Angling Competition 1st & 2nd March 2025
The Rhyll-Phillip Island Angling Club (RPIAC) held the 10th angling competition of the 2024/2025 season on the 1st and 2nd of March. The weather, like the fishing, was a mixed bag with a mix of sunny and cloudy, calm and windy, and dry with wet. Generally, the conditions over the weekend were good in the morning and challenging by noon. Anglers who made it onto the water reported both success and frustration, catching fish from the deep and just watching fish surfacing, respectively. At the conclusion of weigh-in a respectable number of eligible species were presented, including King George whiting, snapper, flathead, trevally, leatherjacket, tailor, and sharks. A total of 43 fish and 3 shark made it to the RPIAC scales and Club Captain, Chris Leonardos, was entertained by the variety of stories and species.
None of the $1000 first-to-catch prizes offered in this season’s RPIAC members Extraordinary Catch Incentives were claimed this weekend. Whilst the 1000-gram King George whiting prize was claimed in November, and 2 weekend competitions remain, angling members are optimistic about catching any of the 4 remaining eligible species that equals or exceeds the nominated weight: Snapper (10.0 kilograms), Gummy Shark (20.0 kilograms), Mulloway (25.0 kilograms) and Kingfish (25.0 kilograms).
RPIAC encourages all anglers to develop skills and awareness of sustainable and responsible angling and welcomes young anglers to engage in their angling competitions, offering complementary membership to children aged 16 and under. Participation involves bringing eligible species, caught during the competition weekend, to weigh-in at the RPIAC clubroom between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Saturday and/or Sunday. At Sunday’s competition conclusion a post-competition presentation celebrates the camaraderie and outstanding efforts of all angling members and supporters. Pizza and garlic bread fed this weekend’s attendees, followed by some delicious slice delights.
The Squidgie Mixed Bag Points competition, for anglers aged 9 and under, was a close contest and opportunities to participate in the last few competitions are still available. Saige Nicolaci caught 3 fish, worth 50 points to finish the weekend in second place, whilst Harley Griffin caught 3 fish, worth 55 points to take out first place. Saige and Harley were thrilled to win Clip ‘n Climb Phillip Island prizes and are fully prepared to scale new heights with some indoor climbing. The Junior competition, for anglers aged 10 to 16, was dominated by RPIAC’s reigning Junior Champion, Denver Firth. Denver weighed in a 415-gram snapper, to claim the Junior Weight competition, and a King George whiting worth 1386 points (495 grams) to win the Junior Points competition.
The Senior Heaviest Weight competitions were won by Brendan Garlepp and Carrianne Peatey, each weighing in a snapper, of 2515 grams and 1505 grams, respectively. The Senior Points competitions were won by Trevor Gleeson and Tenille Preddice. Trevor had a massive tailor, worth an impressive 2213 points (885 grams), whilst Tenille scored 1246 points (445 grams) with a King George whiting. With no entries in the Game Fish competition or Squid/Cuttlefish competition only 2 possibilities for a prize remained. In the Shark competition, Martin Xuereb, won with a cleaned gummy shark, weighing 14100 grams, and Michael Stefanakis was awarded the Secret Weight prize for a 425-gram King George whiting, which was closest to the secret weight (421 grams).
The RPIAC clubroom is located adjacent to the Rhyll boat ramp and is open to members and visitors on Fridays (from 5 pm) and competition weekends coinciding with weigh in. The next angling competition is scheduled for the weekend of the 15th / 16th of March 2025. There are still many opportunities to take part in the scheduled angling competitions and compete for comp-weekend prizes and the club championships. For further information about the club, events, competitions, and rules, please visit the website: www.rpiac.com
