with high expectations however strong winds and wintry conditions restricted the fishing opportunities and subsequently the catch. A variety of fish were taken in the catch of 32 fish for a total weight of 14.75 kgs. The varieties caught included Snapper, whiting pike and Australian salmon. A salmon taken by Ralph Guijerro tipped the scales at 1.86 kgs and a whiting caught by Nick Tantis weighed 0.60kgs. Both were very nice fish.

The competition was won by nick Tantis with 10 whiting for a total weight of 4.02 kgs. Second place went to Ralph Guijerro with 3 fish for 2.28kgs.tony Valier D’Bate took third place.

Despite the awful weather all members thoroughly enjoyed the sociability of the trip and look forward to next year.

The camp on the Broken river a little worse for wear.

The fishing was quite good in Lake Mokoan and the Broken River. Peter Patterson fished from the bank at Lake Mokoan in very windy conditions for 6 yellowbelly for a cleaned weight of 2.585 kgs. Three members had success in the Broken River taking 3 Murray cod and 6 yellowbelly taken mainly on shrimp in very low water conditions. Only 1 trout was taken in the Goulburn River.

Doug Hughes won the competition with 2 Murray cod and 2 yellowbelly for total cleaned weight 4.150 kgs. Allan Russell was runner-up with 1 Murray cod and 3 yellowbelly for a cleaned weight of 3.405 kgs. Allan landed the biggest fish which was a cod weighing 1.360 kgs.

The final weigh-in resulted in a total of 18 fish being brought to scale including 3 murray cod, 13 yellowbelly, 1 brown trout and 1 redfin for a total cleaned weight of 12.070 kgs. This was a good result considering the very difficult water and weather conditions.

Preston Angling Club with the assistance of Footscray and Greensborough Angling Clubs hosted the Herb Jesson Shield at Thornton. The fishing area included the Goulburn River, Eildon Pondage and Eildon Lake. No boats were permitted to be used in the competition. A total forty nine anglers represented nine clubs fished in excellent conditions with a near perfect river level and fine sunny conditions.

The Goulburn River produced the most fish including brown trout up to a kilogram in weight although the best trout was taken from the pondage. The best bait was maggots with the odd fish taken on worms.

A total of thirty eight fish were weighed including twenty one brown trout, fifteen rainbow trout and two redfin. The best bag of carp was 36.415kgs taken by D Grainger from the Coarse angling Club.

Footscray No.1 team won the shield with a bag of 5.465kgs followed by Greensborough No.1 team with a bag of 4.745kgs. St Albans and Preston followed. The best bag of trout was taken by A Xuereb and weighed 3.700kgs and the best trout went to A Smeaton of Footscray with a lovely brown trout weighing 1.765kgs. Sealed weights were won by Don Ellis and John Whitfield.

Preston were represented with only three members but were quite successful with two brown trout, four rainbow trout and a redfin for 2.780kgs. Ralph Guijarro did best with three fish including a brown trout of 1.030kgs for a total of 1.770kgs. Les Penrose and David Cahir followed with two fish each.

Les Penrose

With the Snapper run well and truly under way it was a little disappointing to see only eight members enter for this trip. Maybe it was the talk of parking and access being restrictive at St Kilda boat ramp that turned off other likely participants. Any way our fears turned into a non event with plenty of parking being available.

Light southerly winds of less than 5 knots greeted us at St Kilda and on the water the chop was less than half a metre. There had been plenty of talk that the fish were out wide, so that is where we started our angling.

The lack of boats between St Kilda boat harbour and the Fawkner Beacon was a real worry, as no boats in that area usually meant no fish in that area. We continued down the coast past Black Rock and Ricketts point before we saw a group of boats that had some action going. The depth in that area was 17metres. We went on a little further and started sounding an area of about 19 metres depth where I decided to drop the pick, and start fishing.

The berley pot had been set and was getting nice stream of the enticing mixture sifting through the water. Our rods were baited and cast. We didn’t have to wait too long for the first run, after a nice tussle and some testing of the rig a nice fish of about 2.5 kgs was safely in the icebox. The fish kept coming through the area as we had action from the time we got there till it was time to pack up.

Best baits were Garfish, Silver Whiting and salted Pilchards.

Results for the competition were as follows. John Costa weighed in four Snapper for a bag weight of 9.30 kg. John also landed a nice little gummy that weighed 2.7 kg cleaned. Rob Ward weighed in 5 Snapper for a bag weight of 9.18 kg.. Joe Grech weighed in 4 fish for a bag weight of 5.76 kg, Bob Beeson weighed in two Snapper for 3.70 kg, Alf Breci weighed in 2 Snapper for 3.06 kg and Harold Braidwood weighed in one Snapper for 1.14 kg. Rob Ward took out the largest Snapper with his best fish weighing 3.26 kg. A total of 18 Snapper were weighed in for a total bag weight of 32.14 kg.

All members that fished the trip were happy to get onto the fish and had an enjoyable evenings fishing.

Eighteen members including two juniors fished the Howqua area in fine weather conditions. Eildon Lake was only 18% full and the rivers were very low and clear.

The Goulburn River produced the most fish with the Lake producing little action. The Howqua and Delatite Rivers were also fished with moderate success. Float fishing proved the best technique.

Andrew Brandi was the most successful angler with a bag of seven trout for a total cleaned weight of 2.44kgs including a trout of 0.700kgs. John Deveson was second with the best trout weighing 0.850kgs taken from the Lake followed by Phil Brandi with three fish for a total of 0.695kgs.Junior Beau Basse did well with two trout from the Howqua River for 0.445kgs.

Unfortunately nine members had no luck at all. A total of sixteen trout including ten Brown and six Rainbow Trout were weighed for 5.280kgs.

Les Penrose

Seven members including two juniors fished the 12th annual native fish catch and release competition organised by Native Fish Australia. The weather was warm and the fishing good. The competition is a teams competition with each team member allowed to weigh his best murray cod and yellowbelly. The Preston No.1 team managed second placing which was our best result to date. Our junior team of Andrew and Michael Deveson did better winning the junior team event and also the best individual junior competition. The best fish taken was a Murray Cod of 2.60kgs taken by Les Penrose and two yellowbelly of the same weight taken by Daniel Jennings and Neil Deveson respectively. The best fish for a junior went to Andrew Deveson with a yellowbelly of 1.50kgs. The winner of the club competition was Daniel Jennings with three yellowbelly for 6.35kgs followed by Les Penrose with one cod and a yellowbelly for 3.80kgs. Doug Hughes was third with two yellowbelly for 2.65kgs and Neil Deveson fourth with his yellowbelly of 2.60kgs. A total of one murray cod and eight yellowbelly were registered for 16.90kgs. Thanks are extended to Native Fish Australia for organising the competition and to Graham Creed, his wife and others for the BBQ. All the competition results are forwarded to the NSW Fisheries for research purposes.

Fine weather was the order of the day for the 8 anglers fishing the weekend at Lake Mokoan. The lake was a little choppy on the Saturday but clam conditions prevailed on the Sunday. The fishing was excellent with plenty of good Yellowbelly and small Murray cod being taken. A total of 48 yellowbelly were taken for a total cleaned weight of 21.915 kgs. More size fish were caught but the club restricts the fish to be weighed to 5 per day. Many smaller fish were returned to the water including many Murray Cod. The winner of the competition was Tony Dorner with 8 fish for a total weight of 3.780kgs closely followed by Ken Ely with 7 fish for a total of 3.695kgs. The best fish was a beautiful yellowbelly weighing 1.635kgs taken by Peter Patterson on a shrimp bait. Best baits were shrimp, yabby, scrub worms and saltwater prawn. It is a pity that the government has chosen to destroy this wonderful fish habitat when it supports a wonderful population of native fish including the endangered Murray Cod. It appears that politics triumphs over common sense.

(L to R) Peter Patterson Yellowbelly 1.635kgs.

Peter Patterson, Alan Russell, Bob Beeson, Patti Patterson, Tony Dorner, Ken Ely, Di Cocking, Ron Cocking

Five members fished the Maribrynong River on the Sunday morning with a little success. Only one member brought fish to scale although quite a few small fish were taken by others. Ken Ely managed to land 3 Bream for a total of 1.14kgs with a best fish of 0.510kgs. All fish were taken on scrub worms. Freshwater yabbies were also successful by others fishing the river.All fish were taken on the ebb tide.

18 competitors including 1 junior fished Dartmouth Reservoir and the Mitta Mitta River in very changeable weather conditions. The lake fished best with trolling Tassie Devils and worms behind Ford Fenders on 3 colour lead core line being the most successful. Some good trout were also taken on mudeyes and smelt fished amongst the dead timber.Carp to 67cm were caught in the river and the crayfish were a real menace.

The club had an exciting Go Anywhere trip with the highlight being Rob Ward taking a 2.2metre seven gill shark. This magnificent fish weighed 30kgs cleaned.Members fished both Port Phillip Bay and Westernport. The total catch of 20 fish included 14 flathead, 1 snapper, 1 salmon, 1 barracouta, 2 rock cod and the shark for a total weight of 36.154kgs. Rob Ward was the winner (big fish spoil competitions?) with 6 flathead and the shark for a total of 32kgs.Well done Rob!

This was the second attempt at getting this competition off the ground as the original trip on October 9th was cancelled due to bad weather. And what a difference, this time the weather was perfect and the competitors got underway out of the Patterson river at 4:30am into a great Port Phillip Bay spring morning with light winds and smooth seas. The operation at the boat ramps was also a fairly smooth affair, ‘it had to be’, the procession of boats launching here at this time of year is something to behold.

This was the trailer park and they were still arriving. The situation was not much better on the river with queues of boats waiting for ramp space.

Back to the fishing; after more than 7 hours on the water very few had anything to show for it, The early season snapper.were hard to come by and most of the competitors headed back to the ramp expecting a poor weigh in so you can imagine the surprise and elation we all felt when Rob Ward and Les Chadwick arrived with the fantastic fish you see here. During the time we spent at the ramps, we did not see any quality fish arrive which makes the Les and Rob’s result even more special. Les’s fish went 8.6Kg.

Well Done
Les and Rob

Eight members fished a variety of rivers and lakes including Lake Mokoan, Goulburn River, Harcourt Reservoir (Barkers Creek) and the Home Creek The weather conditions were beautiful with sunny skies and little breeze.

The fishing was not very good with the best result coming from the Goulburn River at Thornton using maggots. Golden perch were hard to find in Lake Mokoan as were the fish elsewhere.

Three golden perch and three brown trout were weighed for a total of 2.675kgs. The competition winner was Phillip Brandi with two brown trout for 0.890kgs. Tony Dorner was runner-up with two golden perch for 0.860kgs.

The highlight of the weekend was a magnificent brown trout taken in the Delatite River that tipped the scales at 2.195kgs. The fish was caught by Andrew Brandi using the float fishing technique. Both the Delatite and Howqua Rivers produced some good fish using various methods including berley cages and bait casting.

The weather was very good for the weekend being fine and sunny albeit a little breezy on Saturday. The water conditions were excellent in both the lake and rivers.

Ten Preston and three Northcote members fished the annual competition. A total of 27 trout and 1 golden perch were brought to scale for a total weight of 13.725kgs cleaned weight. The best fish caught were the brown trout of Andrews and other browns taken by Tony Dorner and Ken Ely of 1.390kgs and 0.860kgs (cleaned) and the Golden Perch by Ralph Guijarro weighing 0.980kgs (cleaned). The rivers produced the majority of the fish. The lake was very quiet.

The fish were taken on a variety of lures and baits including frog pattern lures, maggots and worms.

The winner of the competition and the Preston/Northcote shield was Andrew Brandi with 6 trout weighing a total of 3.735kgs (cleaned)

Six members fished from the Werribee River hoping to catch an early season snapper with no success however some nice fish were taken including a 3kg seven gill shark. At the weigh- in a total of 48 flathead, 1 seven gill shark and a rock cod were recorded for a total weight of 14.10kgs.

The conditions were good with fine weather and not a lot of breeze.

The most successful angler was Frank Calleja with a total weight of 5.08kgs. He was loosely followed by Frank Maiolo with 3.42kgs

Twenty two members and three juniors journeyed to the Howqua Lodge at Lake Eildon for the opening of the trout season in rivers and streams. The weather was near ideal with generally sunny conditions and no wind. The Howqua and Delatite Rivers were running at a fairly high level due to the recent heavy rains but were in good condition for angling. The Eildon Lake was very dirty in the Goulburn arm and a little discoloured in other parts which contributed to the lake fishing being very poor.

Eight members met at Yea at 6am to fish the Goulburn River and tributaries. Angling conditions were good with the weather fine with a little cloud and a slight breeze. The river was discoloured but ideal for bait fishing. The area fished included the Goulburn from Kerrisdale to the Pondage and the Home Creek.

(L to R) David Way, Russell Cook, Alan Russell, Phillip Brandi, Ken Ely, Frank Pernek, John Draper.

Alan Russell and Philip Brandi

Twelve members from the Preston Club took up the challenge of representing Preston for the annual estuary competition with Essendon Angling Club. The weather was perfect for angling with calm and overcast conditions prevailing. Unfortunately the larger fish were not cooperative and only one fish was brought to scale buy both clubs. Many small bream and mullet were caught and released. A variety of baits including sand worms, bass yabbies, prawn, freshwater yabbies and garden worms were tried.

The winner of the competition and shield for the Preston Angling Club was Denis Dowling with a barracouta weighing 0.370kgs.

The Essendon Club provided a barbecue lunch for all participants. Thankyou to the Essendon Club and President Phil Lowery for hosting the occasion.

Eight seniors and two juniors fished Dartmouth dam and the Mitta Mitta river in changing conditions over the two days. The river was in very good nick, flow and level just right, clear and fished well. Rain affected the lake on Saturday but Sunday turned out fine.

There were twenty trout taken on Saturday and twenty-eight on Sunday. Twenty-three Browns and twenty-five Rainbows with the best fish a Rainbow Trout of 1.020kg cleaned by Sam Cunsolo from the river. Due to the regulatory slot sizes Daniel Jennings and Sam returned many fish over the kilo mark.

Total weight for the forty-eight fish was 23.485 kg cleaned weight.

Our competition winner was Wayne Harris with ten trout for 5.025 kg, runner up was Bernie Harris with eight trout for 3.950 kg, Sam Cunsolo third with six trout for 3.645 kg.

Our two juniors Anthony Coter took five trout for 2.380 kg and Julian Costa two trout for 1.165 kg. Their best fish was a Brown trout of 0.800kg and both boys really kicked their father’s backsides. On that that matter so did grandson Daniel, just ask Les.

After a cold , wet windy start to proceedings 5 members enjoyed a great social and intriguing competition at Lake Bulleen Merri. Whilst the Bull did not give up her bounty easily there were enough fish of good size to keep it interesting.

Sam Cunsolo fished from the bank for no result over the competition, however he did manage to capture two Quinnatt Salmon on the Friday. Both fish were from this years release and were well conditioned.

Although Saturday commenced with cold wind and drizzle, a persistent sun finally broke through and graced us with a pleasant day with a slight breeze.

Tony Dorner took the honors for the day with a Quinnatt Salmon of 51cm long that graced the lie detector at 1.260 kg cleaned. Peter Patterson also landed two Quinatts for a cleaned weight of 1.035 kg. The fish were taken on glassies and pilchards. Both anglers stressed the need for burley to bring the fish to the baits.

Sunday greeted us with a beautiful day, and whilst the fish were still hard to find, anglers from other boats were getting the occasional fish.

Tony Dorner again snared a good Quinnatt that went 1.190 kg to repeat Saturdays effort. This fish was also 51 cm in length. He must have caught fish from the same test tube as they had identical markings and were obviously from the same year class. John Costa also landed a smaller Quinatt trolling a Lofty’s no 60.

Glassie was the undoing of Tony’s second fish.

Five members contested the competition on a day that started rather cold and wet. The only successful fishing for the day was in the Goulburn River at Thornton which was still flowing at near summer level and very clear. Alan Russell had a great day taking the bag limit of five trout using scrub worms. The bag included three rainbow trout and two brown trout for a total cleaned weight of 1.605kgs. A very nice bag of fish. Ken Ely landed the best fish for the day with a brown trout for a cleaned weight of 0.605kgs.

A large group including John Alexopoulos , Frank Calleja , John Costa , Ralph Guijarro , Steve Guzman , Tony Marino , Glen Muir ( Kiwi ) , Sandi Muzzi , Dino Pamio ( Tarzan ) , Peter Robinson ( & Son ) and most of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade called Port Albert home - apologies if anyone has been left out.

Great company and fantastic weather made this a memorable trip , along with " the one that got away " a Gummy estimated at around 30 kg to add a little bit of spice .

Not a lot of fish caught , but some quality Gummies , Elephant fish and Flathead weighed in as well as lots of Rays , Skates , Banjos and other pescatorial pests . A couple got spooled ( 200 Mtrs of braid ) that really hurts , but as someone said that's life . A nice 10 Kg gummy to John Alexopoulos ( pictured below ) despite his not so able assistant on Friday night set the scene for the next few days .

Thanks to John Costa for the photographs ( even if he couldn't remember taking them ) this boy knows how to enjoy himself , just have a look at the date on the picture below , 1st. of January 2003 - come on John I wasn't even a member of the club in 2003 . Also thanks to John Alexopoulos for his work behind the scenes making sure that everything around the Lodge was shipshape and a special thanks to the Fire Brigade boys for their box of goodies - coffee , tea , sugar , soap , toilet roll etc , etc the members will put it to good use .

The weather was perfect, the fishing good and the company great. Nine members journeyed to Howqua for the Anzac weekend to enjoy the comforts of the lodge and to test their fishing skills. The lake and the Delatite and Howqua rivers were all fished with success with excellent quality golden perch, rainbow trout, brown trout and redfin being taken.

A variety of baits and lures were tried with varying success. The best baits were worm, mudeye and yabbies. A variety of lures were tried with rainbow colours being successful. Some nice trout were taken on small stump jumpers.

A total of 28 fish were brought to scale which included 16 brown trout, 2 rainbow trout, 2 golden perch and 8 redfin. The best fish was a golden perch weighing 1.375 kgs and a brown trout that weighed 0.870 kgs. The total weight was 12.855 kgs. All fish were weighed gutted and gilled.

Dane Howe won the competition with a total weight of 3.780 kgs including a nice golden perch and a bag of redfin that weighed 2.640 kgs. Tony Dorner was the runner up.

A wonderful weekend enjoyed by all.

Whoever named this place Eden, knew what they were talking about, a week in this great location with a bunch of friends definitely recharged body and soul.

The whole trip was achieved with amazingly little planning and effort, a couple of calls to the Shadrack resort and we had all the accommodation for people and boats arranged. Now it was just a matter of making the 660KM trip from Melbourne, but this was also easy to take, catching up with friends for breakfast on the way with many opportunities for interesting views and diversions at places such as Sale, Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance Orbost etc.

We arrived at 11:30am on Saturday and after a quick unpack we had the boat on the water before 1pm. The Quarantine Bay boat ramp is only 5 minutes from the cabins. Within minutes of the lines hitting the water we were into great size Flatheads and large schools of mackerel. On the first day only two boats made it on the water and so back at camp we quickly agreed to change the competition rules and cancel any weigh in for the Saturday and just in case anyone got carried away with catching Mackerel we also decided to remove the specie from the competition.

On the Sunday, all the boats were on the water early scouting the coast from North Head to Mowarry Point under quite wet and moderate wind conditions. This first day resulted in catches of Salmon, Snapper, flathead, Tailor, Morwong and Sargent Baker. All the members were back on shore to enjoy the various fish on offer including some nicely smoked mackerel for which we had John Alexopoulos to thank.

Monday was the day of the Tuna with 6 Stripies making it to camp and a very exited Frank Calleja landed his first King Fish. The evening weather was magic and the social events started with fresh oysters from the local river followed by a variety of other gastronomic creations from that day’s catch.

By Wednesday the sharks started to show up with three landed over the next two days. The first was a Bronze whaler followed by two Makos with many others lost. The most entertaining attempt at catching a shark took place on Friday when a very athletic young Mako decided to provide spectacular aerial performance with three jumps and summersaults clear out of the water.

The theme of the whole week was definitely one of great friendship good food and good times in a beautiful place called Eden.

We will definitely have to make the trip again. As we prepared to leave, the thought of how long this paradise might last crossed all our minds. The locals we spoke to are proud of their home place and spoke volumes about the revival of the fishery after the commercial netters were removed from Twofold bay. We hope other coastal regions gather the strength to protect precious habitats such as these.

This image of my wife contemplating the final day really says it all, this is a difficult place to say goodbye to.

We will be back.

Frank Maiolo.

This competition was a long time coming, a couple of other attempts did not get off the ground for various reasons. On this occasion, the weather was perfect and a well attended competition got started at 5:am with a weigh in at 1:pm. In a snapper season which has been hailed as the best for over 20 years the members held out great expectations for the day and quickly spread over a wide area, off Carrum and Seaford, up to 14km offshore chasing mainly snapper.
In other years the competition results would have been considered quite successful but this year, the expectations were much higher. It seems the fish have started their spawning and we can now expect a few weeks of lower activity.
The results for Preston went to Alf Breci in first place and Frank Maiolo Second.

The Interclub competition was based only on Snapper (best 3 fish from each club) and for the first time in approx 7 years Greensborough won and with a convincing lead.

The results were:

	Preston	Greensborough
Total best 3 fish	5.720	9.680
Biggest fish	2.260	3.800

The Preston fish:



The Greensborough fish:



Preston maintains a great record of wins in this annual event with Greensborough but on this occasion, Rob Ward as trip captain had the doubtful pleasure of leading Preston into a loss. The last time Preston lost the captain was (you guessed it) R. Ward, sorry Rob this was too good to leave out.
Congratulations to Greensborough on their win, they are great opponents and a most affable group.

In recent years this week-end had become a keynote event for the saltwater contingent attracting a large number of members. This year the competition was much smaller but the members that made the effort enjoyed some great weather some interesting captures and good social times.

On Saturday this was the condition of the bay approx 10 KM off the coast from Sorrento, and the doom and gloom of the weather forecast did not eventuate, proving excellent fishing conditions for the Sunday and Monday of the competition.

Out wide in approx 20 meters of water, competitors encountered the usual obstacles of very large shovel nose rays, sting rays and the thousands of pesky little flatheads. The picture below shows Tony Valier D’Abate doing battle with a large fiddler ray which he landed and we estimated it at 20KG. The other photo shows Tony with one of the less common nuisances, the spider crab which can grow very large in the deep and is quite adept at stripping your well prepared bait off the hook without any sign of their presence.

The more interesting captures of the weekend included a Gummy of just over 6KG by Frank Maiolo shown here and two snapper landed by Dominic Stivala, both of Dominic’s snappers weighed over 3 Kilos with the larger of the two at 3.940KG. Dominic’s win of the competition was assisted by a great bag of whiting on the Sunday which went 4.700KG. An unusual catch was the flathead below sporting a vivid yellow stain on the belly, if any member knows why this occurs, please share this with us.

The first saltwater competition for the season got underway with 6 members and two visitors chasing squid along the Mornington peninsula.

All the boats were launched at Sorrento and the nice weather, flat seas and great scenery made the two days on the water most enjoyable.

The squid were hard to locate, and Alf Breci was the most productive managing to land 10 small calamari. Alf remained way out in front in numbers for the comp, so you can imagine his re-action when he saw one of Tony Valier Dabate’s catches which by itself weighed more than Alf’s 10 squid put together.

Tony took out the competition with only two calamari, but these were massive examples of the species with the larger of the two pulling the scales to more than two Kilos.

The total catch for the weekend comprised 15 calamari, the smaller ones were landed on Yozuri style jigs and the larger ones on pilchard baits.
Amongst the weekend’s events, one of the more interesting was seeing Frank Calleja playing chicken with the Queenscliff ferry.