North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Please don't lock the thread!

G'day all

Just my opinion on setting up comps, neither for nor against anyones experience/opinion on their actual trip, I wasn't there to make judgement on the set up, this is just about general competition organising?

As Jules 74 stated, input from people who are involved in organising similar events will go a long way into eventually having the comp organised to some sort of standard. I know of a few people from Aus who were bought in at short notice (volunteering their time) to help the locals out, in some cases 3 days out before the start, not a hope in hell of delivering the goods in that time frame, restricted to get it going in the right direction, some of these people have been on the recieving end & probably don't deserve it. Anyone one who is involved in setting up the Nationals, Classic or similar tournaments, its 12 months of extensive planning & resolving issues as they arise during the planning, check lists in place & dealing with the issues that occur during the comp. Once the comps are over, a short break to wonder why they do it, hold a debrief to identify the positives/areas to develop from competitor feed back & start all over again. It takes time, dedicated committees & support from sponsors, competitors & Government agencies, whether it be to promote the comp & or their area as a travel destination etc, that also includes their Government being able to recognise the value of the comp outside the square in generating return visits, whether it be for the fishing, the snorkelling, the scenery, the rum, rally driving the motor scooters, whatever.

The majority of the local people in places like Timor fish to catch fish to eat (the smaller the better, they don't want to lose gear on fishing for fun) & have no concept of fishing for sport, burning heaps of fuel etc), these are just some of the issues they would need to identify & address if they want a fishing comp to eventually be held at a standard recognised by fisherpersons from around the world.


Anyone/group intending to return, I would suggest they liaise with the organisers & provide the positive feedback/areas to develop, to be honest they will have a long road due to local infastructure, lack of equipment & skippers that understand how to target fish species of interest to sportfishing etc. But at the end of the day if they can't, don't & or won't look at the feedback & address issues it will never progress & they can't just can't rely on Aus to send someone over at short notice to develop their local interests, they have to be actively involved & implement a structure with a person capable of the tasks involved.

DGFC comps & other local club comps are constantly under review, we can't implement every suggestion we recieve, but we constantly assess & address if suitable, probably still get bagged in some instances, but once we have tried to address all issues, you live with it & get on with it, but they all took time to get to the level they are now at.

On another note, it looks like it would be a great location to hold a dedicated Billfsih comp if suitable boats & skippers were available, cheers Balls.

Mum just rung my from Sydney and said that ABC 7 pm news had a bit about the Timor comp its was about half way through the news, maybe we will have it on ours.

As an International fishing comp it was shite. The food was beyond shite and warm beer COME ON now you’ve got to be joking. Did I have a good time bl..dy oath only due to funny bastards and great people we met. To the person who didn't see anyone crook from the food you must have been walking around with your eyes closed. Half our plane back to Oz was crook and I'm still racking up frequent flyer points back and forth from the throne as I write this. And no I didn't eat the chicken that had been sitting in the sun for hours.
I believe there two major let downs were the food, CHICKEN and RICE and warm grog. As long as us Aussies have a cold beer and some half descent tucker we'll generally get over everything else but without these things you've got no hope. I can see how some people where considerably not happy it was after all advertised along the lines as the Timor bike race, I bet they weren't eating baked beans and cabbage out of a plastic cup for breakfast. There was also the fact that they seemed to be generally trying to look after the locals more than us. Don’t get me wrong Sean and Jo never stopped running around for a second but they were just running around in circles. Please tell me why they didn’t do some research and approach and secure the services of Barry(The Legend) seven years of local knowledge and repore with the locals from the start, it would have been a whole different ball game, as it was with the services he did offer it saved the trip for many of us. That was a really dumb omission on their behalf. From what I heard (coming from Barry) they had somewhere around the 100 grand mark of sponsorship and government money to put the thing on so there wasn’t any real excuse for eating chicken and rice three meals a day. Just so nobody says that’s all the locals had, the chickens weren’t local they were the same frozen chickens we buy from the shop I seen them myself.
In the end I had a bl..dy ball, will I go back………………………… not in a hurry. Will be laughing my butt off for a long time as the shite trips get remembered the most.

Hey Barralistic ive been sitting here thinking what to put down but ya nailed it. The company in the best seat of the house was great, pitty they didnt put mick on the telly though. Ive got a couple of snaps with the boss and the millita if she wants them pm me mate.

This is a CRACKER!
I have been laughing so hard while reading this I have tears in my eyes.

I worked in ET for a couple of years.... sort of expected this.

However - there are fish there. I saw 50kg+ tuna in the markets in Dili and a mate with a 12 ft tinny regularly caught big mackeral around the south of Timor.

If you were to go back there go with as reputable an expat operated charter company as you can find. Anything else over there is just - as you found out.

The Hotel California the quietest digs in Dili.

Bar California

Gilligans Island... Now sit right back and hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip....


The Ferry to Salvation.



Did some one say blue.



HMAS Bailfasterson

The Ritz

ABC iView
Source: www.abc.net.au
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Hi guys my son Ryan went on this trip and is still in Dili I believe enjoying some diving / fishing /drinking; I hope and not sick in the local hospital with food or alcohol poisoning! He is due back in Darwin tomorrow morning and as I haven't had any contact with him since last Thursday night I've been trying to find out how much prize money he was going to bring home! Haaa there haven't been any reports or coverage however I have much to my delight I stumbled across this forum! i did get a bit of a shock at first; not from the swearing at all; but the overall trip Anyway as one of the other Mums in sydney has already let u know there was a we segment on the abc news tonight, if you missed it I have pasted the link above fast forwd it to about 21:29m maybe some of you are stars! If you have any photos love to see them. Better fishing next time keep me posted [/b]

Just a point of interest this comp is being hailed as the new jewel in the SPORTFISHING calendar on the news in NZ. Move over Shane Warne because Sean the king of spin is up to his usual tricks and is telling every one how good the Fishing Was.

How many of you think that the fishing was a highlight of your trip.

Just watched the abc link, loved the bit about fancy boats! Whats so fancy about a fooking outrigger!!

just watched the link too. see 2 rods make a cammeo appearance walking up a pontoon with his fff classic shirt. good stuff

coroboreebandit wrote:just watched the link too. see 2 rods make a cammeo appearance walking up a pontoon with his fff classic shirt. good stuff

Yep 250 odd people on that tub nd they pick me out.....arrrrrr

And movember's finished 2Rods, out with the razor

i think he will be no balled for chucking faulksy. ... timor marlin

The Famous snub nosed Timor marlin prolific yet so hard to catch...