Australian Anglers Association, (WA Division) Inc.

2007 AAA National Convention and Dry Casting Results for WA Entrants

The 30th AAA National Angling Championships and Convention was held at Phillip Island, Victoria from 21st of February to 9th of March 2007.

Sponsorship and support was forthcoming from the Department of Sport and Recreation and Recfishwest which assisted the group participating. Terry Fuller was integral in the early arrangements and Bob Henderson, who was State Captain, did a lot of the work before and at the Convention.

To Department of Sport and Recreation, Recfishwest, Terry Fuller and Bob Henderson must go a very sincere "thank you" from all who participated and from our WA AAA Division.

A contingent of 18 representatives attended from Western Australia and competed mainly in the dry casting events.

Planning and preparation commenced some 18 months earlier. When our 18 representatives finally arrived it was the result of a lot of meetings, sorting out a few bumps along the way, making concrete decisions, and a group working together - teamwork!

The convention numbers were down on previous carnivals as New South Wales and Queensland fishers do not like fishing at Phillip Island.

Credit must go to Graham MacPherson (President General) and Tim Hose (Coordinator/Secretary) and the workers from the Victorian Division for the efficient manner the events were run and the success of the Carnival.

Most of our group travelled from Melbourne airport and around the venues in a 22 seater bus which was a positive way of bonding the group together and was very enjoyable. It enabled everyone to have a good look at what Phillip Island and surrounding areas had to offer and also helped us to transport our rods and equipment to and from the casting area.

Woolamai Race Course was the venue for the casting and four "V" courts were laid down in the centre of this venue which was quite appropriate. The Western Australian group was 95 percent responsible for marking and laying down the courts on the Thursday afternoon because of lack of workers due to one of the other competitions being held at that time. Thank you to those who helped out.

The weather for the Friday casting was hot and the breeze did a full 360 degrees during the day. Saturday welcomed us with a headwind varying from light to strong, some thunderstorm activity and even a shower of rain.

I was very impressed with the comradery and teamwork of all our representatives, ably led by our State Captain Bob Henderson, and the manner with which they all went about the task of representing our State. The results were just reward.

In the team events we were successful in winning the Open and Veteran's divisions, and our Ladies came fourth.

Joe Pullella won the Open Individual event, Vix Alexander won the Ladies Individual event, and Gary Gildersleeves was runner up in the Veterans division.

Our junior caster, Andrew Pekaar, cast extremely well to run third and was very close to two very talented juniors who have a lot of casting experience. Andrew has been casting for less than six months but I am sure he will be the leader in this event in two years time.

Keith Heaney from Western Australia had the longest cast of 172.56 metres in the 112 gram distance event which was cast into a brisk headwind.

All our team members cast well, learned a lot and have all put their hands up to attend the next Carnival.

This will be held at Wallaroo on the "Copper Coast" of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia from 21st of March to the 3rd April in 2009.

All events, Boat, Beach, Estuary and Casting will be over two days each and results will be counted for both individuals and teams. Charter boats will be available for the offshore fishing events. We look forward to seeing boat and beach fishers attend this venue.

The 18 members who attended are all members of the Surf Casting and Angling Club of WA, and were:-

Men:- Malcolm Harris, Joe Pullella, Nick Allsworth, Mark Hansen, Scott Maloney, Peter Pekaar, Keith Heaney.

Veterans:- Bob Henderson, Alan Jones, Malcolm Head, Gary Gildersleeves, Ian Cook, Trevor Stam, George Holman.

Ladies:- Vix Alexander, Wendy Hansen, Marcy Pekaar.

Junior:- Andrew Pekaar.

This report by George Holman.

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Drycasting Nationals Adventure

By Wendy Hansen (a "first timer" at AAA National Conventions.)

We left Perth early on Sunday 24th February. The flight went well. As we flew over South Australia going to Victoria, the drought that is being experienced at present was very obvious. We arrived safely into Melbourne ready for our bus journey to San Remo where we were to stay for the next week.

San Remo is the gateway to Phillip Island. Our accommodation there was comfortable, convenient and close to all amenities needed for the week. The first few days were used partly for sight seeing and shopping but most importantly casting practise. The club hired a bus for the week and this made travelling to and from the island much easier and it brought the group together. Our thanks to Ian Cook, our driver, for the "Cookie Contiki Tours".

During our travels, we managed to find a friendly farmer who allowed the team to practise our distance casting in his paddock [as the oval we were using for accuracy was too small for distance] with cows looking on. This was quite an amazing experience for me, and I couldn't resist taking a few photos while we were there.

The surrounding landscape, although dry, was picturesque The convention championships were held at the Wonthaggi Club Race Course [horse]. The day prior to the competition, as the team walked out onto the race course with the dry grass ankle high, I was amused at different conditions we were to be casting in.

By the following day the casting courts had been mowed and set up ready for the day's competition.

18 months ago, to think that I would be standing in the middle of a race track in Victoria, about to compete in a national dry-casting championship just amazed me. This was a unique experience!

Being my first national casting event, I was a bit nervous not knowing what to expect, I was doing my apprenticeship in casting so I just did the best that I could. The two days of casting went well and I learnt how to improve my casting ability. Many thanks to George Holman for his guidance during training.

During this week it was good to get to know the members of the club better and everyone helping and supporting each other. Congratulations to Vix Alexander for her great casting and my thanks to both Vix and Marcia Pekaar for their constant support during the week. What a GREAT ladies team!

The final day, Sunday 4th March, we all had our bags packed ready to head back to Melbourne. All aboard the bus for some sight seeing around some of Melbourne and its environs before we arrived at Tullarmarine Airport to check-in for our flight back home. While waiting, hunger set in and everyone decided on some burgers for tea; the Fremantle Dockers apparently had the same idea.

The flight home went well and it was good to see the lights of Perth again, although we did arrive back into a heat-wave, which our city is well known for.

I can thoroughly recommend the National Dry-casting Championships for having a good time with good people doing good things together and remember, you don't have to win, you just have to experience it!

Thanks for the adventure, it was great !

Wendy Hansen

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Ladies National Dry Casting team members Marcia Pekaar, Vix Alexander and Wendy Hansen



Veterans National Dry Casting team members George Holman, Allan Jones, Trevor Stam, Bob Henderson, Malcolm Head, Ian Cook and Gary Gildersleeves.



Mens National Dry Casting team members Scott Maloney, Malcolm Harris, Nick Allsworth, Joe Pullella, Peter Pekaar, Mark Hansen.



Andrew Pekaar, Junior at National Dry Casting 2007

Dry Casting Individual Results for WA entrants

Dry Casting Team Results for WA Teams and Entrants

Dry Casting Individual Results for WA entrants

Dry Casting Team Results for WA Teams and Entrants

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