By TANIA PHILLIPS
Pic two: Winner of the Heaviest Bag Glen Nicholls of Banora (left) and heaviest tailor Tyler Ott are presented with their awards by Adrian of the Cabarita Beach Hotel.
Pic winner: Heaviest tailor winner Tyler Ott and his dad Frank.
Pic: Alvey: Cabarita Beach-Pottsville Beach Lions Club member Peter O’Donnell catches up with one of the major sponsors Bruce Alvey at the Greenback Fishing Competition on Sunday afternoon. The Alvey company has had long association with the 29-year-old fishing competition and an even longer association with the Tweed Coast – spending holidays fishing at Fingal.
Pic bog: Rachael O’Connor, Estelle Crabb and Kim Payne of Bogangar Public School look after the cake stall at the Lions-run Greenback competition.
Pic Samba: Warming up to perform at the Greenback at Cabarita Beach on Sunday are Samba Blista drummers Chris Kerr-David, Paulina Tobin and “Captain C Harlot’ with Bella the dog.
Pic BBQ: Dave Sommerville and president Patrick Raftery man the barbecue for the Cabarita Beach Surf Lifesaving Club at the Greenback.
Pic Glen: Glen Nicholls with his trophy. Glen was second in the heaviest tailor, won the men’s event and took out the heaviest bag.
Pic women: Women’s winners Ailsa Wiseman of Toowoomba, Chantell Andrea’s of Murwillumbah, Arohaina Hull of Wooyung and Jody Bussian of Bribie Island.
Pic Kids: Enjoying the day are Kayleb Frost, 6, Bella, 5, and Maddy McPherson, 3, Lacey Frost, 4, and Chloe McPherson, 2, of Cabarita Beach.
BANORA Point fisherman Tyler Ott may be two week’s short of his 18th birthday but the teen, who this week took out the annual Greenback Tailor Heaviest Fish title at Cabarita Beach, is already a veteran fisherman.
Tyler, who works at BCF (Boating Camping Fishing) in Tweed, caught a 3.83kg tailor north of Brunswick on Saturday night and dedicated his win to his dad Frank.
“My dad taught me everything I know,” he said after receiving his $1500 prize donated by the Cabarita Beach Hotel and $500 worth of electrical goods from The Good Guys.
“I’ve been fishing since I was three – I’m 18 next week.”
Tyler said he was thrilled to be following in his dad’s footsteps not only catching fish but winning the Cabarita- Bogangar event.
“My dad won it back around 2000 – it was on my birthday, I still remember that!” he said smiling.
A proud Frank Ott, who sat out of the competition this year, said the biggest reward was sharing the sport he loved with his son.
“That’s the good thing about fishing, we can go out and fish and still enjoy being with our children,” he said.
More than 550 competitors took part in this year’s Greenback – one of the biggest amateur fishing competitions in Australia. The event, held on the Queens birthday weekend for 29 years, is organized by the Pottsville Beach Lions Club and is a major fundraiser for the community.
Organisers this year put the emphasis on making it a family event with a number of junior competitors joining in to try their luck at hauling in a “ big one”. Entries were up on last year with 559 entries received, compared with 500 last year.
After sign in competitors and spectators, everyone was treated to performances by the Pottsville and Bogangar Public Schools, who entertained with a variety of dancing and singing.
Sunday morning the fishermen (and women) were treated with a breakfast prior to weigh-in which was completed by 10am, then it came down to the serious business finding out who landed the heaviest tailor.
While Tyler took the heaviest tailor with a 3.83 kg monster (explaining he caught one almost as big last week in the same spot) second place, with a tailor weighing 3.01 kg, and prize money of $1000 donated by J Fowler Builders, went to another Banora fisherman Glen Nicholls. It was a big weekend for Glen who also won the heaviest bag award for this year’s event.
On-hand to present the prizes was one of the major sponsors Bruce Alvey of the famous Alvey Reels Australia.
“We have been a sponsor since it started,” Mr Alvey said.
“It’s all about heritage, we all grew up down here – we had a holiday house at Fingal. We still have a very strong relationship with this area. Graham and Julie Poyle of Anglers Warehouse in Tweed are one of our biggest customers.”
Lions Club president and Greenback Fishing Competition organiser Vicky Hansen said while she would have liked to see better conditions for competitors on Saturday, she was really pleased with the turnout on Sunday.
“The aim was to make Sunday a family day and the club had achieved that goal,” she said.
There was plenty to keep the crowd of around 800 entertained with the Hoop La Circus for the kids and the Samba Blisstas Drummers in the afternoon.
The total amount of money raised from the event won’t be known until later in the month, but around $4000 was raised from auctioning off the fish caught, which was more than expected.
A presentation night will be held at the Cabarita Surf Club on Saturday 29 June, where awards will be presented.
The Lions Club’s Greenback Charity Raffle was drawn and the winners of this were. First prize: M and R Ross, a $500 account with Southern Cross Credit Union and a holiday at Big 4 North Star valued at $1500. Second prize: Sonya Leslight, goods to the value of $400 from Rory Curtis Good Guys at south Tweed, third prize Wade Tesch a rod and reel to the value of $200 from the Lions Club.
The winners of the draw for the Boat/motor/trailer valued $7000 were a Cabarita couple Neville and Mary Collie.
While the Cabarita Beach Pottsville Beach Lions were the main organisers of the fishing competition, they could not have done without the assistance of the Pottsville Fishing Club, which as in past years, did a great job conducting the competition and weigh in.
The club also acknowledged the support of its own members, volunteers from the Cabarita Beach Surf Club, Bogangar Public School, Pottsville School, Tweed District Volunteer Rescue and especially the sponsors.
Results
Greenback Division winners Men: Glen Nicholls 1, Geoff Richards 2, Errol Bonner 3,
Ladies: Arohinia Hull 1, Angela Dennison 2, Caresse Cranwell 3.
Veteran: John Holeszko 1, Hoss Mc Grath 2, Les Hardy 3.
Junior : Liam Veselis 1, Ben Carol 2, Frankie Wood 3.
Species winners Arab Trophy: Glen Nicholls heaviest bag 14.32kg.
Mens: tailor Tyler Ott 3.830kg, jewfish: David Williams 3.745kg, bream: Russell Caravis, 785kg, whiting: John Williams .475kg, flathead: Damien Boyce 3.92kg, tarwhine: Ellis Hardy.710kg, swallowtail: Koy Sutedi .525kg.
Ladies: tailor Jodie Bussian 1.700kg, bream: Arohinia Hull .840kg, whiting: Brenda-Lee Heathcote .285kg, flathead: Cantelle Andrews .770kg, tarwhine: Alicia McNiven .435kg, swallowtail: Alisa Wiseman .445kg.
Veterans: tailor: John Holeszko 2.785kg, jewfish: Matty Bonner 2.020kg, bream: Robert Mc Cormao .940kg, whiting: Phillip Fielder .410kg, black bream: Alan Veselis .645kg, flathead: Mark Bonner .835kg, tarwhine: George Gordon .320kg, swallowtail: Bob Watson .425kg.
Junior: tailor: Clint Bonner 1.95kg, bream: Breaden Slockee .715kg, whiting: Kyle Rowell .260kg, black bream: Liam Veselis .600kg, flathead: Ben Carrol .740kg, tarwhine: Kira Cracksmith .470kg, swallowtail: Tanya Hagan .450kg.
