King George Takes Centre Stage

King George whiting were dancing on the sandbanks in a perfect dress rehearsal for the King George Classic on November 13 during the Angling Section’s November competition on November 6.

In a competition record, 23 King George were taken by the 11 anglers who treated the competition as a surveillance mission for the Classic which is open to both Fremantle Sailing Club members as well as the general public.

Every boat aside from one had King George hauled over the gunwales, as anglers fished primarily north of the Windmills in search of the competition’s target fish and to take notes for the main event this Saturday.

And that in itself added some intrigue to the weigh-in as Andrew Engelbrecht’s 0.625kg specimen was seemingly the winner until rear commodore Nev Norkett stepped up to the scales.

Amazingly, the small digital scales flickered around the same mark before settling on exactly the weight recorded by Andrew’s fish.

Andrew and his wife Lisa accounted for eight of the King George taken while Chris Walkey – who claimed the carryover prize for squid – nailed six.

In-form angler John Bech, who won the opening competition of the season, and his wife Denise, turned heads at the weigh-in with a brace of fine tailor.

Reigning Angling Section champion Craig Thomas stamped his authority early in the new season with a remarkable 99.44 points – tantalisingly close to the points Everest of the monthly competition. If only he’d kept a sand whiting or skippy that he and his crewmate Ray Polinelli returned!

Samson fish remains as a carryover for the next competition, scheduled for December 4.