And the results are in! We have a bunch of worthy winners for our Salmon Slam 2022 competition run in partnership with Western Angler and Shimano.
A massive thank you to all the Salmon Slam participants this year! We’ve have had more than 850 competitors sign up for the competition and 365 entries of salmon into the competition!
And a huge shout-out to all of our sponsors who provided some amazing prizes and to Infofish Australia for their tech support in running the comp – with all of this sensational support and participation, it’s been another great Salmon Slam. But without any further ado…ladies and gentlemen….our winners!
Salmon Slam top prize winner: Chelsea Roney
“When I got the news I’d won, I was bowled over – I couldn’t be more excited!” – Chelsea Roney
Chelsea Roney received an email while at work informing her that she had won the 2022 Salmon Slam major Shimano prize pack pictured above, for simply entering a salmon into the app-based competition. To say she was super-stoked was an understatement – particularly given all her family are salmon-mad fishers too!
The mother-of-three was the random draw-winner landing a huge Shimano you-beaut salmon fishing package with over $3,000 worth of gear including a top-of-the-line Stella SWC 5000XG, a Shimano Colt Sniper rod, Stradic FL Compact, Maikuro and other amazing products to make her family’s future fishing experiences get to the next level!
“We love to go out every year during March and April to catch salmon with the family,” she told Recfishwest.
“They’re such a good fish for the family, an absolutely wholesome experience seeing my family all hooked up to salmon and it gets addictive when you land them yourself!”
Chelsea said she was so happy with the prize-pack as she can share the love between the five in her family.
“We either go to Eagle Bay or straight to Albany to chase the salmon said and we’ll be putting all this gear to good use during the next salmon run,” she said. “I’m so happy that we took part in such a great event this year!”
Second draw prize Tim Phillips
The mega salmon fishing pack from Shimano was just for starters.
A Surge Viper 12 Pro Fishing Kayak, kindly donated by Paddlesports Megastore, valued at more than $1,100 was also up for grabs with a random draw seeing it awarded to Tim Phillips, congratulations mate!
Total length (four fish) winner Liam Ross
Liam Ross not just scooped the final phase win but came out on top as the overall Salmon Slam 2022 competition winner with two 91cm beasts, an 88cm specimen and an 87cm fish totalling more than 3.5m! (3,570mm).!
Turns out it was thanks to one of his mates and the guy who ended up second overall in the total length category, that Liam took part in the Slam in the first place.
“I actually heard about the Salmon Slam competition through Tyson Groom, he basically put me onto this competition and we ended up dueling it out for top spot.”
“He’s been keeping me on my toes for the last few weeks and he almost had me at one point, but I ended up pulling the two big ones out of a salmon school which solidified my spot at the top!”
Unlucky, Tyson! Maybe if he hadn’t told Liam about the competition, he would be the one walking away with some of the prize-goodies which includes an Assassin Fishing Spin Tech 11ft XH rod, an Assassin lure pack worth $200 including CID shiversticks and CID casting poppers! Never mind, Tyson, there’s always next year!
Liam added, “I personally don’t have a boat, so land-based fishing is what I do the most and salmon are one of those fish you just love to catch when you actively target them, they pull hard and they’re up there as the pound-for-pound hardest fighting fish.
“I spent many, many hours, almost every weekend fishing for salmon to win the final phase and get the overall victory…so I felt like I’d earned it and I love that feeling!”
Yes, we agree – Liam has proven to be a worthy winner of both the phase 3 competition and the overall salmon slam competition!
Junior random overall winner Mason Yates
Young gun Mason Yates is absolutely stoked as he won the Junior Random (overall) prize pack netting him an Assassin Fishing lure prize pack, valued at more than $200, including CID Shiversticks and CID Casting Poppers plus more!
Best photo overall winner Shannon and Jack Conduit
With over 100 photos submitted into the 2022 Salmon Slam’s best photo category there can only be one winner! So many fantastic entries to choose from – but this picture of Shannon Conduit and his son, Jack Conduit, caught the judges’ eye!
For the fantastic image, Shannon and his son won a DJI Mini 2 Fly More Combo drone valued at $949. Legendary work!
Is this Western Australia’s biggest salmon ambassador? Best dressed prize winner Geoff Watts
Winner of the phase 1, four longest salmon category, Geoff Watts, has expressed his love for salmon fishing in the first phase article and also shows it through his clothes!
This entry is easily the most unique entry we’ve received! We also think it’s an awesome way to show what he loves about being “on the run!”, the chase, the exploration and the fight! For this he won a Richter Lure prize pack valued at $400 for the best photo of a fisher wearing a Recfishwest salmon fishing shirt!
Phase three winners
As well as Liam taking out the overall length winner, the adult random category saw keen fisho Jim Kerr netting himself a $200 Angler Fishing World voucher and a $100 Compleat Angler Nedlands voucher.
The junior random category was scooped up by lucky winner Myles Tinneti, winning him a $100 Compleat Angler Nedlands voucher and a $100 Halco Tackle pack.
The final phase saw a few photos entered, however there was only one winner.
Paul Hart, growing up around the south coast always had a love for salmon fishing. He loves targeting them using lures, stickbaits and metals.
“The thrill of watching a pack of salmon chase a lure on top water is some days unbeatable!” he mentioned.
