Eight members fished the grand final weekend based at our Howqua lodge in fine warm conditions. All members except Stan fished from boats in Eildon and Nillahcootie on the Friday and Saturday. Ken and Kevin tried the Howqua River on the Sunday morning with no success. Stan fished Macs Cove and other local spots.
Four boats launched from Goughs Bay on Saturday and trolled for the majority of the day with some success. Tony Dorner did best with 3 trout. Andrew Brandi had two including a very nice brown that tipped the scales at 1.015kg cleaned weight.
Captain Kevin Bamford and Ken Ely spent the day at Lake Nillahcootie having great fun catching and releasing 7 Murray Cod up to 53cm and a 30cm yellowbelly.
Seven Brown Trout were weighed for the day.
Sunday was a bit windy but still good fishing conditions. Richard Higlett launched from Peppin Point for a change of scenery and was rewarded with a couple of nice trout. Nillahcootie was a little quiet with the water temperature 2.5 degrees cooler. Ken got smashed off three times using light gear for yellowbelly (2.5kg line) but managed to land a couple more cod 52cm and 49cm. Three trout were weighed for the day.
Richard headed across to Nillahcootie on Sunday morning and did well with 3 yellowbelly for a total weight of 3.085kgs including a lovely fish of 1.675kg cleaned weight . A couple of cod and a small yellowbelly were returned to the water. Tony also weighed in two trout to take his bag to six.
The final weigh in resulted in Richard Higlett winning the competition with 3 yellowbelly and 3 brown trout for 4.575kgs. The runner up was Tony Dorner with 6 brown trout for1.985kgs. A total of 12 trout and 3 yellowbelly were weighed for 8.240kgs.