There were others who made day visits, and it was estimated more than 60 members turned the green grass foreshore area into a mini-village, with the club’s marquee the centre point.  

All attendees experienced different weather conditions including sunshine, wind and a sudden storm on the Saturday night, which modified some camping facilities, but it was unanimously agreed that a great weekend was had by all. 

One of the main aims for the outing was camaraderie between members, the other was to catch fish and the fish were very cooperative. Many anglers bagged out on yellow belly and then changed their method to target the catfish to increase the number of catchable fish.  

There was the occasional redfin caught, but they were not plentiful. There was also a report of undersize Cod being caught and released.

The overall winner for the weekend was David Glen with 5950mm of fish. The runner-up was Cody Cullen with 4445mm. The junior female winner was Annalisa Crisp with a Yellow Belly 46cm. Junior male awards went to Ash Handebo 60cm Yellow Belly, Cody Cullen managed 60cm Catfish and Ash Handebo measured a 25cm Redfin. 

The senior female awards went to Tammy Seagrott Yellow Belly 50cm and Carol Hall Catfish 62cm. Senior male winners for the biggest Yellow Belly was shared by Graeme Crisp and Ross Cowan both managed a 60cm fish each. Kevin Cumming managed a 61cm Catfish and Bob Austin best Redfin at 23cm.

The Royal Hotel Family Fishing Club lives up to its name with an emphasis on the family part. Club members gather every Thursday night at the Royal Hotel for a social evening with many raffles to be won. These provide most of the finances the club needs to put on the various outings and functions for their members.

New members are most welcome at the Royal on Thursday for ‘fisho’s night’. It is a night when verbal fish scales are easily found on the floor, and the size of the fish caught grow proportionally with the number of times stories are told.