Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club - Angling Section

Month: August 2026
Section: Beach Fishing

You wouldn’t believe it! 2nd last comp of our 2025/26 season and we finally had a good weather forecast…..but….someone must have forgot to tell the fish we were all heading out to try catch!

Unfortunately all of the 14 members who weighed in reported that the fishing was exceptionally tough for the weekend and It was at that point that I wasn’t too angry that I couldn’t make this event myself.

Reports across the board were that w**d was also a big issue which has been the case most of the season but in my opinion this is not always a bad thing when targeting big fish.

This did seem to be the case though and while the species counts were low. There was a number of really nice fish weighed. Infact we had 5 snapper weighed in believe it or not this was actually more then the amount of Tailor that were weighed. This is mind blowing to me but also shows a lot of us have changed our way of fishing and are now actively targeting bigger fish aswell and trying to get the species count up.

Most of these snapper were around 5kg with the biggest being a ripper fish of 7.3kg caught by the ‘Snapper Lord’ Kiwi. Terry Bell tried a spot he has been wanting to try for awhile now and was rewarded with 2 very nice Gummy Sharks. The biggest of which was 11.81kg, up until last months comp this would have beaten our previous club record by nearly 6kg, clearly some very healthy gummy sharks around at the moment.

Another note worthy thing to mention was the amount of KG whiting caught. I would say 90% of the bags had a KG in it. I’ve said it before but years ago we would be lucky to see 1 or 2 weighed in a year.

Anyways let’s look at the individual results.

No mini juniors weighed in this month unfortunately, and only one Junior. Cruse Marsden went away with his grandad Graeme Cole and while only weighing 1 fish it was of course enough for the win.

In the ladies it was once again Bron and Helen dueling it out. This month H was our runner up with 4 species and Bron although only having one more species had nearly 9kg of bag weight, including a snapper of 2.741kg and a decent size Wobbie so quite easily took the win.

The Vets as always was hotly contested, Ricko found himself in 3rd place just behind Terry Bell but Vincey Cox was too strong this month! He had a good bad which included a small Shovelnose and a lovely Pink Snapper.

And finally the Men’s, where we saw Chris Graves in 3rd position and Joe Wettinger in 2nd place. Kiwi did really well and took the choccys, his 5 species bag had just over 13kg of bag weight which was what got him over the line this month.

Anyways that’s enough from me, as always thank you to everyone who helped out over the weekend and I look forward to our last comp for the season on September 19/20.

Hopefully it can be a good one!

Daniel Bell
Beach Fishing Captain

Month: JULY 2026
Section: Beach Fishing

So, it seems the 100% record of bad weather forecasts for our beach comps just won’t break with the July comp once again looking to be absolute rubbish! However, thankfully the weather (in my opinion) was better than what it was forecasted to be. That being said, the 0 star fishing weekend in the almanac was exactly on point with almost everybody reporting that the fishing was tough.

Crew and I headed up to Jurien bay to start, trying our luck for a storm Pinky off the Jetty but, all we got was; soaking wet and freezing cold. While others instead opted to start close to home with hopes the weather would get better as the weekend progressed. This thankfully was the case and although w**d was an issue, once again, most spots by the arvo were fishable and Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day.

Only the one mini junior fished this comp, that being Crew Bell and although the fishing was tough he had a very reasonable bag including a very nice Gummy Shark of 11.91kg which easily beat the old club record. However his excitement was short lived as unfortunately for him his Dad (myself - Daniel Bell) got an even bigger one this weekend…”sorry mate!”

The ladies division wasn’t so toughly fought this time round. Helen opted to only fish part of the comp so she could attend the Commodores Ball and although she still had 3 species in her bag, it was just no match for Bronny who had a cracker comp! Bron managed 7 species for just under 15kg total weight which included a very nice Pink Snapper of 5.97kg and the only Mulloway caught in the comp weighing in at 7.59kg.

Over to the Vets where we usually see some very high scores, but this is where the tough fishing was really noticed as the bags were noticeably lighter than usual. Ricko set a new record for his lowest beach score, showing he is human after all and can have a bad bag from time to time. Nevertheless, it was still enough for 2nd place just ahead of Vincey who, from what I heard, didn’t even have a fish on the board until very late Saturday night. The other part-time fisherman/part time Ball attender Bruce Bennett managed to capitalised on his short fishing window and his 5 species bag secured himself 1st place in this months comp.

Finally the Men’s division, where the top 3 only had a mere 6 species each. Adam Broadhead snuck into 3rd place, Kiwi just ahead of him with the addition of a small Pinky had enough weight in his bag to finish in 2nd. But the man of the match was myself. My bag, while not overly exciting, included that new club record Gummy Shark that I mentioned earlier of 13.57kg which helped me across the line to finish in 1st place.

Not much else to note this month so here’s hoping our August comp has some better weather and fishing.
Thanks as always to everyone who helped out on the day and I hope to see you all on August 15th/16th for our second last comp of the season!

Daniel Bell
Beach Fishing Captain

Hi All

I encourage you to jump on the link and have you say. Every comment helps with not being shutout with more marine parks

🎣 Join the Angling Section today at 4pm at Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club! Come down and watch our beach anglers weigh in their catch of the day on the grassed area. Bring your friends, soak up the atmosphere, and enjoy all the action!

Morning all! 👋

Beach fishing comp this weekend… and someone must’ve forgotten to tell the weather man because it’s actually looking really good! 😂

Maybe that’s because I can’t fish this weekend 🤦‍♂️

Anyway, the usual story:

No boundaries.

🎣 5am start Saturday
⚖️ Weigh-in 4pm sharp Sunday at the club
🚫 No late bags will be accepted

Any questions, don’t hesitate to hit me up!

Stay safe, have fun and fingers crossed for some nice fish! 🤞🐟

Catch & Release codeword – AFTA

Reminder:
Angling Monthly Meeting Tonight at 7pm
Upstairs the bar will be open for all the grab a drink.
Hope to see you all there.

Your hoodies have arrived !!!

Please go the club during office hours mon to fri 9am to 5pm to pay and collect.
Cant wait to see you all walking around in your new threads 🥰

Mel has offered to come down an hour before our next angling meeting 5th of aug for people to collect also if you cant make office hours.

🐳🐋🐬🐟

Stayed tuned fisho's. Some big opportunities about to happen if you are interested in cracking that Swordfish code!!!!