The 2023 Brad Manser Memorial Fishing Competition has been run and won in what turned out to be an almost perfect weekend of sunshine and good times.
This year saw a great turn out of anglers and visitors both young and old, with 37 adult competitors and 15 juniors.
The event is run to honour keen fisherman Brad Manser, who died 11 years ago.
The coveted Brad Manser Memorial Trophy for heaviest fish overall was awarded to Josh Heaver after hauling in a beautiful 70cm mulloway while fishing from his dinghy on Friday afternoon, weighing in at 3.44kg.
Josh’s mulloway was hotly contested by a very determined angler in Darren Manser, who chose to fish the late shift on the landing throughout the weekend (12am-3am).
It was a tactic that seemed to have paid off early when around 2am on Saturday he also landed himself a 70cm mulloway.
Upon weighing in it was determined to be around half a kilo lighter than Josh’s fish.
A protest was staged by Darren who requested a gut examination.
This turned out inconclusive due to Josh having already cleaned and gutted his prized catch and so with no further evidence available the protest was dismissed and Josh deemed the winner.
Josh was also lucky enough to be drawn out as the winner of the major prize for the weekend, being a full day fishing charter for six people with Jamie Widdison from Extreme Fishing Charters.
The 2023 winner of the Brad Manser Memorial Junior Trophy was Finn Coates who snagged a monstrous mullet while fishing in the dinghy, weighing in at .675kg. The thing was huge!
Finn’s mullet took first place over another enormous mullet caught by Blake Wright off the landing which weighed in at .54kg.
Safe to say there were some giant mullet getting around.
This year saw the first running of the Crab Comp which involved about a dozen or so kids along with a few keen big kids.
Each person had two crab pots each and there were prizes awarded for the most crabs caught overall, the most crabs caught in one pot, and pretty much just for giving it a go.
Team Button (Rowan, Savvy and Sonny) took out the overall section this year with a total of 21 crabs whilst Lucy Whitehead won the most in one pot section.
The ‘Most Times Falling In’ section had zero entrants this year.
In other news from the weekend, Charlie Whitehead became the latest worthy recipient of the one and only ‘Phippsys Dummy Spit Trophy’ after showcasing his caravan reversing skills.
The ‘Camp Cook Off’ was this year won by Leanne and Cindy for their delicious efforts whipping up lamb shanks (Leanne) and a selection of tasty things including ribs and cheesy pull apart bread (Cindy).
