Commodores Notes
COMMODORES NOTES APRIL 2025
CLUB NEWS
What a ripper of an Autumn we are having. It’s always the best time of year especially for us Anglers but this year is as good as it gets although I do feel sorry for the farmers and some of the state's reservoirs are well below normal, but we might as well enjoy the beautiful weather while we can. Our happy hours are happening every Wednesday and Friday evenings, with our very popular Friday night free sausage sizzle and seafood raffle.
Hutch is keeping busy pulling the world’s coldest and best beer into our famous ice-cold handles. He’s been doing it for a while now and is starting to get the hang of it. We have increased our wine selection in a big way which has been very well received. Come to the club and check it out. Remember our clubhouse and facilities are located in the world's best location is available to members for weddings, parties, anything but you must book well ahead to avoid disappointment.
THE END OF THE CO OP
We have been renting part of the old Fish CoOp from GORCAPA to store a lot of our gear for several years now but unfortunately the time has come for us to move out. It was great while it lasted but we always knew it was temporary.
GORCAPA are starting the demolition process and are removing all the asbestos so we have to be out by the end of May. They have very generously offered us the use of a 20-foot shipping container to store our gear in which is very much appreciated.
We will organise a working bee to move everything out on a date to be arranged. I will let everyone know what time and when on our website and Facebook page. It should only take half a day.
Sadly the end of an era
FISHERIES PETITION
We need your help! To stop the closure of 5 Fisheries Stations and the loss of 73 Fisheries Officer jobs discussed in Parliament, we need to sign a petition. These cuts don’t just impact jobs – they put our marine life and fishing regulations at serious risk.
Sign the petition to protect our oceans and get this issue heard in Parliament!
PLEASE SIGN IT EVERYONE. IT’S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND IT ONLY TAKES 10 SECONDS.
UPCOMING EVENTS
MAJOR FISHING COMPETITION THREE
ESSENTIAL FINANCIAL PLANNING, PETER RYAN
Easter Sunday 20th March, the comp runs from 6am until the deadline of 12.30pm. Weigh-in starts at midday. It’s free to enter for members and all competitors get a free roast lunch. Prizes are awarded for first, second and third in both the junior and senior categories. Juniors must be under the age of 18. You can only weigh in one fish each, so anyone can win on the day, and it’s environmentally friendly. Come and have a crack. It’s great fun.
Jenni Miller (my better half) with a 50cm Flying Gurnard AKA Red Gurnard or Latchet.
It was the biggest one I’ve ever seen.
Chris and Carol Tutungi with a huge 62cm Tiger Flathead Tull caught recently. It’s just as well Tull caught it because Carol had outfished him all day and this was the last and biggest fish of the day so he redeemed himself but only a little bit.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
Free live music with Lorne’s famous old rocker and living legend, Ronny Hollmer and his Band. Ronny has got the old band back together for one night only so don’t miss it.
From 4pm, Easter Sunday 20th April. Member's only.
Ronny and his band last year
WORLD SAUSAGE ROLL CHAMPIONSHIP
Kings Birthday Long Weekend, Sunday 8th June.
It’s on again and it’s the real thing. The winner will be the Official Dinky Di World Champion. We will have prizes for four categories; Biggest, Smallest, Funniest and the Winner is the best tasting one, which is decided by our panel of three local celebrity judges who all started eating sausage rolls before they had teeth.
A couple of them are so old now they’ve returned to having no teeth.
All you have to do is arrive before 5pm with your entry but you must be a member. Like all our competitions, it’s free to enter and you only need one sausage roll for the judges but we encourage everyone to bring a heap to feed the hungry hoards.
WINTER FISHING COMPETITION ONE
SPONSORED BY JASON'S COFFEE AT THE CLUB
Sunday 4th May the comp runs from 6am until the deadline of 12.30pm. Weigh-in starts at midday. It’s free to enter for members and all competitors get a free mixed grill lunch. Prizes are awarded for first, second and third in both the junior and senior categories. Juniors must be under the age of 18. You can only weigh in one fish each, so anyone can win on the day, and it’s environmentally friendly. Come and have a crack. It’s great fun.
Tommy, Machine and Bill with a lovely feed of huge whiting they caught the other day.
RECENT EVENTS
DONATION
Our latest donation was to the Lorne Cricket Club. We paid for all their cricket balls for the next 12 months.
Lorne Cricket Club Treasurer Nick Sherlock receiving the donation from our Jody.
GOLF COMPETITION
SPONSORED BY HEATH WILSON AND THE WILSON FAMILY
Again this was a huge success and a great way to keep connected to the wonderful members of the Lorne Country Club. Unfortunately we didn’t achieve our hat-trick and we got rolled.
Once again the score sheets were taken into a locked room and shredded then burnt before the results were announced.
Everyone then came back down to sea level at our club for a few refreshments and a BBQ where the results were announced and the prizes awarded to the winners of the different categories.
This is well known local identity and golf club captain Ali Reynolds kissing the historic trophy which goes all the way back to 1960.
Jenni Miller. Closest Lady to the Pin
Andrew Clarke closest bloke to the pin.
RAFFLE WINNERS
Each year at the end of the golf competition we raffle a couple of vouchers for 4 golfers to play a round at the Kingswood Peninsula Golf Club. It’s an extremely sought after prize for our local golfers. It’s very generously donated by Heath Wilson and the Wilson Family.
The two winners were David England and Andrew Briggs. They will have lots of new friends hoping to get a guernsey to join them.
David English receiving his prize from Ric
Andrew Briggs receiving his prize.
FISHING REPORT
BOAT
The fishing has been as good as it gets over the last month with heaps of good-sized Snapper, Flathead, Big King George Whiting, Gummies, Schoolies, Nannygai, Trevally and more.
The water temperature at the moment is 18.5 degrees which is the warmest I can ever remember for April. Maybe that’s why the fishing is so good or maybe not. Who knows but I’m not complaining.
PIER
The Pier is also fishing extremely well with good numbers of Salmon, King George Whiting, Mullet, Snapper, Trevally, GrassWhiting, Flathead, Leatherjackets and Calamari.
This is 4 year old Jack Miller with his first ever fish. A good sized Snapper.
LORNE FOOTBALL NETBALL CLUB
The LFNC Dolphins are kicking off their first home game of the season this weekend, and as proud supporters, we’d love to see all our members get behind them in 2025.
They’ve just launched a new and improved website, making it easier than ever to purchase your membership online. So why not show your support—grab a membership, cheer them on from the sidelines, and be part of the action this year. Hopefully with back-to-back premierships!
Sign up today! www.lornefnc.com.au
MAN OVERBOARD
Last week a group of us went out fishing in Tom Curran’s boat and had a great days fishing. Late in the day I hooked onto something huge. I’m guessing a very big Bronze Whaler and it was too much for an old bloke like me to handle so I handed my rod over to Tommy. He was doing pretty well but the shark suddenly changed direction and Tommy got dragged out of the boat and into the water. Luckily for me he held onto my rod and both him and the rod made it back into the boat. The shark eventually broke the line and swam away.
Tommy after handing the rod back.
SUGGESTION FOR OUR NEW CLUBHOUSE
One of our members was in Fiji recently and came across this floating clubhouse. He took this photo and sent it to me with the suggestion that we could do the same thing here with our club house. I think it’s a great idea. We could attach a raft under our new bus and connect a propellor to its engine to transport our members in and out.
For our members that don’t own a boat they could fish over the side while enjoying a cold handle of Carlton Draught. Our swimming group could swim out and back for exercise.
We wouldn’t have to worry about the unobtainable 21 year lease we’ve been desperately trying to get hold of for a very long time. On the negative side there would probably be a few drownings but we could sell floaties with our logo on them to solve that small issue.
Another one of our members was visiting Marseille in the South of France recently and came across this old building which was surrounded by multi-million dollar motor-yachts, cruisers, super yachts, luxury homes and hotels.
It is an old Fishing Club and the French Government have been able to see that these old buildings have character and history and need to be left alone.
MERCHANDISE
Our NEW 2025 range of merchandise is now available to purchase at the clubhouse, whilst stock lasts. The NEW 2025 colour range is available in t-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, hoodies, caps, stubby holders and the black smart polo. All the options can be viewed on our website.
Stock is selling very fast, so get in quick to avoid disappointment.
Don't forget our merchandise deals, stubby holders $15 each if purchased with a can of beer or UDL.
COFFEE
Jason is now operating Friday to Monday, serving up his world’s best coffee, hot chocolate, tea and bickies.
COURTESY BUS
The bus is now back to running Friday and Saturday evenings only. Now that we have the new automatic bus with hill assist we are hoping for some new volunteers to help Hutch out.
KEITH MILLER
COMMODORE
Cheers,
Commodore
Thanks to our sponsors
KEANE CONTRACTING BRICK/BLOCK and SCAFFOLDING – Gary Keane
SURFCOAST GARDENING – Kerry Webster & Rob Dalziel
