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MAY WASHUP
THE RETURN OF NEI MIRANDA
Ladies and Gentlemen, what a day!.......and the fishing wasn’t bad.
First and foremost, many thanks to this months sponsor, Lion Nathan Breweries, XXXX and Mr Derek Andrewartha. A most generous contribution in this day and age, prize money, beer and hot-dogs. What more could a man ask?
Once again the competition started at the Captains Bar with registration and it was soon clear that we were going to have an excellent weekend. Mike Savins brought Nei Miranda back into the fold, Emil Schutz entered Belinda E for the first time this year and the Kiwi’s were back with KiwiCom and Princess Anita. Add in Kingfisher, Indy and the sponsors boat XXXX and we had the best number of boats for a competition this year. Kalolo was back to take charge of Kiwicom and the NZ Police were well represented by Steve, Tracey, Pat and Richard back for another go after their busted flush in February.
Friday night the weather looked good but over night the wind came up to make the journey South to Maiana a bit rough. Only XXXX went that way with the rest of the flotilla going North, with the exception of Princess Anita whose captain had an attack of sleeping sickness (??) and didn’t get out onto the water all day.
Belinda E had a good crowd on board including Sami Omari, a journalist from Australia’s top fishing magazine. Emil became the Clubs first corporate member so well done to him. Abaiang was the Belinda E destination and they had a decent haul of weigh in fish that later translated into third place. INDY also went North but had little success. Only three hits all day, one tuna brought right to the dive platform before a last desparate lunge saw the hook come free and the fish swim off, followed by a generous display of colourful naval terminology from the Captain. For the second time this year INDY came home with no fish and no points. Just to make it worse, KiwiCom with the Coppers and Kalolo on board came back with a decent wahoo that weighed in and gave them 5th place. Just because the Kiwi’s beat the Aussies this time I won’t take the mickey out of Steve for being so seasick he was dropped off at the causeway and swam/walked back to Mary’s Hotel. Ooops I’ve just done it! Sorry Steve.
Meanwhile, XXXX, Kingfisher and Nei Miranda continued apace. Kingfisher managed a board record Wahoo that gave them fourth place, a decent showing after their win last month. It was left to XXXX and Nei Miranda to fight out the first place and despite Ruaia weighing in a board record skipjack tuna it was Mike, Ben and Ritite Savins who came home hard with five different species including the first weigh in Sailfish of the year to give them first place and ten points. Apparently the Sailfish would have stayed free but for Mrs Savins telling Mike to, "get the f*#%*^g lines in". Well done to the whole family.
Back at the Captains, the weigh in was a lively affair with a guess the weight competition between the Commodore and Derek ending up with $70 going towards the Kiribati Commonwealth Games boxing team. An amount that was matched by Megan and Danial in their last competition. Thanks guys.
The meat raffle ended a fine day for the Savins when Ben took home the bacon (steak, chook and snags). The Mystery Box was another Meat Tray and this month the extra prize of the "Show Bag" went to Danial (pity it was full of trinkets he himself had brought back as prizes from the Brisbane Fishing Show!)
The socialising went on well into the evening, fuelled by those fine hot-dogs and cold beer. A fantastic day and a great competition. Lots of sunburned happy people. Thank you to all who attended and to the 16 new Full Members who joined the Club. May all your fish be large and all your lines be tight
See you all on the 12th June when the comp will be sponsored by SAOK on the occasion of Tekaai’s Birthday.
Good Luck and Good Fishing
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