Here is the report from the President:

The weather was at its best for the entire three days allowing the outside boats to travel far and wide, as well as giving the rock and beach fisho's great fishing conditions.

One hundred and thirty anglers, from 14 clubs, fished the Convention, travelling from Albury, Corowa, Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney and Lakes Entrance in Victoria.

Over three hundred fish were recorded, 90 per cent being catch and release. No unusual species were recorded but some cracking captures did occur.

Bob Hirs, Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club member weighed a great Blue Marlin of 160 kg, caught on 24 kg line, winning the Gamefishing Section. I might just clarify Bob attempted to let this fish go as he does not weigh any of his fish, always tag and releasing. Unfortunately the fish did not survive the tussle.

Warren Horrigan, again from Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club, tagged two Black Marlin and a Whaler Shark, giving him enough points to win the Tag and Release section. John Bennett from Bermagui Club also tagged a Striped Marlin, interestingly being previously tagged.  Darren Askew, from South Sydney AFA, had the unlucky boat of the Convention, raising up to a dozen marlin without staying connected to any at hook up.

Another unlucky boat was St. George’s Karen and David Maltby’s, deciding not to re-start when they were east of Montague Island. Karen was coming second in the Ladies section when this occurred. Marine Rescue Narooma assisted and got them back safely.

Dolphin Fish, Striped Tuna and Kingfish were also weighed along with many reef species such as Snapper and Morwong, one Morwong weighing well over 2 kgs.

Young Stephanie Ovington from Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club, won the Junior Section with a great Kingfish, 2.34 kg caught while fishing for Bream on 4 lb line. Thanks to her father, Mick, they upped anchor and chased what they thought was a Sting Ray only to be pleasantly surprised with a legal Kingfish. Stephanie won the Junior Section with her capture and also received the Rob Kerr Most Meritorious Award for her effort.

Junior, Cameron Spooner, from Team OTY (Out of Town Yobbo’s) deserves a mention as his capture of a Salmon, 2.21kg, again on 4 lb line, was a great effort.

Cameron, not to be outdone, was tremendous in winning the Junior Catch and Release with over 1271 points recorded against his name. Salmon and Bream were the bulk of his captures.

Ian Phillips (Big E), with 2016 points, won the Senior catch and Release, catching many Bream on Surface pencil lures, just pipping out Faye Hanson from Nowra Club, who accumulated 1898 points.

Other winning competitors were Bernard Jackson from Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club with a healthy 7kg Kingfish and Larry Lewis, again from Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club with a cracking 2kg plus Morwong.

In total, 21 different sections were won, many by different Club members, making the final tallies extremely close.

In third place were the hard fishing members of Canberra Fishermans Club with 27 points, gaining most of their points clean sweeping the Beach and Rock sections.

A close second was last year’s Champion Club, OTY, with 35 points. They had some great captures, especially in Catch and Release.

This year’s Champion Club was the host club, Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club, accumulating 38 points over all sections, especially the Junior Catch and Release.

The catering was great with the Ladies and guys cooking up a storm for all meals, a friendly, competitive and very happy atmosphere occurred all weekend and with Narooma looking beautiful, a successful weekend was had, we hope, by all.

Many thanks to our Major sponsor, Direct Plasterboard Outlet and to the other 74 sponsors who contributed to the weekend. Without your support this would not happen.

Thank you to all who attended, trust you had a safe journey home and we truly hope to see you all, next year, on the same dates March 11-13, 2017.

Les Waldock, President Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club.

Click here for all the South Coast fishing news