FISHING

Our Competitions

The club has a number of competitions which all have different rules depending on the competition. Competitions are outlaid in the club syllabus and rules and requirements for these are described on this page of the website. in the 'Our Competitions' part of this website. For our Snapper and Whiting competitions, we fish Port Phillip and Western Port Bays and other locations as laid out in the rules of the competition.

Prizes awarded include:

Heaviest fish
Heaviest bag (3 Fish maximum)
Largest fish
Attendance (Drawn at the following club meeting. (must be at club meeting to receive))
Lucky Draw (Drawn at the following club meeting)

There are also prizes for juniors.

The weigh-in is usually held between 2pm to 2.30 pm at Dallas Brooks Park Mornington but may change depending on the competition.

The Completion Results page will show results and photos from recent competitions.

1. General Rules for all Competitions:

The following clauses will apply to all Competitions, events, affiliated events with any other organization or club and social gatherings of all kinds conducted by the Snapper Point Angling Club Incorporated:
All competitors, members and friends of the foregoing participating in any event or attending any functions do so entirely at their own risk and neither the Club or any Member division or its agents will be held responsible for any injury, loss or damage sustained or suffered.
The Angling year shall be from the 1st July to 30th June.
For the purposes of competitions, there shall be two divisions of Junior Club Members:
1. Junior Juniors who shall be under eleven (11) years at the beginning of the Angling year.
2. Intermediate Juniors who shall be eleven (11) or over but under sixteen (16) years at the beginning of the Angling year.
Juniors are only permitted to fish surf competitions if accompanied by a supervising adult and they are capable of fishing in their own right.
(here must be a minimum of one (1) Senior Competitor for all Club Competitions.
Club By-laws require Members to be financial to participate in any competitions or events unless otherwise decided by the Committee. Championship points or prizes do not apply where a Member is unfinancial for any period during the angling year.

.2. SNAPPER & WHITING COMPETITIONS

LAUNCHING
- Port Phillip - Anywhere in Port Phillip
- Westernport - Anywhere in Westernport
- Or other locations as laid out in the competition
FISHING TIMES - Any time between midnight Friday to 2.30pm Sunday (Weigh in to be Sunday only) or as otherwise advised.

Note: when conducted in conjunction with other events or interclub competitions, SPAC times will be adjusted to suit the particular situation to enable dual participation.

3.WEIGH-IN - All weigh-ins for snapper and whiting competitions will take place at the Dallas Brooks Park from 2.00pm to 2.30pm Sunday or as otherwise advised.

Note: when conducted in conjunction with other events, SPAC times will be adjusted to suit the weigh-in

conditions of the other event to enable dual participation.

4. ELIGIBILITY - To be eligible for snapper and whiting and open competitions, members must attend the weigh-in no later than 2.30pm on Sunday (close of weigh-in or as otherwise advised.).

3. ESTUARY COMPETITIONS

LOCATION & WEIGH-IN - Estuary Competitions will take place at locations nominated in the Syllabus or subsequently changed by vote of members at General Meeting and notified to all members in advance. Competitions may be one or two day’s duration. Weigh-in will take place at the designated time(s) and location as published in the Club Newsletter.
ELIGIBILITY- Species accepted are any that are of Club minimum length and caught within the designated fishing area. Estuaries include tributary rivers and creeks but do not extend to sea from an estuary opening. The Victorian Fisheries Guide shall where necessary be referenced for the limits of an estuary.
FISHING TIMES AND BAGS Fishing times shall be from midnight at the beginning of the first day of the event to the close of weigh in or as notified in the Newsletter. Members may weigh up to a maximum of five fish in aggregate. Where competitions are held over two days, members may weigh up to five fish each day and the weights of each fish weighed on each day shall be recorded for each angler. The heaviest five fish over the two days will become the angler’s bag for the competition.

4. FRESHWATER COMPETITIONS

LOCATION & WEIGH-IN - Freshwater Competitions will take place at locations nominated in the Syllabus or subsequently changed by vote of members at General Meeting and notified to all members in advance. Competitions may be one or two day’s duration. Weigh-in will take place at the designated time(s) and location as published in the Club Newsletter.
ELIGIBILITY- Species accepted are any that are of Club minimum length and caught within the designated fishing area. Lakes include tributary rivers and creeks.
FISHING TIMES AND BAGS - Fishing times shall be from 5 am at the beginning of the first day of the event to the close of weigh in or as notified in the Newsletter. Members may weigh up to a maximum of five fish in aggregate. Where competitions are held over two days, members may weigh up to five fish each day and the weights or each fish weighed on each day shall be recorded for each angler. The heaviest five fish over the two days will become the angler’s bag for the competition. Murray Cod which by State Regulation have a minimum and maximum legal length may either be taken and presented for weigh-in if within the legal length range or if greater than minimum legal length which includes greater than maximum legal length may at the time of being captured, be photographed on an official Club brag mat or measuring tape then the fish released alive. Photos of captures must be presented to the weighmaster during weigh in. Points for photographed and released fish shall be 0.5 points per centimetre length.

5. SURF COMPETITIONS

LOCATION & WEIGH-IN - Surf Competitions will take place at locations nominated in the Syllabus or subsequently changed by vote of members at General Meeting and notified to all members in advance. Competitions are generally one day in duration. Weigh-in will take place at the designated time and location as published in the Club Newsletter.
ELIGIBILITY- Species accepted are any that are of Club minimum length and caught within the designated fishing area.
FISHING TIMES AND BAGS - Fishing times shall be from midnight at the beginning of the day of the event to the close of weigh in or as notified in the Newsletter. Members may weigh up to a maximum of five fish in aggregate.

6. OPEN COMPETITIONS

GENERAL - Open competitions do not accumulate Club championship points. Anglers may fish either Westernport or Port Phillip Bays.
WEIGH-IN - Weigh-in - for Open competitions will take place at the Dallas Brooks Park from 3.00pm to 3.30pm Sunday or as otherwise advised.
ELIGIBILITY - To be eligible for Open competitions, members must attend the weigh-in no later than 3:30 pm (close of weigh-in) or as otherwise advised.
SPECIES, LENGTHS & AWARDS -

A minimum of 3 species is required to be eligible to weighin. Points are allocated on the basis of 5 points per fish, a maximum of 3 fish per species and where there is a tie, 10 points per kg of bag will be used to determine a winner.
Prizes to be $35 voucher for the heaviest bag, $35 voucher for heaviest mixed bag and a $30 mystery prize voucher to be drawn from the remaining entrants who must have 3 species to be eligible.
The minimum length of Snapper will be 40cm for Open competitions.
The overall length for a Gummy/School Shark shall be 100cm (see diagram)

Squid are an eligible species for Open competitions only. A minimum length of 30cm being the hood and main tentacles only. This length does NOT including the candles (longest tentacles).

7. IRONMAN COMPETIONS

LAUNCHING
1. Fishers Choice
FISHING TIMES
1. From Friday - Midnight 23rd Feb till Sunday 25th @ 3.00pm
GENERAL RULES
1. Teams: You must fish the competition in pairs
CATCH: Each of you must catch at least one of the fish of the nominates species in each section to be eligible for that sections points
SECTIONS: There are 4 different sections to fish. These are: Freshwater, Estuary, Surf and Saltwater
WLIGIBLE FISH: Eligible fish for points are:
1. Freshwater: Trout, bass, redfin (Estuary perch - Devil Bend dam)
2. Surf: Salmon, mullet, gummy
3. Estuary: Bream,, estuary perch, mullet
4. Saltwater: Whiting, snapper, flathead
POINTS SYSTEM:
1. For every section your team fishes, you must both catch at least 1 of the nominated fish and each of the eligible fish is worth 1 point. A maximum of 6 eligible fish per section - so maximum 12 points per section
2. Bonus 10 points is available if you bag out (6 fish) in a section
3. Overall points is totaled from all 4 sections and any bonus points
FISH SIZE: All fish must be over 30cm in length, except for Snapper (40cm) and Gummy (1.0m) BUT weigh your fish.
TIE: In the event of a tie - heaviest bag will be the winner.
ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for Ironman and Open competitions, members must attend the weigh-in no later than 3.30pm on Sunday
WEIGH IN: As laid out in club newsletter

8. ASSISTANCE RENDERED

In the event of a competitor going to the assistance of another boat and by this action causing them and their companions to be late in returning for the weigh-in, the Weigh Master may award any points due, thus not penalising the aforesaid competitor or his companions.

9. COMPETITIONS GENERAL

Visitors Any visitor - is eligible for two (2) trips in any one (1) season, both competition and excursion(s) but is ineligible to register in competitions, results or records.
Beach Events - For beach events, the use of any vehicle is not permitted on the beach unless otherwise agreed by vote of members at the General Meeting prior to the event.
Rod and Reel or Hand Lines - The use of rod and reel or hand lines for any competitions is restricted to the current State regulations.
Behaviour - Any competitor causing mischief or behaving in a manner prejudicial to the good name of the Club or to the detriment of another angler shall be dealt with under Rule 7 (1) of the Model Rules of the Association.

10 . BAIT

Bait may be vegetable matter or the whole or part of any fish, insect or animal. The use of any part of any marine mammal is prohibited .

11. HOOKING OF FISH

Each competitor must hook and land, boat or beach his own fish, but he may have assistance (gaffing, gilling or with the use of a landing net) provided that this assistance does not entail any handling of his rod, reel or line at any time prior to the fish being landed, boated or beached. Any breach will render such fish ineligible.
Fish caught by any legal means (except netting or deliberate jagging) are eligible for weigh-in as long as they are nominated for the particular competition.
In the event of one fish being hooked, and landed by two (2) anglers, that fish will be disallowed in all competitions and records.
The capture of fish must conform to the State Statutes and Regulations made there under.

12. WEIGHING and ELIGIBIITY OF FISH

All captures must be weighed by one of the following:-

An official Weighmaster or their representative.
An independent witness on certified scales.
All fish must be weighed as caught and be free of sand or weed.
The officiating Weighmaster shall call upon two (2) independent Members to measure and weigh his fish.
All fish shall be at the designated weigh-in point by the time specified for that competition.
Any fish struck before lines up but not landed until after lines up is eligible provided that it complies with all other conditions of the event.
A copy of Marine and Fresh Water Fish of South Australia shall be available for the positive identification of all fish.
The following are not acceptable for competitions:-

Molluscs eg. Octopus, (Squid are eligible for open comps only)
Crustaceans eg. Crabs
Sting or Eagle Rays
Eels
Banjo Sharks
Gurnard and Red Rock Cod
Melbourne Silverbelly and Six Banded Coral Fish
Inedible fish (as defined by Clause (I) )
Mutilations caused by sharks, other fish or propellers that remove or penetrate the flesh.
Parrot Fish (xi)
Wrasses
Carp
Tupong
Roac