Author Archives: Anton Terblanche

President’s Report: March 2024

A very warm welcome to new members Paul and Teddy Larkin.

I have vacated the front page with my report, and have given over the space with more worthy stories. 

Firstly, after nearly forty years dedicating his time to his business and forgoing his passion for fly fishing, Warwick Jones recently re-joined the Club and has recently caught his first trout in that period. Well done, Warwick.

And secondly, also worthy of a place on the front page, those members who volunteered for the Bunnings BBQ last Sunday. These included, Dave Makin, Stafford Simpson, Les Perkins, Jeff Kiely, John Hawkins, Des Walters, Michael Naissen, Tony Dawson, Rob Chick, Paul Sullivan, Peter Leddin, Zac Newsom and myself. Shown are members of the first shift. Details of the day will be presented to the general meeting. A special mention to Mauro who stepped in to take the reins from Russell who laid the foundations for us. 

The Club has received some financial positives with our first decent return from our term deposit in some time, and the reimbursement of fees from the Council of Victorian Fly-Fishing clubs (CVFFC). A special thankyou to the CVFFC. Recent Club activity has seen the Lake Mulwala Cod Trip in December. See Luke’s report in this newsletter. 

The other Club activity was the day trip to Lake Hume to target European Carp. John Hawkins will give a brief on this at the General Meeting. Des shows his prowess in tackling a large carp.

Des will give a summary on the recent FFA Rocky Valley fly fishing competition. 

Recent trips to Tasmania by Mauro and Wolfgang, Les and myself will also be a feature of this month’s general meeting. Les and Mauro will give a summary of their trip. 

We have advertised upcoming Club trips:

  • The Broken Sage trip to Khancoban on the weekend of Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March.
  • This is based on fishing around the Khancoban Pondage, Swampy Plains and Indi Rivers and multiple streams. Details in the newsletter.
  • A trip to Eucumbene is planned for the weekend from Friday 19 to Monday 22 April. Don’t be put off you can only attend on the Saturday and Sunday. Names will need to be finalised by Wednesday 6 March to ensure accommodation can be arranged.
  • A trip to the Goulburn River is planned for the weekend of Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May. Details will be forthcoming at the general meeting.
  • Also planned for August is the annual Central Victorian Lakes trip. This will also need to be finalised at an early date in order for accommodation to be arranged. 

As with all the trips, please put your name on the board if you are attending. Especially where accommodation is required. 

Midweek fly tying will resume later in the year. Remember, the start times of the General Meeting will start at 7.30pm which will be preceded by a barbeque before the meeting. 

Stay well.

Bryan Clyde: President

President’s Report

Welcome to the change of seasons.

We also welcome new members, Paul and Sharyn. Paul is a past member and its great to see him back.

The Committee has been busy and with Michael’s assistance, we have purchased a new digital projector.
This will be a valuable asset for presentations etc. Other modifications to the clubrooms will be the installation of a socket for the use of a light for the BBQ area with a switch inside the store room for safety.

With regard to the return of bottles and cans for the 10-cent per unit refund, the Club will register with Billabong Recycling Pty Ltd Group under the umbrella of The NSW government Return and Earn scheme. Once registered they will come to us and collect our recyclables and we get the full 10 cent per unit refund deposited to our account.

The fly-fishing course for has been set for Sunday 26th March. Details to be discussed at the General Meeting.

Quotations were invited from selected suppliers for the Club Angling Shirts. The scope of the RFQ included the supply of 24 shirts made up of a mixture of sizes. The shirts were to be light weight, long sleeved, vented and have a sun protection rating of UPF 50+. It is anticipated that the ordering of the shirts will be early April
and the delivery within four weeks of ordering. Details will be available at the General Meeting.At the last Club meeting we mentioned the plight of the Mayfly worldwide. Below is a link to the article in the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/09/19/mayfly-decline/

One of the three tunnel-boring machines working on Australia’s biggest renewable energy project, Snowy 2.0, is stuck. Tunnel-Boring Machine (TBM) Florence hit soft ground in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales in December and ground to a halt. The incident caused a hole to appear above the machine, measuring approximately
10 metres across and 4 metres deep. The activity for this General meeting will be reports from our roaming fly fishers. Reports from New Zealand,Tasmania and locally the Snowy Creek.

Upcoming trips include the Kiewa River trip on the weekend of 1 and 2 April, and the Tumut River over the weekend 29 and 30 April.

The mid-week fly tying will be on Thursday 16th March from 10am to 1.00pm. Remember, you do not have to tie a fly – just come along to talk fishy and have a cuppa.

Stay well.
Bryan Clyde

Presidents Report: October 2019

President’s Report

The 2019-20 trout season has begun in Victoria.
Most rivers were running high, some fish were caught in the little and big snowy creeks and swampy plains.

The Gone Fishing Day will be held on the 20th of October at lake Mulwala, the club will be having fly casting and tying demonstrations and we will be running a sausage sizzle bbq. We would like to see as many club members there as possible to help out.

If anyone has any suggestions for club activities please let the committee know.

Friday nights at the club are going well with between 10-20 people turning up, there’s fly casting on the oval and fly tying in the club room.

Come down and get involved.
Bob Melville

Guest Speaker
There will be a quest speaker from the CFA presenting a talk regards fishing and other recreational activities in the bush during the summer and bush fire season.
This talk will be a prelude to presentations to other organisations throughout the State.

 

Presidents Report: September 2019

I would like to say thank you to the outgoing committee for the job they have done over the past 12 months.

The Annual Dinner was a success with everyone having a great time. Guests from Wang Fly Fishing Club attended – secretary Ray Beavis and guest speaker Gary Scholz.

Gary gave a great presentation on his charity work in Peru. It was both entertaining and informative.

Everyone had a great night, from the meal to the raffles. Thanks to everyone in attendance. M.C. was Russell Hook (great job.)

The cooking was done by Dave Makin (food was excellent).

Thanks to the committee for making the night run smooth.

To our sponsors for their kind donations.

Thank you for your support.

To the non-committee members who helped thank you.

I’m looking forward to working with the members and the committee of the GFFC.
Bob Melville

 

President’s Report: August 2019

Another year draws to an end and our club’s annual general elections will be held at the next meeting, I would like to thank the club and this committee for another positive year. The outgoing committee members have continued to promote fly fishing through club activities like the Fly Fishing School, guest speakers at club meetings nights, work on the fishing pit with NSW fisheries, club fishing trips, fly tying days and social nights.
Legend
I would personally like to thank Des for being our treasurer once again, Stafford for an-other year as secretary keeping the minutes, Rob for his wealth of knowledge at the fly tying bench, Ike as the quartermaster, Russel for all his help and Les for all the work bring the library together, thank you job well done.

This committee has been one member short all year which has made it just a little harder on each of the members but I believe there are a number of new faces looking to join the committee this year which is fantastic for the club so I thank them for putting their hand up.

The club is in a stable financial position but will have a few new challenges next year like the new fishing pit opening, continuing pressure from increasing Council rates and the ground development at the Greenfield Park oval.

Les Perkins and Bryan Clyde have done a great job with the library and there are still a number of old magazines and books to be moved on if anyone is interested.

And just a quick reminder this meeting will be your last chance to book a seat at the annual dinner so please see Des with your money and he will take your order for the night so you don’t miss out. Some members have already donated to the raffle table which is fantastic, if you have a prize to donation see me at the meeting and I will be happy to record your donation which is very much appreciated by the club.

Tight lines
John

Presidents Report: July 2019

President’s Report

Now the trout season has closed there has been a bit more movement around the fly tying tables, starting with Rob Bailey’s fly tying classes and then it was Jim Baumgurtel magic fly fishing shop which appeared in the clubhouse with many dollars changed hands on the latest fly tying materials and gear.

We are getting closer to our annual dinner on the 17th August there are fliers around the club and in the newsletter, so if you are coming see Des with your money to confirm your spot. As normal there will be great food & wine plus good company, if everyone can chase up a prize or two we will also have another fantastic raffle table.

On a sad note, Ken McLean funeral was held last week with a number of Greenwell’s members attending his funeral; hope the fishing is good up there Ken.

The clubs AGM is not far away and I would ask anyone interested in serving on the committee to put your hand up, it is not a hard task and you are putting something back to the club. This year we have been down one committee member down and it just makes it that little bit harder on the others, so please think about it after all it is your club.

The RISE film festival is on again at the Good’s Shed Wodonga, Thursday 15th Au-gust starting at 7.30pm if anyone is interested in going.

The activity at this week’s meeting will be a talk on life jackets, why and where and their testing procedures.

Hope to see you at the meeting in front of the fire.

John

President’s Report: June 2019

Welcome to June and the close of the season just around the corner, the club has a few things happening this month with the start of the fly tying with Rob Bailey on the 16th and a visit from Jim Baumgurtel from FlyFinz on Friday the 21st to get you stocked with tying materials.

Last month we had a very interesting guest speaker Pablo Pescador and if his talk didn’t get you thinking about a fishing trip to Patagonia, well, I don’t know what would.
The committee had an update from Fisheries about the Gravel Pit and our plans for development of this fishery, signs and approvals are just about complete and things should start rolling out over the next few months. This site will provide a great opportunity for the club and our future activities and if policed hard by Fisheries a great fishery for years to come.

Just a quick fishing report on the Club’s trip to Eucumbene on the 10th and 11th May, we arrived at Denison to find no-one fishing, which is not a good sign and it was to prove correct, the river was low and not many fish had started their run. On Saturday we went to the Portal to find more fisherman but the same result, not many fish about and the lake was the same with no boats on the water, another bad sign. Water levels in the river where better here because of water coming from Tantangara outfall, It is now June and thing may have changed so good luck.

John

President’s Report: April 2019

Welcome to April the year seems to be flying, soon we will be talking about spawning runs and closed seasons. The club trip to Mitta Mitta was very well attended with 13 members camping or day tripping, the weather was fantastic and the fishing was OK you just had to put a bit of work to get a fish. Nymphing was the best method and as for dry well the Mitta did it again with a great hatch on Friday night but no fish rising to them.

Just a reminder daylight saving finishes on April 7th so there will be no BBQ’s before meetings until it starts again in October there for Wednesday will be your last opportunity to come along and have a cast on the oval before the meeting starts and those gourmet sausages roll out about 6.30pm.

Our guest speaker for next month (May) will be Pablo Pessacq, he is here working at La Trobe university until May and is a fly fishing guide in Patagonia, entomologist and keen fly fisherman, he has kindly offered to talk the club and inspire a trip to Argentina – Patagonia (how do I get a leave pass from the boss?) Pablo called in to the club on Friday night and was welcomed by members, he stayed for Rob’s Fly tying lesson and swapped some interesting facts on flies and tactics so his talk next month should be an interesting one.

The club has a trip planned for Pretty Valley and Rocky Valley on the 6th and 7th April so there will be more information at the meeting and taking of names, the next trip will be Eucumbene in May around the 10th.
Look forward to seeing you
John

President’s Report: March 2019

Well March is here and still no sign of a break in this hot weather, in fact the weather made us change our annual fly-fishing course run last weekend. A quick drive the week before found the Mitta still running dangerously high for beginners, and most of the other streams around Albury Wodonga very low. Corryong was decided as the location and a big thanks must go to Rob Bailey for running the course -he did a great job passing on his knowledge and skill to the students, plus the top line chefs for the weekend, Nick, Ike and Jeremy plus all the other members who put in a huge effort to make the course work.

Council is pushing ahead with the development of Greenfield Park as per the plans shown to the club months ago, the netball courts and new carparks are being done now, so we will try and keep on top of any actions that may affect the clubrooms and let you know.
Don’t forget the BBQ starts at 6pm on Wednesday night and casting practice on the oval, if you are having any problems with casting, set ups or the like this is a great time to sort out your problems.

The club saltwater trip is not moving that well so we may move it to a lake like Eildon, we will discuss it at the next meeting, while on the next meeting Les P will be give a talk on his experiences in USA so I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

John

President’s Report: Jan/Feb 2019

Welcome back for a new year, as you know we have had weeks with the temperature around 40°C or higher which it makes it a hard to choose between going fishing or sit under the air conditioner and the higher temperatures have seen fish kills in Western rivers.

It is pleasing to report good numbers turning up for the Friday night get together and I hope it will be the same for the first club activity planned for the February meeting. The activity will be a Back to Basic fly casting night run by Rob B, this will be a great opportunity to refresh and re-start your casting. We all cast a line but this simple training could identify some of those little bad habits that have crept into our casting over the years. Club-rooms will be opened around 6pm.

Rob is also in final stages of the new fly tying course due to start on Sunday 16th June, the day will start around 9am and finishing with a BBQ lunch, more details as we get closer to the dates.

The fly course is not looking good, if you know of anyone interested in doing the course please get them to contact Stafford ASAP or we will need to cancel for this year.

On a sad note, our thoughts are with all the people in and around Miena, Tasmania, the bush fires have been making their lives pretty tough and we hope they all get through this dangerous time.

Just a quick reminder for all the members who have not paid their memberships they are well and truly overdue.

For those who ordered new Club shirts and caps will be available at the club-rooms on Wednesday night, there are a few spares for members who missed the order so first in.

Happy Fishing
John

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