More than 400 anglers took part in the 28th staging of WA’s premier family fishing event – and there were plenty of great fish caught.
However, it was the presentation of the three big mulloway which really got the big crowd buzzing at the weigh-in on the Sunday.
Kids and adults gathered around to get a closer look at the three fish, with Tim Farnell’s 18kg-plus specimen taking out that section. As is the case nowadays, a lot of smartphones came out and there were plenty of pictures of the mulloway taken.
But you didn’t even need to catch a fish to win big, as one shocked eight-year-old found out when he picked up $1000 cash in the lucky redraw of the cash prize that had been allocated to any tagged fish weighed in.
The little tacker didn’t even catch a fish in Swanfish, which was run by the Melville Amateur Angling Club and Recfishwest, but he and his mum went away very happy! It was great to see all anglers taking care of their catch and it was clear all the fish which were weighed in were in great condition and nice and fresh, having been carefully handled and kept on ice after capture.
The winning black bream was weighed in live and returned to the Swan River, and was a thumper at more than 1kg. There was also a 1kg-plus flathead and a tailor just under a 1kg caught – great captures which highlight the health of the Swan and Canning rivers.
Some beautiful blue swimmer crabs were also weighed in, and the success of the river prawn restocking in recent years was shown by a number of lovely prawns being presented.
There were some great prizes thanks to the support of Getaway Outdoors, Halco Tackle, Ugly Stik, Tackle HQ, Anglers Fishing World, Spud Shed, Coates Hire, and the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Fisheries were also on hand and were removing otoliths (ear bones) from black bream at the weigh-in for research.
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