Fishing - Boating incident a reminder about fishing safety

Summer heat scorched the state last week as dangerous winds limited fishing opportunities for anglers over the weekend.

News also surfaced of an incident in the north, which is a timely reminder always to practice safe boating.

Callum Hodge and Alec Newton arrived at their local boat ramp early last week to see an uncrewed boat at the mouth of the Leven River and both soon realised something had gone wrong.

The two, aged in their twenties, understood that emergency services had already been called, but they decided to head out in their four-metre boat to look around.

Around 600 metres out, they stopped and saw what initially looked like a buoy in the water.

When they approached, they soon realised it was the boat's 74-year-old owner/man in his underpants.

The elderly angler lost his boat when launching it and decided to wade out to retrieve it, which is when he got into trouble.

When Callum and Alec got closer, they saw that the man was nearly unconscious.

But his eyes opened and the two heroes quickly pulled him into their boat.

The man was then taken to the North West Regional Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia.

If it weren't for the quick actions of both Callum and Alec, the man would have most certainly lost his life.

It's a timely reminder that material possessions like boats aren't worth risking life for.
The Lake Pedder Anglers Club is running its annual Australia Day trout fishing competition from Friday, January 23rd, to Monday, January 26.

This year is the 50th time a family-oriented club has run the competition with multiple generations of members originating from the Hydro and Caravan Park fisherman/workers who stayed in the village over 50 years ago.

The competition is open to the general public and to affiliated angling club members from the STLAA & NTLAA.

Competition entry fees need to be lodged before Monday, January 19.

To check event information and to download the competition's entry flyer, visit the LPAC website.

The Wayatinah Social Club is hosting the Dave Gasson Memorial Trout Fishing competition over the long weekend of the 6th to the 8th of February at Wayatinah Lagoon.

The Deloraine District Anglers Club is also hosting the Robbie Dunlop Memorial Shield Trout Fishing Competition at Great Lake on Saturday, February 14.

Trout Anglers also note that the Bronte Flyfishing School is hosting a learn to fly fish camp at Bronte Lagoon all this week, which will finish on Friday.

The popular camp is for beginner and intermediate fly anglers to learn more about fly fishing and sees a fair amount of people camping and boating in the area.

A reminder for anglers and locals in the Central Highlands area: Telstra is upgrading its Mobile base stations that serve Miena, Liawenee, Steppes, Reynolds Neck, and Brandum from Tuesday, January 13th 7am to Friday, January 16th, 6pm.

The upgrades will provide a better 4G experience, but mobile networks will be affected during the work.

Telstra customers can continue to make calls and send texts during mobile service disruptions by switching on Wi-Fi Calling.

This is a free setting on most popular mobile phones that allows your mobile to make and receive calls while connected to Wi-Fi.

Telstra also encourages business owners to talk to their bank about connecting their EFTPOS terminals to their NBN or Wi-Fi connection to prevent delays in processing transactions.

Tip Of The Week: Using a weighted soft-plastic jig head when bait fishing can have its advantages.

For example, when spinning, we can cast small, lightweight baits farther, and the bait will also sink deeper into the water column/strike zone.