Scarborough’s Jeff Cohen has scooped a Richter Lures lure pack after catching a salmon that had been tagged as part of our Salmon Slam competition – even though Jeff had failed to register for the comp.
Launched ahead of this year’s salmon run before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Salmon Slam featured a number of tagged fish, with cash prizes of up to $5,000 for catching one.
The Salmon Slam unfortunately only ran for a few weeks before having to be cancelled for this year due to the pandemic and resulting regional travel restrictions.
Against all odds, Jeff actually managed to catch one of the tagged fish while fishing at Tagon Beach, east of Esperance, in mid-March.
Unaware of the Salmon Slam, he removed the tag and then released the fish back into the surf, later ringing Westag to report his capture.
It was only when he called in the tag that he was made aware that he could have won up to $5,000 had he registered for the comp.
No other tagged fish were caught during the Salmon Slam this year, so we decided Jeff shouldn’t go home empty handed for his amazing catch, so we gave him the Richter Lures pack – all the prize money for the tagged fish will be rolled over for next year’s comp, which we are planning to make even bigger and better with an upgraded app and even more fabulous prizes.
Undoubtedly, Jeff won’t make the same mistake next year and anyone likely to catch a salmon in 2021 should make sure they register for the Salmon Slam app first so they don’t suffer the same fate and cost themselves thousands of dollars.
This is just another example of what an amazing sport fishery the WA salmon run provides – some of the best sport fishing in the world off some of the world’s best beaches. This is underpinned by the abundance of the species in WA, which is something we will continue to work to protect and celebrate through next year’s Awesomer Autumn of Salmon.