WIRF

Layer up for winter success

WIRF

Cara

Cummings Winter certainly doesn’t slow down fishing on the freshwater front. We Victorian’s just need to remember to layer up for those extra chilly sub zero morning and nights. When you land that fish of a lifetime though, it makes the winter fishing all worth the while!

LAKE EILDON FISHING CHALLENGE

WIRF member Jayme Hawthorne-Smith returned arm’, where we started trolling along a rock wall. I caught my first trout at 3.45pm, which measured 46cm, this was also the very first fish entered for the competition, which meant I won a spinnerbait and a fishing shirt!

“For the rest of the afternoon, we persisted in the same area, landing 3 more fish between 33cm and 37cm. We fished until dark and then went back to camp and got ourselves ready for a wet Saturday on the water.

“Saturday, we focussed on the same area that we

Albert Park Family Day was a huge success.

to this year’s competition to defend her winning 2019 title, and that she did! Here is her story...

“This year I fished the event with my fiancé Nelson in our boat. Our main target were trout. In 2019, I was lucky enough to win the trout division of the challenge with a 60cm brown trout.

“We arrived at Jerusalem Creek a couple of hours before the start of the competition and set up camp. The competition started at 2pm and we made our way to the ‘big river had fished Friday. We put in a big day on the boat fishing from 7.30am to 5.30pm. We landed a further 4 trout with the largest being another 46cm trout caught by my Fiancé Nelson.

“After the day’s fishing, we went back to the 501 cafe and discovered that we were sitting in both second and third place for our two 46cm trout. We knew we’d have to pull off something special to get the win.

Sunday morning came and we hit the water before first light. Everything came together for us and we caught 3 trout within our first 15 minutes of fishing! The first two were average sized fish and then out of nowhere we hooked up! It was on my rod, so we quickly got into gear and Nelson cleared the lines nearest to the fish. It was coming in a bit strange, but we could tell it was a bigger fish than the others we had already caught. As the fish came near the boat, we were able to get her in the net first go. With a bit of shouting and ‘yahooing’, we knew this trout was special and a possibility to be the winning fish. The Balista Trigger had pinned it perfectly and after a measurement of 59cm we sent off the photo to the competition judges and kept on fishing, trying not to dwell on the idea we could have the winning fish in the boat. Given it was only 7.30am, we still had half a day’s fishing to think about whether it’d be enough or if someone else would top it.

“After the initial bite window and those three first fish, it went quiet and we were only able to land one more fish for the day. We finished fishing just before the 11am cut off time and headed back in to get ready for the 12 o’clock presentation.

“We got to the cafe and after chatting with a few of the organisers we had high hopes that I had potentially won the competition with my 59cm trout. The presentation took place, and I was lucky enough to take out 1st place with the 59cm fish as well as 3rd place for the 46cm trout I’d caught on the Friday. It was a pretty awesome moment, as I was the first person to win the event back to back! Nelson ended up in 4th position with his 46cm Trout. I won some great prizes with the prize packs put together from a variety of sponsors including; Jerusalem Creek Marina and Holiday park, Spotters, Dinolures, Viva Fishing, Gillies and Rapala.

“It was an awesome weekend away camping and fishing. Even though the weather was cold and a bit wet at times, the trout were fired up and we were lucky enough to find a great patch of fish. We ended up landing 12 fish over the course of the event measuring from 33cm up to the winning 59cm fish.”

ALBERT PARK FAMILY DAY

The Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club ran a land-based family fishing day where existing and new members were encouraged to attend for a fun day out. One of our very own WIRF Leader’s – Chantal Meehan, Jayme had a great day at the Eildon Fishing Challenge.

The inaugural Albert Park Family Day attracted all levels of fishing enthusiasts.

is a member of the club and was a key organiser of the event, recaps on the day…

“It was a beautiful day to be fishing at the Albert Park Lake, where our club was grateful to have the Victorian Fisheries Authority on board to stock the lake with 140 catchable size rainbow trout from their Snobs Creek hatchery. Our inaugural event was highlighted by the smiles on the kids’ faces, as they all helped with stocking the lake and then competed to catch fish.

“The primary purpose of the day was to encourage more social members to go fishing, given all our other competitions are on the bay, it makes it hard to join in if you don’t have access to a boat. We had around 45 attendees and with the lovely sunshine, we even had a few passers-by stop when we were stocking the lake. This was one of our biggest competitions in terms of participants and was brilliant to see the kids involved!

“This event is now a firm fixture on our fishing calendar.”

If you would like any further information on the club or would like to join, please head to their website www.apyac.org.au MEMBERS BRAG MAT

Kate Norman landed herself a fish of a lifetime whilst out fishing solo. What an achievement it was landing this beautiful one meter Murray cod!

“What started off as a quick last minute night fish at Mulwala will be a fishing session I will always remember. With the weather forecast showing that I was in for a chilly night, I was ready to set out on my own for a solo trip. My partner however didn’t want to miss out, so he jumped in with me after he finished work. We hadn’t been fishing long and I landed a nice healthy 84cm cod. We were both excited, took some photos and released the fish. Brendon then had to leave because it was getting late and he had to work early in the morning. I decided to stay out a bit longer on my own as the wind had settled and conditions were perfect.

Within 15 minutes of dropping him off at his car I had hooked my second cod for the night. As soon as the fish hit my lure and started to fight, I knew it was a good one, I remained fairly calm until I got it right up next to the boat. Getting that solid fish into the net on my own and then into the boat was an effort in

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… INTUITIVE CONTROL

itself! I think the whole of Mulwala would have heard my cheering once I had it on the deck. I took a few quick photos and then release it back into the water. As I was holding it next to the boat, I noticed something at the back of its mouth. It had an entire bird wing in there! As it swam off it splashed and spat the wing out.

“They are such an amazing and powerful fish. I will always remember the feeling of watching that fish swim away, a moment I will Kate was delighted with her first ‘metre-y’ monster cod.

RECIPES THAT ARE ‘WIRF’ IT INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4) 500g gurnard fillets

I packet salt and vinegar chips 1/3 cup plain flour 2 eggs 1 tbsp water 2 tbsp vegetable oil METHOD

1. Cut the fillets into fish fingers. 2. Place the chips into a plastic/zip lock bag and crush using a rolling pin to achieve a course crumb. 3. Add the flour to the chip crumb and shake to mix.

Victorian Fisheries Authority stocked Albert

Park Lake with 140 catchable size rainbow trout from their Snobs Creek hatchery.

Salt and vinegar gurnard

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and water 5. To crumb the fish, place 2-3 fish fingers at a time into the crumb bag and gently shake. 6. Remove the fish from the bag, coat in the egg mix and then place back into the crumb mix and shake until well coated. 7. Repeat the process with the remaining fish fingers. 8. Heat the oil in frypan and lightly fry the fish until golden and crispy.

Variations/Tips

Any firm fish works well, such as flat head, whiting, flake etc.

never forget!” WIRF Leader Michelle

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