Samantha Courtney with best dresser, brother-in-law Doug and her brother Travis.
A fishing competition at Nevins Beach Yarrawonga over Easter was the 20th annual event for a big group of 80 people from Melbourne. Organiser Samantha Courtney wanted it to be special and it was!
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“My fishing competition means the world to me and I wanted to do something special for 20 years to thank all my family and friends who have come and supported our Easter competition for 20 years,” the 51-year-old told the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
“Just before our 10 years I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and we wore black T-shirts with pink and included the breast cancer logo.”
Sadly since then, the lady popularly known as ‘Sammy’ has had breast cancer another two times and is now stage 4 triple Negative BC which is highly aggressive.
“I was given 18 months to live but somehow with my family and friends behind me every step of the way I knew I had to fight so hard for them and now I've had no evidence of the disease 10 months later.
“In saying this, even though I have never missed a year, I know my time for camping is coming to an end and finding it very hard to sleep in tents but hopefully one of my group will take it over and keep my fishing competition going.”
Lee Baker with the winning fish, a 64cm Murray Cod.
In 2002, Samantha’s partner at the time and her brother Travis decided to start a fishing competition at Nevins Beach. The pair designed their own logo and had T-shirts, naming the comp ‘Scumbags and Skanks’.
Among the group’s members are adults who had newborn babies in the first year and the children have also grown up with the competition, never missing a year.
“My brother Travis Courtney and friend Lee Baker have helped me keep the competition going which I'm very thankful for,” Samantha said.
Of this year’s group of 80, 60 fished and over 60 Murray Cod were caught.
“The weather might have been really bad this time but the fish were jumping out of the river - the best fishing we have had to date,” Samantha said.
“Bailey Klaster caught the most fish, 31 cod and three carp.”
Place getters in the competition were: 1st Lee Baker, 2nd Micayla Klaster and 3rd Adrian Klaster.
The 20th annual event was special. The star of the show was pleased with how everything went.
“The group surprised me with a card and $500 worth of vouchers thanking me for the 20 years,” an appreciative Samantha said.
“Travis and Lee are taking the competition over which makes me happy.”
