Commodore’s Notes

We didn’t get a summer but we are having a ripper of an autumn with beautiful calm warm sunny days and mild evenings.
The weather has been so good that we’ve hardly needed our marquee and nearly everyone has been outside enjoying the sunshine, magnificent views, watching the waves roll in under the Pier and along the Great Ocean Road.
I had a coffee in the Main Street recently and forgot how noisy the traffic can be when it’s busy. The only noise we have is the sound of the waves, sea gulls and laughter.
We are blessed with the best location in the world, the coldest and tastiest beer in the world, the friendliest and best fun members in the world and the best club manager and staff in the world.
Where else would you want to be?
I wish every season was autumn.
We’ve just successfully applied for an extension to operate the outer sanctum until the end of June so a big thanks to GORCAPA for that.
We will continue to stay open 7 days a week until the end of the school holidays then close Tuesdays.
Hutch has worked his butt off this season and has done a remarkable job getting hold of and training new staff during this difficult year but he still had to hold the fort by himself a few times and he’s not getting any younger. So we might also close on Thursday nights to give him a spell.
We are still running our happy hours on Wednesday and Friday nights along with a crayfish raffle and free sausage sizzle every Friday evening.
Remember our club facilities are available to members for Weddings, Parties, Anything!

RECENT EVENTS

CUP CAKE CUP SPONSORED BY CELLARBRATIONS LORNE

On the Thursday Night before Easter we took on the Lorne Lawn Bowls Club at their own game. The weather cooperated with a beautiful warm evening and thanks to Rob Montebello from Cellarbrations, we enjoyed a few free refreshments and a scrumptious BBQ.
We had 30 players on each team and we had a large contingent of supporters from the Anglers but unfortunately we just fell short and couldn’t repeat the recent success we had up at the Golf Club. The local bowlers were too good for us.
It’s not about who wins or loses. It’s about building a friendly relationship with the other clubs in town and having fun and we all had plenty of that.

 

MAJOR FISHING COMP NUMBER 3.
SPONSORED BY ESSENTIAL FINANCIAL PLANNING (Peter Ryan)

Our great run of perfect weather for our comps continued with a glassy sea for our last comp held on Easter Sunday. We had about 30 anglers compete including a few juniors which is very encouraging. King George Whiting were the go claiming most of the prizes.
There were also some nice flathead, salmon and trevally weighed in, but the whiting were a good size and dominated the results.
As usual we served up a magnificent roast lunch which is free to all competitors and we also handed out free sinkers to all the Anglers.
A special thanks to Tim Robinson who donated enough lead to keep us in sinkers for the next 10 years.

The Senior Winner was Mal Hunter with a big Whiting he caught off the Pier = 2770 points.
Runner Up was our current Club Champion Ric Barham with a Whiting = 2601 points.
Third was Brett Stewart also with a Whiting = 2481 points.

Our Junior Winner was Jack Hunter with a whiting he caught off the Pier = 2595 points.
Runner Up was Dusty Dawson with a flathead = 2200 points. 

 

 

 

FREE LIVE MUSIC

Local Rock Legend Ron Holmer did what the Blues Brothers did many years ago and ‘got the band back together’ and they were sensational.
The weather looked a bit ordinary but just before the band fired up the wind dropped and the sun came out.
We had a COVID capacity crowd which was members only and everyone had a great evening. We had our customary free sausage sizzle, a crayfish raffle and handed out freshly caught and smoked fish which disappeared in no time at all.
Where else can you get Free Music, Free Food and the cheapest drinks anywhere.

SCHOOL FISHING OUTING

Every year we get together with the Lorne P-12 College and Fisheries Victoria for a fishing day.
This year it started with breakfast at Lorne Central which was attended by 18 year 9 students, two teachers, several of our committee and Liam Quinn a fisheries officer from Apollo Bay.
Liam did a talk during brecky explaining his role and also Fisheries Victoria’s role.
The students were very attentive and asked a lot of questions which was great.
We then took everyone out fishing on the pier in perfect conditions.
This will sound a bit strange but the conditions were too good with the sea so clear you could see the fish nibbling at the bait. If we can see them then I assume they can see us so the fish easily won on the day. We went through a ton of bait so there will be a few overweight fish swimming around the pier at the moment. There were a few fish caught but I reckon for each one caught there would have been at least ten bits of bait taken. We supply the bait, fishing rods, tackle and expertise. Our old fishing reels are about buggered so if anyone out there has fishing reels they don’t use please drop them into the club.

 

DONATION TO LORNE SES

We recently donated $2,000 to the Lorne State Emergency Service (SES) to go towards the purchase of new equipment.
The SES are a wonderful group of local volunteers who are invaluable to our community.
Our Friday Night crayfish raffles are going gangbusters with all the profits going to local clubs, organisations and charities.

BRIAN TAYLOR JOINS OUR COMMITTEE

Brian ‘BT’ Taylor has been keen to join our committee for some time but we have our maximum of 12 so unfortunately we couldn’t accomodate him.
One of our committee men is stepping down shortly so BT will replace him. He will be a great asset to our club with his vast experience in the media and business.
He has been living permanently in Lorne for some time now but is away a bit during the AFL season. This will be a good fit because that’s our quiet time.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WINTER CUP FISHING COMP NUMBER 1 ON THE 2ND MAY.
SPONSORED BY PETER WHEAL LANDSCAPES.

Our first winter cup comp will be held on Sunday the 2nd of May with the weigh in starting at midday with the cut off at 12.30pm. Following the presentation of the days prizes we will be dishing up a mixed grill which is free to all competitors and only $10 for any members. Please put this date in your calendar and come and have a go.

WORLD SAUSAGE ROLL CHAMPIONSHIPS SUNDAY THE 13th OF JUNE
(Queens Birthday Long Weekend)

It’s on again. Start practicing your cooking skills now.
Huge prizes. Celebrity Judges. Free Sausage Rolls for everyone.
It won’t be as crowded this time because we will still have the Outer Sanctum so there will be lots of room.

OUR CLUBS 60th BIRTHDAY PARTY CELEBRATION SATURDAY THE 19th OF JUNE

It’s actually our 61st but we couldn’t do it last year due to COVID.
We will be holding it at the Lorne Surf Club and it will be catered for by Lorne Central.
We will have a band and a lot of surprises and fun stuff. Keep this date clear and we’ll have more details later.

POINT GREY REPORT

Since our previous Point Grey update things have moved along and become very interesting. A little background to what the current situation has developed into. Simply, once the SCS gave approval to the current development with 40 plus conditions, anyone was able to lodge an objection to any aspect of the proposal. The LAAC committee focused mainly on the club house area, car parking, traffic flow and boat wash locations. There were other objections regarding the proposed demolishing of the co op building and heritage matters of that same building. There were no objections received to the LAAC club house but there where 4 separate individual objections from club house members regarding the car parking, traffic flow, and boat wash locations.
If members go to ‘The One and Only Lorne Community Notice Board’ on Facebook, you will see the route in red that the current GORCAPA plan is proposing by leaving the Point Grey precinct at the south exit, crossing the Great Ocean Road twice and re entering via the north entry to get to the boatwash.
The LAAC have offered proposals maintaining the existing 2 way traffic movement with our boat wash in a similar southern location and not having to leave the precinct. This has resulted in the objections going to VCAT with a hearing starting on 12 April 2021.
The LAAC committee members and others had a preliminary hearing with VCAT some time ago where it was suggested by the member of VCAT that the two parties have discussions and try and come to a suitable agreeable outcome.
GORCAPA didn’t agree to this.
Following this, members of the LAAC met with GORCAPA members with the intention of trying again to get an agreed solution and not have to proceed with a costly VCAT hearing. This meeting resulted in GORCAPA representatives suggesting that we, the LAAC withdraw our objection as a way of not having to proceed in the VCAT hearing.
This was not agreed and we believe that this was a missed opportunity for GORCAPA to listen to what local members of the community where saying and consider a satisfactory compromise to our objections.
At the LAAC’s last committee meeting it was agreed to proceed with our objections and cover the legal costs of doing so.
With regards to the other objections before VCAT regarding the demolition of the famous fisher mens co op, the LAAC have given support to a 12 month moratorium on the demolition on the basis that it has no bearing of the design of the LAAC club house. Thank you all for the support you have given the committee and we will hope that common sense prevails at the VCAT hearing.

Ric Addison
Vice Commodore

 

BOAT TRAILER DEMONSTRATION

At the end of our Easter Sunday fishing comp we got a few of our members to tow their boats around the proposed loop to access our proposed boat wash.
Jonn Stewart very kindly filmed it from his drone so we will use his footage at our upcoming VCAT hearing.

 

FISHING REPORT

The kingies have finally arrived at the FADS. They are much later than normal but as they say, better late than never.
We noticed a bit of bird activity recently so dropped some lines over and started catching lots of mackerel then heaps of kingfish started following them back to the boat.
We tried every method we could think of but they wouldn’t bite. The same thing happened last year. It’s very frustrating. The snapper are still patchy with lots of undersize ones about.
The run of flathead is still going strong with quite a few big yanks up to 60cm being caught.
King George Whiting are about but not overly plentiful. Big Gummy Sharks are being landed in good numbers. We’ve got some father and son rivalry happening at the moment with our garfish comp. Dick and Harley Davies are keeping me busy changing the whiteboard as they keep catching bigger garfish.
Harley has just taken the lead from Dick but I’m sure I’ll be getting the rag and whiteboard marker out again before too long.
The Pier is still fishing well with good numbers of King George Whiting, Leatherjackets, Flathead, Salmon, Trevally, Calamari, Tommy Roughs, Snapper and Grass Whiting being landed.

UNUSUAL FISH

I’m always interested in the stomach contents of the fish we catch and often find some very unusual things in their bellies. Flathead eat anything and everything. Recently we had them spitting out silver whiting that were still alive and wriggling all over the floor of the boat. They are the Labradors of the sea and just don’t stop eating.
I’ve found crickets, crayfish, Moreton bay bugs, baby eels, squid, octopus, crabs – you name it but this one takes the cake. See below.

BOGGED IN THE CHANNEL

I’ve winched out 6 different anglers in the last few weeks who have become bogged in our channel. It’s not a matter of IF you’ve ever been bogged there, but a matter of WHEN. There’s not many of us who fish here regularly that haven’t been bogged. Luckily we have plenty of locals who always come to the rescue. If you don’t have a 4×4 don’t even think about it.
Recently we had a couple of drongos who somehow launched their boats without getting bogged using front wheel drive sedans. It was a different story when they tried to come back in. I don’t mind doing it but a simple ‘thank you’ or a couple of beers would be a nice gesture.

MEMBER OF THE MONTH

Max Pitt was born on the 4th of April 1946 (which is back when Dinosaurs roamed the earth) at the Airlie Hospital in Ivanhoe. His father died when he was only 4 years old and Legacy moved his mother and the family up to Mildura where Max grew up. He attended Mildura Sacred Heart Primary School and then St Joseph’s College. He was a gifted athlete and excelled in football, basketball, tennis and swimming.
The nuns soon noticed his sporting ability and got him to captain and also coach several of the colleges teams. When he turned 18 it was well before the VFL footy clubs had country zones and Collingwood was the first club to notice his potential and signed him up. At the age of 20 he moved to Melbourne and lived with a Collingwood family.
He played in a reserves premiership in 1965 then broke into the seniors in 1966, which was the year St Kilda won their one and only flag beating Collingwood by one point.
Two weeks later Max broke his arm in Sturt and the doctor ballsed up the setting so they had to re-break it and have another go. He missed the entire year then came back the following year and played 8 games but he wasn’t the same and semi retired.
St Kilda then signed him and he played there for two seasons before retiring permanently.
He married the beautiful Dawn and they lived in Eltham for 42 years in the same house where they had two sons. The boys have both been extremely successful in their chosen careers with one living in Canberra and the other in Melbourne.
Max made a long and successful career in car sales. With his outgoing and likeable personality he was a natural. He sold Toyota and Holden but mainly Mitsubishi and ended up running dealerships and training staff.
He was a member of the Collingwood Past Players Committee for 27 years and President for 11 years. When he first got involved it was struggling with only 60 members so Max fired things up and by the time he stepped down they had 2000 members.
His family had purchased a holiday home in Lorne back in 1967 where he and the family had many holidays and fell in love with Lorne.
They eventually bought the house off the family and had it rebuilt by Great Otway Construction Andy Little and Luke Norton who are sponsors of ours and moved here permanently in 2017. Max and Dawn are highly respected and well liked within our wonderful community.
Max is active in the mens shed and a regular visitor to our club where he is much loved. You will find him most evenings enjoying a glass of red and enjoying everyone’s company.

MERCHANDISE

We have good stocks of short and long sleeve T Shirts, Hoodies, Caps, Stubby Holders, Stickers and Gift Vouchers.

COFFEE

Jason will be open Thursday to Tuesday during the school holidays then back to Friday to Monday until the next lot of holidays.

COURTESY BUS

Our bus will be running on Friday’s and Saturdays. If anyone out there can help us out driving it please let Hutch know. Please be generous with your gold coin donations. Phone 0408 041234.

 

Cheers,

Commodore

Thanks to our sponsors:

KEANE CONTRACTING BRICK/BLOCK and SCAFFOLDING – Gary Keane
SURFCOAST GARDENING – Kerry Webster & Rob Dalziel