WIRF

Action-packed autumn

WIRF

Cara

Cummings What a packed autumn we have experienced so far. Whether boat or land, sea or river, the fishing has been exceptional and our WIRF Facebook group has been flooded with a huge variety of different species. From first time catches to landing PBs the page has been was a little murky and weedy, however, with a slight breeze, the fishing conditions were promising.

“We pulled up to our favourite spot and cast out, using prawns for bait.

“I had hooked up to a smaller bream when Scarlett (11yrs) decided to check her rod and just as she picked it up, it took off like a freight train! She did a top job of winding it in, making sure to take her time

Scarlett (and Alix) with her PB flatty.

abuzz! As we soon head into the cooler weather, it will be interesting to see what the change of season brings us.

MEMBERS BRAG MAT

WIRF member Merril Wenlock had a fabulous time fishing with her club, ‘Yarra Valley Fly Fishers’ at the private fishery of Millbrook Lakes (www. millbrooklakes.com.au).

“Nine members of YVFF attended the weekend, we were split into groups and had our own guide for two days,” Merril said. “The guides were excellent, very well-known in the industry, informative and I learnt a lot from them. The bonus was, that they are experts at landing fish successfully!

“I caught most of the fish on Woolly Buggers to imitate small baitfish or smelt, and dry flies such as Shaving Brush and Possum Emergers to imitate hatching mayflies.

“Overall, it was a very successful weekend!” WIRFLINGS ON THE RISE

We love seeing the stories of up and rising young fishing stars, and WIRF member Alix Furnell proudly shared with us her daughters’ recent success at a fishing competition.

“My daughters, along with my partner and I were fishing at Lake Tyers for our fishing club flathead competition (Drouin Angling and Social Club),” Alix said. “The weather was perfect, mid 20s, the water as she was using light gear on her Daiwa LDZ combo. We were pleasantly surprised to see a flatty on the end. Scarlett was super excited, as this was our targeted species, but the flathead was one very angry fish. We measured it, and as

I was trying to get Scarlett to hold it for a photo, it slapped her in the face with its tail! It measured in at 67cm and was her first proper flatty and her personal best. Scarlett was happy to release the beautiful fish as she says, ‘It’s important to release them to have babies.’ She also knew it was too big for her to keep. Scarlett also managed her PB bream of 39cm the same day.

“My other daughter, Emmy (12yrs) also caught some cracking bream on that weekend when we sounded up an amazing bream patch on the Sunday. Using light gear and prawns and pilchard chunks for bait, she managed to also land her PB bream.

“It was wonderful to see the kids doing what they love and teaching them how to respect and release the fish we catch. My hope is that my kids will grow up respecting our waterways and fish as much as I do, and fish responsibly. They always take such great care releasing their fish, and it sure makes me proud. We do keep a few fish here and there to enjoy for dinner, however the majority are released.

“All in all, our weekend was a great success. Scarlett won

the fishing club comp with her flathead as it was the biggest caught for the weekend, and Emmy also earnt club points for her great bream.”

WILLIAMSTOWN VIC FISH KIDS

WIRF Leaders were present at the Williamstown Vic Fish Kids event. Despite the rain and dreary weather, the kids put on their raincoats and were given the chance to catch a new hobby in a supportive environment with help from the experts.

Eight fishing clinics ran

throughout the day, with each session running for one hour. They were led by Vic Fish Kids ambassador Lee Rayner, and VFA Ambassador and threetime Richmond premiership player Bachar Houli.

All equipment was provided, and each child that participated received a free rod to take home to continue their fishing adventure! The Vic Fish Kids series are all part of the Go Fishing Victoria plan to get more people fishing, more often. To check out upcoming fishing events, head to the VFA website at vfa.vic.gov.au/ recreational-fishing/events.

HOOKED ON LAKES

WIRF leader Kelly Derks shared with us her fun-filled weekend at the recent Hooked on Lakes event.

“Tripping off along with my husband and daughter, our adventure started on Friday 11 March (Labour day weekend) when we arrived at Lakes Entrance for the Hooked On Lakes event,” Kelly said. “We decided to head to Lake Tyers that night to try our luck at some prawning. We were hoping to get at least a handful to use as bait for our fishing trip the following day. As freshwater fishers, we were excited to take our new boat out as it was our first time fishing salt water.

“When we arrived at the Water Wheel Tavern car park, we were amazed at how busy it was and it took some time before we were able to find a car park. We have been prawning here for many years and have never seen so many people in the water. Once set up we didn’t have to wander very far from the car park to land us around 10kg of prawns! The prawns were prolific. Usually, you’ll only see one prawn here and there, but we were seeing at least 4-5 in the one spot! Fellow prawners were filling up their kayaks and eskies everywhere.

“Unbeknown to us, we were told that this was due to a natural occurrence resulting from the system opening and then closing to the sea. That meant that millions of prawns had made their way to the lake, congregating in the shallows each night.

“Lake Tyers is experiencing its best prawning season in 30 years, with bag limits of 30L per person. Due to the late night prawning, our time fishing on the Saturday was restricted to about an hour in the afternoon, and I successfully landed a 34cm whiting.

“The ‘Hooked on Lakes’ event was very successful on the Sunday, with many families in attendance. There were seafood demonstrations, free Fish Care clinics, ‘Come and try’ fishing clinics for kids and families, Maritime safety Vic float safe inflatable life jacket clinics, pop up bars and many more exciting things to see and do.

Merril with one of her rainbow trout catches.

Emmy with her PB bream.

Madison with a good haul of prawns. Kelly attending at the WIRF stand.

“The WIRF stand met with and signed up many fabulous new ladies to the network. I am truly amazed at how many ladies love getting out on the water fishing with their families, and by themselves. Hearing the many great stories on what they are catching and how far they travel to go fishing is so inspiring for me and many other women who are wanting to go fishing. If you have not attended this event, then I encourage you to pencil it in your calendar for next year as it is a must-see event and I hope to see you there.” • To stay up to date and see what else has been happening within the network and for upcoming events, please head to our Facebook QLD MERCURY DEALERS group www.facebook.com/ groups/womenrecfishing/, @ wirfnetwork Instagram page or ROCKLEA via the VFA website/Facebook page. Are you a WIRF member? BRISBANE BOATING & LEISURE If not, we’d love to have you on 1713 Ipswich Road Rocklea Michelle Brittain and Bachar Houli with one board! Join us on FB today.P: (07) 3875 1600 of the participants at the fishing clinic. RECIPES THAT ARE ‘WIRF’ IT E: sales@kareemarine.com.au W: www.kareemarine.com.au

NORTH ROCKHAMPTON RIFEN BOATS 6 Dooley Street North Rockhampton P: (07) 4927 9150 E: rifen.boats@bigpond.com W: www.rifenboats.com.au Sweet and sour crispy troutNORTHERN GOLD COAST ONSHORE MARINE INGREDIENTS (SERVES 4) Horizon Shores Marina Woongoolba P: (07) 5546 2480 4 fillets trout Salt and pepper E: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au W: www.onshoremarine.com.au ¼ cup cornflour Grapeseed oil EVERTON HILLS Sweet and sour sauce HOLT MARINE 1 red onion, sliced 25 Queens Road Everton Hills ½ red capsicum, slicedP: (07) 3353 1928 1 tbsp soy sauceE: info@holtmarine.com.au 1 tbsp tomato ketchup ¼ tsp Chinese 5-spiceW: www.holtmarine.com.au ¼ cup brown sugar 1 tbsp vinegar ¼ cup pineapple juice CAPALABA MIKES MARINE 1 tbsp cornflour9 Smith Street Capalaba 2 tbsp cold waterP: (07) 3390 3418 ½ cup pineapple pieces E: sales@mikesmarine.com.au W: www.mikesmarine.com.au AIRLIE BEACH WHITSUNDAY OUTBOARD CENTRE 17 William Murray Drive Cannonvale P: (07) 4946 7286 E: woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au W: www.whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au KARUMBA JONES MARINE 30 Yappar Street Karumba P: (07) 4745 9159 E: jonglo@bigpond.com W: www.jonesmarine.com.au IPSWICH IPSWICH MARINE 45 Huxham Street Raceview P: 07 3294 3944 E: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au W: www.ipswichmarine.com.au

METHOD 1. Combine the salt, pepper and corn flour and coat the fish fillets well.

2. Heat the oil in a hot pan, and shallow fry the trout 1-2 minutes each side. Set aside to rest. 3. Reserve a little of the oil from the pan and use to sauté the onion and capsicum. 4. Once lightly caramelised, add in the soy sauce, ketchup, spices ad brown sugar and stir well. 5. Once sugar is fully dissolved, add in the vinegar and stir to combine. 6. When the sauce comes back to heat, add in the pineapple juice and leave to simmer for 2 minutes. 7. In a separate dish, mix the water and cornflour to create a paste. Add this to the sauce and stir well, and the sauce will begin to thicken. Add in the pineapple pieces, and leave to simmer until thick and syrup-like. 8. Serve sauce over the fish accompanied with rice. SLACKS CREEK *As seen weekly on Ch 31’s ‘Talking AUSTRALIAN MARINE CENTRE Fishing’ TV show or catch up via YouTube. 3491 Pacific Highway Slacks Creek P: (07) 3808 7333 E: sales@amcboats.com.au W: www.amcboats.com.au GOLD COAST TR MARINE 167 Currumburra Road Ashmore P: 07 5532 5812 E: shaun@trmarinegc.com.au W: www.trmarinegoldcoast.com.au

NOOSAVILLE SUNSHINE COAST MARINE 122 Eumundi Road Noosaville P: (07) 5449 7633 E: sales@sunshinecoastmarine.com.au W: www.sunshinecoastmarine.com.au

VIC MERCURY DEALERS

ALBERTON ALBERTON MARINE 39 Johnson Street Alberton P: (03) 5183 2344 F: (03) 5183 2219 W: albertonmarine.com.au

MELBOURNE BL MARINE 612- 614 Plenty Road Preston P: (03) 9478 1420 F: (03) 9470 4638 W: blmarine.com.au

SHEPPARTON BOATS AND MORE 207 Numurkah Road Shepparton P: (03) 5822 2108 F: (03) 5821 2908 W: boatsandmore.com.au

MORWELL CRAWFORD MARINE 71-77 Chickerell Street Morwell P: (03) 5134 6522 F: (03) 5134 6455 W: crawfordmarine.com.au

ECHUCA EADES XTREME MARINE 24 Sturt Street Echuca P: (03) 5482 2333 F: (03) 5482 2133 W: xtrememarine.net.au

BRAESIDE JV MARINE WORLD 878 Springvale Road Braeside P: (03) 9798 8883 F: (03) 9798 7554 W: jvmarine.com.au MELBOURNE MELBOURNE MARINE CENTRE 92 Hallam South Road Hallam P: (03) 9703 2003 W: melbournemarine.com.au

MORNINGTON PENINSULA MY MARINE Cnr Nepean Highway & Ponderosa Place Dromana P: (03) 5987 0900 W: mymarine.com.au

MORNINGTON PENINSULA NAUTICAL MARINE 141 Hotham Road Sorrento P: (03) 5984 1666 E: info@nauticalmarine.com.au W: nauticalmarine.com.au

TOORADIN P&J MARINE SERVICE CENTRE P/L 101 Tooradin Station Road Tooradin P: (03) 5998 3107 E: pjmarine_services@bigpond.com

MELBOURNE THE MARINE SHOP 6 Holland Drive Melton P: (03) 9747 0588 F: (03) 9747 3999 W: themarineshop.com.au

MELBOURNE TRIPLE M MARINE 117 Northgate Drive Thomastown P: (03) 9465 8787 F: (03) 9466 1418 W: triplemmarine.com.au