Around 500 anglers participated in the Yamba Rotary’s re-emergence, of the historical ‘Tim the Bream’ fishing competition, which was held in Yamba over the weekend. Anglers fished from Harwood Bridge, east to the Yamba/Iluka break walls, for a chance to catch one of the 11 bream which had been tagged for the competition. None of the tagged fish were caught during the competition, including the elusive ‘Tim the Bream’. The catch and release competition saw anglers bring their live fish in for weighing at Ford Park and then put into a holding tank for release, at the end of the competition. Provision had been made for anglers capturing larger fish to have a representative from the organising executive committee, to travel to them. This made for a quicker and less stressful catch and release process. Members of the competition executive camped out overnight at the weigh in headquarters in Ford Park, to make sure no one tampered with the holding tank, which housed the fish already caught and weighed in. Yamba Rotary president Vic Doe said that the competition over the weekend went well. “The competition executive got their first call out to measure a large flathead at 7.30am on Saturday morning, on Freeburn Island,” said Mr Doe. “Angler Ryan Thompson’s flathead weighed 6.2kg and measured 910mm and was the largest of species for the competition. “Another call out during Saturday night came when an angler caught a 17.6kg jewfish on Yamba’s middle wall. “The weekend’s competition saw a total of 133 fish weighed in. “We are hoping that next year the competition will be even bigger and better and we have already started working through our plans, so that we have plenty of time to organise it,” he said. Winners of the father and son team event Eduardo and Manuel Gutierrez of Yamba said that they had a lot of fun and a great weekend, fishing from the edge of the river in Ford Park. Manuel said that his father had just got to get something out of the car, when he caught his ‘heaviest of species’ whiting, weighing 300g. “We used fresh yabbies for bait and although we had two rods, it was one lucky rod which caught both of our winning fish,” said Manuel. The Gutierrez family said that they can’t wait until next year’s competition. The Yamba Rotary Club wishes to that the following sponsors for their generous support of this year’s event: Clarence Valley Council, Yamba Shores Tavern, Yamba Shores Tavern fishing Club, Yamba Chamber of Commerce, BP Yamba – The Bait Place, Yamba Sport Fishing Charters, Yamba Deep Sea Charters, Marina Boat and Tackle and Yamba Bait and Tackle.