Yet again another Australian National Sportingfishing Association Narooma Convention is over, this one was the Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club’s special 50th Anniversary, and the weather did not let us down.
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The seas stayed calm, although the fish were not as plentiful as the last couple of weeks, although some good catches were had.
The Ovingtons were in there again with Mick taking out the men's Blue Water with a 3.57kg kingfish, daughter Clare the Junior Blue Water with a 3.84kg kingfish and daughter Stephie winning the Junior Catch and Release.
Senior Catch and Release went to Ian Phillips.
But the prize of the day has to go to Emily Spooner, getting the Rob Kerr Award with a 5.5kg kingfish, which was almost bigger than the girl herself!
The Champion Club Toilet Seat Trophy again went to Narooma Sports and Gamefishing Club with 71.5 points.
For a full list of winners see the NSGFC Facebook page.
It was great to see so many people here old and new, especially Stan Konstantarus and Joe Garufi from ANSA .
Other invited guests were Steve Starling and Lorie and Julie McNally.
It was good to acknowledge Lennie Lawler, our very first president, who is still a regular member at the clubhouse.
Thanks go to all the 170 entrants for making this such a great convention, we hope to see everyone again next year.
Special thanks to Les and Sue Waldock, the committee and all the helpers for making this a great success. Well done all.
Lastly I shall add a story by Ben James that sums up the ups and downs of fishing.
Jan Hemmingsen, Publicity officer
Fishing ups and down
The boats lined up like planes on the tarmac waiting to take off as they jockeyed for position to drift down the western side of Montague Island in the hope of snagging one or more of the hungry kingfish waiting in the depths.
The lines were dropped, the drags set and expectant grips taken on the rods.
Nervous banter was uttered until finally the scream of the braid stripping from the reel and the grunt of a grown man bending over and holding on for dear life erupted.
The hook was set and the battle began - it would appear there was a mighty beast on the end of the line prepared to fight just as hard as the angler with the hunting stick.
The beast took us much farther south than our usual run, taking equal amounts of line that had just been worked at so hard to gain.
Finally, after 15 minutes of sweat and muscle-cramping battle, a very large kingfish was brought to bear at the side of the boat.
It stared back at the crew as they stared at it, it was not ready to go down without fighting.
The able deckhand swooped into action, swiftly bringing the large rubberised net into play.
The beast was considerably longer than the net, however the deckhand's skill was equal to the task as he bagged what would certainly be the largest kingfish taken for the day.
There was shouting, stomping and tears as the beast was lifted from the water toward the gunwale, but as fate would have it, the beast kicked and twisted and before it neared the confines of the hull it was gone.
The sound of silence enveloped the vessel and blank stares of disbelief were exchanged.
There was shouting, stomping and tears as questions were asked of the deckhand's competence, or lack thereof.
The deckhand stammered and pleaded his innocence, swearing all was above board although the lack of the beast would suggest otherwise.
The net was raised and examined - sure enough, a section of the rubberised webbing had parted far enough for the beast to stretch through from its weight alone, but not large enough to catch the hook and tear it from the beast's jaw on the way through.
It was every bit of 90cm long, even longer if you listened to the crew relay the story later that day at the clubhouse, but truly it was the one that got away.
No fish or deckhands were harmed during the course of this story.
Ben James