January Fishing Competition

Old sea dogs Joe Venter and his mate Kev Kroeger went head-to-head in January’s Angling Section monthly competition.

On a near-perfect day for boating – seven boats competed but only six crew weighed-in – Joe stole the show at the close of play with a dhufish (53cm and 2.88kg) and four other species to win the comp while Kev was nipping at his heels, with the two mates coming in first and second.

Early success at the Champions set up the day, with both anglers having three 15-pointers, including a couple of small break-sea cod, the target fish for the day. But those catches were gazumped at the weigh-in.

But nobody gazumped Joe as the overall winner as he finished with 75.86 points to Kev’s 71.9, a very respectable quinella from the one boat.

Craig Thomas deserved his prize for the biggest target fish because he covered more ground that Captain Cook.

Competition leader, Craig and his mate slept overnight on Craig’s boat at Rottnest and were met with a magnificent dawn on their way to a spot about 12km off-West End in 98m

Craig nailed two break-sea cod, with the biggest weighing 1.66kg. He also boated skippy, herring and squid, along with some plump sandies up to 0.286kg.

The Red Boat belonging to Pat and Sue Keenan-Smith and Ray Wilson bowed out injured after a disagreement with a bombie out from the Stragglers.

The next competition is scheduled for February 6.