G’day everybody,

Sorry for the delayed post, we’ve been working behind the scenes trying to finalise our comp calendar.

This years comp started on Tuesday the 26th of June and the conclusion date is still to be confirmed.

This 10 species competition has been successfully run for many years and continues to run as one of Southern Freedivers premier comps. Southern Freedivers club membership together with AUF is required to enter.

The Vic Challenge ONLY targets 10 key Vic species. This will be the 18th season the VC has run.

Heaviest fish of each species gets 10 points, second heaviest 9 points, third heaviest 8 points and so on. Maximum score = 100. For those that are wishing to compete in the VC for the first time, see leaderboards from previous seasons. You'll get the idea.

This is a special comp. It is tough to win. However, many competing aren't just out to win it. Some have the goal to weigh in all 10 species, others put a wager on with a mate and see who can finish highest and others have the goal to submit a lone 10 pointer.

Keep in mind that even if a bigger fish may have already been submitted, you can still get points depending on the size and if others have submitted fish. For example, if someone else submits a 3kg cray and yours is 2.5kg, you have a chance to get 9 points if no one else submits a cray. Then if someone submits a cray bigger than yours, the score for your cray would only drop to 8 points.

Minimum weights are as follows;

340gm - Whiting / Trevally
400gm - Flathead / Sweep / Squid / Australian Salmon / Snook / Snapper
1000gm - Crayfish
3000gm - Kingfish

Fish must be taken in Vic waters. Fish must be submitted within 30 days of capture. Late submissions WILL NOT be accepted. Maximum 2 of each species to be submitted. Fish must be weighed on certified club scales. This season will see a set of certified scales at every SFD club meeting and weigh points with Brett Illingworth (Peninsula) ph 0439881958, Paul Blackborrow (Geelong) ph 0416167604, Murray Petersen 0407047405, Nathan Watson(Melbourne) 0409244796.

Preferred method to submit fish is via a PM on the forum to VictorianChallenge.

This season we have added a little incentive, hoping to drag some of the legends of this competition out of retirement and give these cocky young spearos a run for their money.

We will be adding an incentive thanks to Abstraction pty Ltd who has kindly donated some cash

1st place getter will receive $150.

2nd place $75.

And best fish for the season, decided by the SFDs committee will receive $125.

So good luck to everybody that competes this season

Dive and stay safe

See below for the entry form.

Are entries only accepted through forum or is email/fb or something possible. It’s a pain in the arse getting photos onto computer and difficult to fill in form on phones.

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"A good moustache makes a man for many reasons."

Might be easiest to submit your entries at any club meeting mate

Leaderboard to date.....

Sorry for the delay,me being computer eliterite has slowed the process.

Will endeavour to get a clearer image up.

Some cracking Salmon being weighed in. Won’t be long till the big calamari make an appearance.

Current leader board...

If I’ve missed anyone’s entry please let me know

Updated score sheet

Just for future reference guys and girls,
When entering a fish PLEASE take it out of the plastic bag when weighing!

Thanks VC police

Updated Vic Challenge leader board take two

Hi All,

There were a few entries in the past month for Vic Challenge. Some have started upgrading their Salmon, showing they are growing and there are plenty around the Mornington Peninsula at the moment. With cray season opening in November, there is plenty of chance over the holiday period to weigh in a cray (and have a tasty Christmas lunch). There are good numbers of squid towards the bottom of the bay as there is another spawning run, so there is still a chance to get some points for squid entries. Sporadic schools of Trevally have been seen and some hiding (not so well) around sting rays. Line fisherman are experiencing good catches of whiting, so even though they may be tricky to target for spearo's, there are some good numbers and size fish around the bottom and west side of the bay. With Kingfish season almost here, divers are looking at the warm currents coming down and around from the east coast of Australia it wont be long before kingy's start to get weighed in. With the SFD aggregate comps lined up in Jan, there is a good chance to target sweep and they are pretty tasty, so wont be surprised if some are weighed in sooner. Onto the leaderboard, James and Chris have weighed in 3 fish each in the last month and a good lead over the rest of the pack. There are still plenty of fish to be weighed in and with all the fish life around as the water is warming up, means the top spot is not out of reach.

Please refer to the first post of the Vic Challenge thread on the Southern Freedivers forum (top of this thread) for details on how to weigh in and submit fish.

We hope everyone has a happy holiday period full of diving and look forward to seeing what fish are weighed in over the next month!

Hi All,

With another month gone past, there have been a few entries submitted for the Vic Challenge. The Kingfish have shown up with reports of them in various sizes all across the Victorian coastline and the first one for this comp has been weighed in by Watto. Along with his good size flatty, it has pushed him to the top of the leader board.

No doubt the kings will be targeted in the next few months.

Still some good crays are getting weighed in and there are some squid still around. We are yet to see any submissions of sweep but these are easy to target and taste pretty good, so hopefully we see some submitted soon.

Also good to see some size snapper being weighed in.

Please note, there was an error in last months tally where an upgraded fish was counted along with the original one. I have fixed this and along with the recent submissions for other fish, has relegated James back to 4th place.

Hope you all are able to get out for a dive on the Australia day long weekend coming up and am keen to see what is submitted in the next month!!

Hi All,

The past month has seen some good fish weighed in for the Vic Challenge. Some coming from the Western Districts comp and some coming from the State Titles competition. We have to mention Scott Kelly's awesome salmon that he got at the State titles. It swam over his head and out past the end of his spear when he was laying on the bottom and aiming at a whiting. It came in at a whopping 4.335kg and is a pending state record fish. Well done Scott. That catch has pushed everyone's salmon down a point each with the lowest point scoring salmon being 2.625kg! Will be interesting to see what salmon get weighed in up to the end of the comp for this season.

Kims cracker 900gram whiting and 1120gm snapper have helped him jump up a few places and take the top spot with Watto only 2 points behind. Even though Chris' salmon no longer scores, by weighing in a pinkie has helped him retain third position, swapping spots with Murray.

Still only 1 Kingfish weighed in by Watto and i'm surprised that more have not been weighed in, since they are being speared and caught by line fishermen all along the Victorian coastline. Steven has also joined the leader board with a decent Trevally and 9 points for his efforts.

See below for the updated leader board.

Some good fish submitted over the past month and with the Kingfish cup coming up soon, hopefully some more Kingies are submitted soon!

For those that would like to get started and submit fish, there is still plenty of time with all 10 species an option at this time of year.

Please refer to the first post of the Vic Challenge thread on the Southern Freedivers forum (top of this thread) for details on how to weigh in and submit fish.

Watto holds a substantial lead as the first competitor to enter 10 species. Surprisingly only one 1 sweep and 1 Kingfish entered.
There’s still plenty of fish around so go out there and get them!

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Please see attached weigh on form for kingfish shot during the kingfish cup. Also there was a few fish like sweep and trevally shot over the Newhaven comp weekend. Can I claim those? I dont have the weigh in info though.

Cheers,

Adem

Watto retains a solid lead of 28 points. Adem joins the competition with only the 3rd Kingfish weighed in. There’s been more big crays weighed in too.
We’re getting into the last few months of competition. The water is cooling down and fish will disperse, however, there’s been lots of reports of squid up to 2.5kg caught in Port Phillip so don’t put away the gear just yet.
Flathead are in full swing so we expect to see some nice specimens come in soon. Amazingly there’s still only 2 sweep weighed in so this could be a opportunity to gains some points but you’ll need to be quick!
Happy hunting

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