Stealth Adder Rock Challenge 2024

Australian Kayak Specialists wish to thank those that joined us for the 11^th Stealth Adder Rock Challenge held over the weekend 2- 5 May 2024.

AKS Kicked things off with a Mandatory BBQ Briefing on Friday evening – this is always an enjoyable part of the event as it allows many of our entrants to catch up – sometimes with fishing friends they have not seen since the last Adder event.

A massive thanks to Brian Hughes (Paramedic) who assisted fellow entrant Ian Balderston with a rather nasty finger injury that occurred at the briefing. It was unfortunate that Ian was not able to compete as a result. Similarly, so for Paul Oleary who unfortunately sustained a foot injury earlier on the Friday. Both competitors as well as a couple of “no shows” were removed from their teams – so that team scoring was not affected as a result.

Over the last few years, we have worked to move away from a win at all costs attitude at our comps – we have reduced the size of prizes and try ensure the focus is on having  fun in a safe way.

The Teams this year were as follows:

• Brisbane Bream
• Brisbane Bonito
• Gold Coast Guppies
• Gold Coast Goatfish
• Sunny Coast Sand whiting
• Sunny Coast Sardine
• The Mexicans

In the days leading up to the comp, the weather was unkind, however the forecast for the weekend was trending downwards. For the first session, which had the worst forecast, anglers were instructed to stay within a restricted  version of our fishing grounds, i.e. no Boat Rock for this session.

This session saw 48 Anglers hit the water.

26 Anglers managed to score a total of 43 Fish, some of which were brought in for scoring, some of which were scored via photo (Catch and release).

This session saw Sunny Coast local, Andrew Van Kerckhof take the lead. Andrew managed to score two solid longtails for a total of 252 Points.

Gold Coaster Justin Pybus was in second place on 216 points, with Kai Brown in third on 180 Points.

  

The Second session saw similar conditions – albeit slightly less wind and swell; as a result, Boat Rock was opened as a  fishing area.
This session saw 58 Anglers launch. 12 of these anglers brought fish in for scoring.

This session saw Gold Coast Local Nathan Rogers take the lead with an awesome Spanish Mackerel and Long tail.

Rod Pacitti managed to score big in this session too with a great Snapper and Longtail Tuna.

Justing Pybus kept himself very much in the game with a Longtail.

Heading into Day three the leaderboard looked as follows:

Day three was the pick of the days in terms of the forecast and as a result we saw 58 Competitors launch. Boat Rock was opened for entrants to fish around.

Regrettably this third session saw an unfortunate incident in which two anglers collided, resulting in the kayaks taking on water because of the damage. We are thankful to local Boaties and the local Surf Life Saving Club assisting in the matter; as well as those who assisted us with the launch of the Jetski. To have this happen during a passing squall only made matters more difficult.

This session did however see some more great fish recorded.

  

Following the final tally – 34 Anglers managed to get on the scoreboard:

Congrats to all who scored during the comp and thanks for all who assisted along the way.

The coveted team comp resulted in the following:

We wish to take the opportunity to again clarify some of the results.

A total of five anglers were removed from their teams – three no shows, two injuries. This was done so that teams were not prejudiced by these anglers being unable to participate.

Scoring: Two Fish were excluded from scoring because of being sharked. Both with close to half of the fish missing. There was one fish that was scored with some minor damage (the fish was however still whole and largely unaffected).

We also wish to take the opportunity to advise anglers on taking their on-water safety very seriously. The ocean can be unforgiving. If you don’t already have:

Pencil Flares

https://www.whitworths.com.au/safety/signaling-equipment/flares

Line Cutter

https://www.whitworths.com.au/shop?q=line+cutter

Our Sponsors

A massive thanks to our sponsors who kindly donated to the prize pool and welcome pack gear. Your efforts in the offshore kayak fishing community do not go unnoticed.

• Lure US In
• Bloke Beer
• Sealink
• Beachwheels Australia
• Insalt Fishing
• FPV Batteries
• Stealth Performance products
• Springbok Foods
• Slayride Fishing
• Malugyotaku
• Lockrack

We have uploaded some of our images to Facebook and Insta – Feel free to use them as you wish.