Eighth competition of angling season

The Rhyll-Phillip Island Angling Club (RPIAC) held its eighth angling competition for the season over a perfect weekend of February 4 and 5.

Anglers made an early start on Saturday, and the Rhyll boat ramp’s car park was filled just after daybreak.

The club’s female anglers also had the opportunity to take advantage of the good weather and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon’s charter with the team from Newhaven Fishing Charters.

Many anglers worked hard to turn a reel as fish chose to bite at different times and locations.

Others had obviously charged up their fish magnets and had an abundance of fish eager to introduce themselves.

Thankfully, the summer weather itself was a great reward for everyone.

Each day’s weigh-in, between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, kept club captain Chris Leonardos and weigh-in master Alex Bowden busy as a total of 48 fish and one shark were recorded.

The eligible species included tuna, snapper, whiting, salmon, leather jackets, flathead, mackerel and a gummy shark.

The weather warmed as club members gathered for the post-competition awards presentation to acknowledge extraordinary feats.

An equally extraordinary feast of roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, salad and deserts by Nikky and Lorraine followed, made possible by the RPIAC’s exceptional volunteer catering team and the club’s supporters, embodying the club’s spirit of generosity and community, to closing-out another magic weekend.

Whilst the conditions allowed many hours of fishing the elusive RPIAC Extraordinary Catch Incentives remain banked.

None of the members-only – competition weekend $1000 first-to-catch prizes – have been claimed this season.

Anglers remain optimistic that they will catch an eligible species that equals or exceeds the nominated weight: King George whiting (1000 grams), snapper (10kg), gummy shark (20kg), mulloway (25kg) and kingfish (25kg).

RPIAC encourages participation in recreational angling and welcomes newcomers to learn more about participation in the club’s activities.

RPIAC offers complimentary membership to children aged 16 and under, so they can develop skills and an awareness of sustainable and responsible angling.

Results

With holidays over, RPIAC celebrated some great achievements in the Squidgie category, for anglers aged nine and under.

With many anglers returning empty-handed, Anna Grogan, Harley Griffin and Byron Griffin impressed everyone with a three-way tie for first place in the Squidgie Mixed Bag competition.

The Junior Weight competition was uncontested, whilst the Junior Points competition was won by Ryan Brett with a King George whiting worth 588 points (210 grams).

The Senior Heaviest Weight competitions had the scales bouncing with some big fish and were won by Mark Griffin and Leah Valente, weighing in a tuna of 1850 grams and a snapper of 1500 grams, respectively.

Again, King George whiting were the species responsible for victories in the Senior Points competitions.

Vinco Anticevic had the best of the weekend, worth 2058 points (735 grams) and Pauline Leditschke also caught a winner, scoring 1274 points (455 grams).

With squid all around Phillip Island, none greater than the one-kilo minimum weight made it to the weigh-in room, leaving the squid/cuttlefish competition uncontested.

The shark competition was a tale of a single gummy shark, weighing 3655 grams and was brought in by Alex Bowden.

The Secret Weight prize was awarded to Diane Savona, for a pinky snapper weighing 900 grams (secret weight 912 grams).

The RPIAC clubroom is located adjacent to the Rhyll boat ramp and is open to members and visitors on Fridays (from 5pm) and competition weekends coinciding with weigh in.

The next angling competition will be held over the weekend of February 17 and 18.

There are still many opportunities to take part in the scheduled angling competitions and compete for comp-weekend prizes and the club championships.

For further information about the club, events, competitions and rules, please visit the website: www.rpiac.com.