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Apollo Bay and surrounds
9 February 2009

With Daniel Kent

THIRD ANNUAL "BIG CATCH" FISHING COMPETITION AT APOLLO BAY

The weekend of the 7th & 8th of February 2009 saw the running of the third annual Big Catch fishing competition held as part of the Great Ocean Sports Festival in Apollo Bay.

As the mercury hit a stifling 43.6 degrees with northerly winds of 15 knots the sea remained flat but the strong wind gusts did make things difficult at times for the boat and kayak anglers. Anglers were to target such species as snapper, flathead, whiting, bream and sharks from boats or kayaks or land-based anglers could target trout, bream, salmon and whiting from the safety of the shore.

The event kicked off on Friday night with organiser Daniel Kent giving competitors a run down on all the rules, a fishing report and expected weather conditions. All entrants also received a competition bag including around $140 RRP of fishing lures, books and DVDs.

Despite the report of strong winds and high temperatures, spirits remained high and anglers arrived for the 6am start the following morning full of enthusiasm.

Anglers could fish a 45km stretch of coastline from Kennett River to the Aire River. They were given rulers and could take digital photos of their fish allowing them to be released if desired or they could bring them back to the measuring station at the boat ramp.

Saturday started off at a cracking pace when Danny Nulley measured in the first fish of the competition at 10:30am. His 2.5m blue shark had onlookers in awe and ended up taking out the longest shark for the entire weekend.

Danny Nulley and his 2.5m blue shark.

As the day rolled on plenty of fish were recorded with bream, King George whiting, snapper, salmon and flathead keeping the competitors smiling.

Last year's guest rapper, Ned Baldwin, with a flathead from Saturday.
Nice one Flathead Ned!

After an action packed day which included plenty of funny stories and some spectacular fish, anglers then converged on the Surf Life Saving Club for a run down on the days events and some hilarious stories and prize give-aways from big Merv Hughes and Matt Learmonth of fishvictoria.com. A slide show of the day's fishing was displayed for everyone to see and this brought on plenty of chatter about who was catching what, where.

Doug Evans and his kayak-caught whiting.

Along with "spot" and "mystery" prizes, plus early bird registration awards, some special "awards" were presented on Saturday night including:

The "Mechanical Genius" Award
Won by Terry Casey for breaking down in a boat on his own in the middle of the harbour entrance and slowly drifting backwards out to sea into the swell. This caused a visit from a surf club rubber ducky and almost required a rescue. The culprit was a loose spark plug connection.

The "Innocence of Youth" Award
Presented to young Jack Kettle who attempted to bribe an official with a chocolate cookie despite the fact that he didn't catch a fish. (The cookie was delicious!)

The "I Bleed For My Sport" Award
Won by Scott Earl who suffered a nasty blow from the gaff while Danny Nulley was trying to subdue his 2.5m blue shark in 75 metres of water.

Kayak fishos (Kelly Weston at left) on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning saw the temperature back to a chilly 17 degrees which didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of any competitors as plenty more fish were recorded at the measuring station. King George whiting, bream, flathead and trout were the dominant species and the competition looked as though it was going to come down to just a few centimetres.

Back at the SLSC for the 12pm presentation saw a mountain of prizes given away including trophies, a brand new Hobie kayak worth $1400, a $1200 fish tank, Stormy PFD yokes and a jacket, Shimano rods and reels, fishing DVDs and books, tide and fishing watches, a large rod rack, surf rods and much more.

Matt Kearton and Aiden Piper took out the Boat and Junior sections respectively for the third year running!

Matt Kearton won the Boat Section Grand Slam but also managed this effort which won him the biggest land-based bream as well! Caught on a lure Matt received in his competitor bag.

Aiden Piper with one of the fish that won him the Junior Grand Slam prize.

From left: Matt Learmonth, Daniel Kent and Merv Hughes at the presentations on Sunday.

Final Results - Boat Section:
Snapper - Matt Kearton 31cm
Flathead - Rob Mills and Emmanuel Zammit with 48cm each
King George whiting - Noel Kenneally 41cm
Bream - Travis Cole 36.5cm
Shark - Danny Nulley 2.5m blue shark
Boat Grand Slam - Matt Kearton with 4 species, total length 160cm (beats the shark as unfortunately Danny only caught 2 species)
Second place - Rob Mills (who fished with Noel Kenneally) with 3 species, total length 127cm

Emmanuel Zammit with his winning flathead (equal longest).

Final Results - Kayak Section:
Snapper - Doug Evans 35cm
Flathead - Doug Evans 36cm
King George whiting - Doug Evans 39cm
Bream - none weighed in
Trout - none weighed in
Kayak Grand Slam - Doug Evans with 3 species, total length 110cm
Second place - Kelly Weston with 2 species, total length 68cm

Kayakers tried their luck in the harbour on Sunday morning.

Kelly Weston with a snapper he caught in the Kayak Section.

Final Results - Land-Based Section:
Australian salmon - Roland Kettle 42cm
King George whiting - Leigh Gordon 40.5cm
Trout - Andrew Orchard 40.5cm
Bream - Matt Kearton 35cm (caught in the Barham River on a Rapala Husky Jerk lure Matt received in his competitor bag!)
Land-Based Grand Slam - Leigh Gordon with 3 species, total length 103cm
Second place - Jacqui Gordon (Leigh's daughter) with 3 species, total length 99.5cm

Father and daughter Leigh and Jacqui Gordon with whiting that helped them take first and second places respectively in the Land-Based Section.

Merv presents local constabulary member Andrew Orchard with a new surf rod for catching the largest land-based trout.

Junior Grand Slam:
1st - Aiden Piper with 2 species, total length 79cm
2nd - Brandon Cole with 2 species, total length 76cm
3rd - Ben Kettle with 2 species, total length 61.5cm
All juniors entered received a prize.

Brandon Cole and his boat-caught 41cm whiting.

This event was again very successful and all proceeds were donated to the Apollo Bay SLSC. The Great Ocean Sports Festival would like to thank Merv Hughes, Daniel Kent, Matt Learmonth, Hobie Kayaks, Westvic Kayaks and Kampers, Shimano, Regency Aquariums, Squidgy, Land & Sea Sports, Stormy Australia, and fishvictoria.com for all their help and support of The Big Catch Fishing Competition. Hope to see you all there next year.

Regards,
Daniel Kent.

See Daniel Kent's regular Apollo Bay report here.