The Gary Clarke Fishing Competition was held on the weekend of the 8th & 9th of November – right in the middle of Snapper season!
The rules are these: fishing within a 50km radius of Geelong, on-shore or off-shore from 3pm Saturday until 3pm Sunday. And believe me, some of these guys stay out all night! This year the Sunday prize presentation was held at the St Helens boat ramp & park area and once again Gordon McKay provided a BBQ and drinks for all who attended.
Snapper was of course a popular catch and varied in size a great deal. Mauro Di Rocco won first prize with a 5.36kg snapper and took home the kayak donated by Anaconda. He went home to shower and change before coming to the presentation but we made him pick up his fish for the photo anyway!
Mauro Di Rocco "Come on guys how long do I have to hold these? I just had a shower!"
Lee Potter
Lee Potter doesn’t need an excuse to go fishing but I’m sure taking home a prize in the snapper category was a great reward for all those hours spent out there! Other snapper, just missing out on prizes were caught by Ray Benadet and Colin Northwood.
Ray Benadet
Colin Northwood
Shanae Clark collected prizes in 2 categories – perhaps fishing talent is genetically determined!
Maddie & Shanae Clark with their catch
Tony Scafidi
Along with his winning whiting, Tony Scafidi bought in a squid – still leaking ink which fascinated the kids no end! Those who were a little squeamish at the sight (yes, including myself) were not so subtly reminded that if it was breadcrumbed and fried up as calamari they wouldn’t have such a problem! Bring on the breadcrumbs I say!
Leilani Feher
The kids were big winners this year. Indiana (6 yo) and Leilani Feher (7 yo) both won prizes. Kai Mayer (10 yo) and Hayden Everingham (11 yo) also took home fishing rods for wins in the junior catch category.
Hayden Everingham & Kai Mayer
Peter Gaylard bought in a 1.45kg salmon to win the Mystery Catch and his luck continued when he won first prize in the raffle – a $50 gift voucher from GameRec Fishing Charters!
Peter Gaylard
Once again, we had some great sponsors who are always willing to be involved. Thank you to Gordon McKay, Barwon Water, Mario’s Fresh Bait, Catch 22, Tackle World, Rays Outdoors, Auslec, Anaconda, GameRec fishing charters and Prestige RV. Thanks also to Geoff Wilson from the Geelong Addy who promoted the event. The results were published in the paper on 13th November.
Mitch from Prestige RV and our chef Andre
We always have a great many volunteers on the day taking the photos, weighing the catches, cooking the BBQ and raffling the prizes. Thank you to all who contributed in any way at all.
See you all again in 2009!
Don’t forget the Relay For Life event will be held at Deakin University, Waurn Ponds campus on the 14th and 15th of March 2009.
What's Relay for Life? - Click to learn more
This involves your team walking or running around the track from Midday on Saturday until Midday on Sunday. To support Gordon McKay at this event, please phone Mary Harvey in the Geelong office on 5222 4366. Or to form your own team, you can contact the Relay for Life event directly at relayforlife@cancervic.org.au