Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Anglers Association

Reference: http://www.hnbaa.com.au

The Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Anglers Association (HNBAA) is a group of like-minded people who are interested in fishing for Australian Bass. The HNBAA was set up in 1996 for us to get together to discuss and learn more about techniques to catch and also protect this enigmatic Australian native fish. Through monthly meetings, regular competitions and social events we raise money and data to help protect the Australian Bass “Macquaria Novemaculeata”. We strongly support the catch and release scenarios in all our competition meets, with most catch sheets being forwarded to New South Wales Fisheries for scientific research. We only participate in lure and fly-fishing in all our competitions. We are actively involved in fish re-stocking programs of various waterways around Australia. We annually have 9 club competition events, 6 Bass events and 3 Bream events, but membership allows participation in many other organisation fishing tournaments and ProBass events. We have Junior Camps to support the development of junior fishing skills. Club History The birth of the Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Anglers Association took place in 1996 when Peter Jacovides, Australian Bass Angler tackle shop owner, announced to the 12 patrons within the shop the idea of creating a bass fishing club. With the help of Tony Beeck the first meeting was held within the shop in the month of September 1996 Peter and Tony noticed that there was a constant group of anglers that would catch up and swap stories of their Bass fishing exploits within the tackle shops. A committee was elected. President: Dave Hill, Vice President: Tony Beeck, Treasurer: Peter Jacovides, Public Officer: Steve Day and Recording Officer: Glenn Dickinson and the Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Anglers Association was born. Creating a family orientated social club for anglers to meet, swap stories, learn from and fish together within a fun based forum. They knew they were onto a good thing when in 12 months the club boasted 150 registered members and was recognised as the leading bass club within NSW. With the growth of the club, meetings were moved from the shop to Windsor Leagues club and introduced guest speakers of high regard, technique sessions, Junior camps, a major interclub fishing challenge on the Hawkesbury Nepean river system and monthly competitions for all members. In the early days many gentleman supported the club. Like Len, Vigurs and Adrien Clark, who donated and sponsored the clubs first trophy that is still used today for the ?Largest Bass of the Year?. After almost 10 years, most of the original founding members are still involved, a clear sign of a strong club that will continue to grow.