Four mates, who decided the opportunity to go fishing with a few of the West Coast Eagles players was the chance of a lifetime, enjoyed a day they will never forget when the experience materialised on Saturday.
Jimmy Smith, from BJ Steel, purchased the money-can-buy experience at last year’s Eagles in the Community Auction and took his brother-in-law Scott Watson and mates Ben Kon-Yu and Gary Bailey with him.
They enjoyed a day on the waters off Cervantes with captain Shannon Hurn, star ruckman Nic Naitanui and elusive forward Mark LeCras. The three Eagles are all keen anglers – and just as competitive in landing a prized catch as they are when representing their club in AFL action.
LeCras, who hails from the crayfishing town, had local knowledge on his side but by final siren, honours were pretty even.
After working against a tough easterly at the start of the day – which kicked off with a 5am rise and 6am departure on the Lobster Shack’s 68 foot charter vessel – the fishing party did not need to wait too long to land the target species for this bottom bouncing exercise, an 8kg Dhufish.
While it might have been expected that the honour for such a prestigious catch would fall to one of the astute fishermen in the troop, it was actually Ben Kon-Yu who was posing for the traditional photos, just a tick after 8am.
Ben and all of his mates were self-confessed fishing novices, but it didn’t stop them from stealing the show.
For Ben, though, the spotlight proved overwhelming – or perhaps it was the rolling swell that saw him searching for the best place to lie down and dream of that queasy green feeling subsiding.
While he was out of play for the best part of six hours, the Eagles boys did kick into life and along with Jimmy, Scott and Gary landed an assortment of deep sea delicacies. There was a range of sizes among a nice haul of Dhufish, Baldchin Groper and even a Spangled Emperor, caught by club staffer Peter Staples, as the party enjoyed the hospitality of skipper “Knotty” and his crew aboard the Lobster Shack vessel.
- The 2016 Eagles in the Community Banquet Auction will be held on Friday, May 27 at the Grand Ballroom, Crown. Registrations can be made by going to westcoasteagles.com.au and visiting the events page
