South Coast Freshwater Competition

The South Coast Freshwater Competition was held on the 13th and 14th of October at Buckenderra. The Stalgis families heading down to take part in the competition. They arrived around lunchtime on the Thursday to a cold, raining and slight snow at Buckenderra. The kids couldn’t wait to get out of the car considering they had been in the car since about 6:30am that morning. After unloading the cars, the boys decided to discuss their plan for fishing and of course this involved a test run before the competition started. So of they headed for a fish in freezing conditions while the clever ladies stayed indoors with the kids by the heaters.

However during that night the weather conditions got colder and colder. The earily or even late hours I was woken by a voice telling me they were freezing, which come to think of it so was I. The reply was jump into bed and snuggle in. It felt like moments later I was awoken again by another little voice telling me they were cold and wanted to get into bed with me. Reply once again was get in, so in she got. By this time dad wasn’t happy, he didn’t have much bed left and he got out to investigate why it was so bloody cold inside. Among his investigations he discovered there was a blackout, so he climbed back into bed and snuggled in to keep warm. By morning we still didn’t have power, but we had lots of snow. After building a snowman and with kids going crazy from been shut inside a small cabin a drive was suggested, so of we headed to the warmth of the car heater.

Eventually the power was back on and the weather conditions started to improve. Apparently the boys needed more practice before the competition started, so off they headed for another fish. They must of did something right, because they came back with some nice trout and a very dirty car!. Which gave them some confidence leading into the competition tomorrow.

After clocking on for the competition it was a quick stop at home for some lunch and off we went to the spot were the fish had been caught the day before. After numerous hours and showers of rain, we still hadn’t landed a fish. More showers of rain came and went and as evening was falling we had only one fish, thanks to Joel. The ladies headed home with the children and left those crazy boys to keep fishing in the cold and raining conditions.

Eventually the boys wandered in looking very cold and with no more fish, it was time for a quick bite to eat and reassess the fishing situation. Now all the snow had melted, it was time to take the boat out. So this was the plan for the next morning.

As Sunday morning broke it was looking a lot better, sun shining and conditions getting a bit warmer. With the big and little boys out in the boat trying to make up for yesterday, the girls had a nice relaxing morning. Unfortunately the boys couldn’t catch any fish, and with only 1 fish caught, Joel decided not to worry about weighing his in.

So I guess you could say we didn’t really represent Gerringong Hotel Fishing Club all that well by winning anything or even catching a fish. But I’m pretty sure we all enjoyed ourselves and maybe next year we could get a group of us together to compete in this competition.