Sydney Seabees
Lake Lyell Convention 2025

Wrap up from 2025 Lake Lyell convention

Lake Lyell Convention 2025

Long Reef Beach - 15 August 2026

What a great day on the water with friends! A beautiful sunrise, a few passing showers, plenty of fresh air and good mates — finished off with a burger or two at the local surf club.

We witnessed Blake with a strong 30–40 minute battle with a big ray. We saw it, but eventually it broke away and disappeared back into the deep — definitely one that got away!

Mike landed a cracking 530 mm Aussie Salmon on his light whiting rod, little hook, worm and 10 lb leader. It certainly gave the gear a workout!

Considering the weather and the slow fishing activity it was a great turnout from the team, and everyone enjoyed the relaxed day out. Looking forward to the next Seabees event on the 13th of Sept at Parsley Bay estuary between 6.30am to 1 pm. See you there.

President’s Day Sunday 19 July 2026. Berowra Waters.

It was fantastic to see so many members taking part on Sunday. A total of 30 people enjoyed a great morning on the water fishing and later coming together for the barbeque on the foreshore. It was a terrific day and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with everyone.

Despite thick fog greeting us for the early 6.30am start, it lifted quickly to reveal a beautiful winter’s day with clear skies and pleasant temperatures. Most skippers and crew teams spent the morning chasing Bream along the shorelines or trying their luck with elusive Mulloway using larger baits. Some quality Bream were landed early and continued to bite throughout the incoming tide. Unfortunately, only small Mulloway were caught, while the ever-present Pike Eels kept many anglers busy stealing baits.

Congratulations to Mal Clark, our resident “Bream Guru”, who was the overall winner for the day with an impressive catch of 9 Bream.

The award for Best Bream went to Margaret Abdilla, whose outstanding fish measured over 400mm, once again out-fishing out her husband, Ronnie. Second-best Bream honours went to our Recorder, Peter Bylsma with a fine 395mm fish.

Congratulations also to Jenny Ravell and Ben Withford, who received the Encouragement Awards after enjoying a fantastic day on the water with their fishing partners.

A sincere thank you to everyone who helped make the day a success, especially our barbeque team of Paul Tanti, Sam Schembri and Ron Abdilla. I honestly can’t remember a Sea Bees BBQ without these blokes stepping up to organise and run the whole show.

I’d also like to thank those who weren’t able to fish but still came along to support the club and enjoy the day. Your company was greatly appreciated. Thank you to Roy Wartmann, Reg and Ivy Sinclair, Tom Connolly, Paul, Josephine and Sally Tanti, and Nick Withford.

The fishing teams were:

· Geoff Ford & Damien Briggs

· Jenny Ravell & Bec Fazio

· Rob & Hamish Sinclair

· Peter Bylsma & Stephen Boots

· Kurt, James & Caitlin Forrester

· Ron & Margaret Abdilla & Sam Schembri

· Mal Clark & Ben Withford

· Michael & Cameron Markich, Chris & Blake Meadows

· Mick & Tom Withford.

Cheers, Mick

Sydney Sportfishing Tournament 2026

Three keen anglers – Sam Schembri, David Gerard and Ronald Abdilla – arrived on Thursday afternoon, set up camp and prepared for a big weekend of fishing. The plan was simple: find a quality feed of flathead and enjoy the Sydney Sportfishing Tournament.

Friday’s forecast called for a manageable 15-knot breeze, but Mother Nature had other ideas. After launching from foreshore drive boat ramp early in the morning, the wind quickly built to 30–40 knots, making conditions challenging Unfortunately.

In David Gerard’s boat, the sea drogue was deployed which helped steady the drift and kept us in the game.

Despite the tough weather, the bay was alive. Migrating whales cruised through the area while birds worked bait schools on the surface. Dave rigged live bait rig and we soon found ourselves connected to plenty of bait fish. By the end of the day, we had landed a solid tally of 12 flathead, providing a great start to the tournament.

Saturday brought more action. Returning towards Cronulla, we added another four flathead, although fishing remained slow. A move to Maroubra proved to be the turning point of the weekend. The decision paid off immediately, with larger fish coming aboard, including quality flathead stretching up to 550mm.

The hot bite continued and we boated another 18 flathead for the day, bringing our tournament total to an impressive 30 flathead. With fish weighing around the a couple of kilo mark, every drift carried the possibility of a tournament contender.

Saturday night was a great social occasion, with

Rob Sinclair, Roy wartmann, Mick Withford and Michael Markich joining us for dinner and sharing stories from the water.

A huge thank you goes to South Sydney Sportfishing Club for their hospitality, allowing us to camp on their grounds and making us feel welcome throughout the weekend. Special thanks also to Stan Konstantaras, who went out of his way to ensure everyone had a fantastic tournament experience.

It was a memorable weekend of fishing, mateship and competition. One thing that still leaves me wondering is how we can attract 49 members to fish a tournament at Lake Lyell, yet struggle to get the same numbers fishing locally. Either way, those who attended enjoyed a terrific weekend and created plenty of stories to tell.

CB25 Ronald Abdilla

Lake Lyell Convention 2026

Seabees Fishing Club – Lake Lyell Tournament Report

What a spectacular weekend on the water! The Seabees Fishing Club recently hosted a highly successful tournament at Lake Lyell, bringing together 99 passionate anglers from across the region.

A huge shoutout to all the competing clubs who made the trip: Botany Bay Sports Fishing Club, Outcast Fishing Club, CBs Fishing Club, South Sydney Fishing Club, and Wollongong Fishing Club.

The fishing conditions certainly delivered, yielding some fantastic results with a total of 99 trout caught and safely released. Notably, no brown trout or tiger trout were recorded this time around.

Major Capture Results

Longest Trout: Adam Camilleri (Botany Bay Sports Fishing Club) – 596mm

Longest Trout Caught in Thompson’s Creek: Mark Whitty (South Sydney Fishing Club)

Largest Bass: Liam Layt (Botany Bay Sports Fishing Club) – 495mm

Final Club Standings

1st: Botany Bay Sports Fishing Club

2nd: Seabees Fishing Club

3rd: South Sydney Fishing Club

Congratulations & Thank You

Congratulations to every single angler who participated and helped make this event such a brilliant success. We extend a sincere thank you to all the clubs for their incredible support, outstanding sportsmanship, and shared commitment to catch-and-release fishing.

We also want to express our gratitude to all of our fantastic sponsors, including Blake’s Marine, for their ongoing support of our fishing community.

View Results

Port Stephens Feb 2026


Report by Rob Hill

Feb 6th-8th 2026

While last Saturday was the official club outing most club members decided to make a weekend of it and headed out to fish early on the Friday morning. Perfect sea conditions and a 23C water temp greeted the Sea Bees, which only boosted the excitement after Roy Wartmann caught his first Marlin on the previous day. Confidence levels rose even further as we all managed to stock up on ample quantities of slimys and yellowtail for live bait.

Our boats congregated around the area of Roy’s previous day’s Marlin conquest, but after hours of persistence our hopes began to fade, with no strikes forthcoming despite mountains of teasing bait balls and ideal water temperature. ‘ You should have been here yesterday’ soon rang true. Bottom bashing soon became the order of the day but again, the fish were few and far between. Some nice Bonito were landed by Andreas, Ron Abdila, Mick Withford and Robert Hill, but the outside boats were upstaged by Peter Bylsma and Ben Withford landing some nice bream and whiting between them on Fingal Beach.

A new day brought fresh hope for comp day but again the fishing proved challenging. Robert Hill and Mick Withford managed a few flathead from Andreas’s boat as well as bag limit catches of Bonito with their crew companions Ron and Andreas. Other notable catches of Bonito were presented by Peter Bylsma, Kurt Forrester and his dad, Neil. Snapper were also landed by Rob Sinclair, Peter Bylsma, Kurt Forrester and the best going 63cm by Mark Formosa. Meanwhile Ben Withford showed the beach was just as productive as the ocean with a nice haul of whiting.

With all boats safely back at Little Beach Ramp our thoughts soon turned to tonight’s social get together and presentation at the Shoal Bay Country Club which saw some fantastic prizes presented by the club to the category winners. With twenty members, family and six boats participating, the Port Stephens weekend is growing from strength to strength. There are several improvements planned for next year to further enhance our fishing experience. This outing confirmed the strength and comradery that exists withing the Sea Bees and thank you for making it such a success.

Robert Hill CB12

Freshwater Event Jan 2026

Spring Farm and Fish Anywhere
Report by Michael Markich

Australia Day weekend, Saturday at Springs Lake, Spring Farm.

The day was stinking hot but 20 members and possible new members turned up in the hope of catching a big bass. The day started promising with my son Cameron catching a 25cm bass first cast and Kurt Forrester had a follow on his second cast and then after that it was a 100 casts probably before Kurt caught the next fish at 26cm. Shortly after that I hooked up and it hit like a freight train. I got a glimpse of it before it spat the hook but it was well into the 30cm range. Shortly after that kurt caught another at 25cm. The rest of the club members got sore arms from casting so we called it a day a headed back to my place a bit earlier for home made hamburgers, chicken burgers and beverages.

Next time I will have dinner first and fish after into the dark as they seem to bite better on sunset. We were all too cooked to go back after dinner as it was so hot in the middle of the day. Even though the fishing was a bit slow it was a great social day with the BBQ and a chat around the tables in the back yard. Can't wait to do it again but next time it will be planned a bit different. Members that attended were Michael Withford , Benjamin Withford , Roy Wartmann , Peter Bylsma , Kurt Forrester , Chris Meadows , Blake Meadows , Cristy Dickson, Clint Dickson , Selby Harris, Cameron Markich, Jayden Markich, Dianne Markich, James Pace and Partner Danielle, camerons friends Dillon and Ricky, my friends Matthew Howard and children Riley Howard and Brody Howard and myself . Also Bec Fazio had a good day up north as you can see in her post earlier this week.

Christmas Party 2025

We held our Christmas party on Sunday 7th December at Prospect Reservoir. Once we resolved the confusion of which picnic area we were set up at and everybody had found the marquee, we settled into an enjoyable day outside with about 40 members attending. We were lucky to have avoided the 40 degree heat of the day before.

Thanks to all adults and kids who helped out on the BBQ cooking up all of the steaks and sausages!
We awarded the prizes for the category winners from last year’s comps:
Sub Junior Champion: Harry Blake
Junior Champion: Riley Vella
Lady Champion: Margaret Abdilla
Deep Sea: Mick Withford
Estuary: Mal Clark
Freshwater: Rob Sinclair:
Beach: Mal Clark
Yearly: Tony Pearce
Champion of Champions: Ron Abdilla

Congratulations to all of the winners in each category!

Thanks to Ben Withford for the great photography :)

Deep Sea outing August 2025

Deep Sea outing report Sunday 31st August.

Report by Michael Markich

With the forecast of big swells i changed the boundaries for the deep sea day to the lower regions of the Hawkesbury River to allow more members to fish. The large swell wasn't as bad as they said it would be as it was only rough until about 10am and almost glassed out close to shore after 12pm as there was a westerly wind.

Even though it was nice to be on the water and plenty of fish on the sounder, the fishing wasn't the best with lots of time between bites. Andreas Peukert had 4 on board taking Ron Abdilla, Cristy Dickson and Alison Dring out fishing with him. A Rumour getting around said that when the sea was rough in the morning there was plenty of burley being put in the water but still the fishing was a bit slow. Ron Abdilla got 2 keeper snapper between 30 -40cm and a nice gummy shark which added a bit of excitement to the day. The rest of the crew got a mixed bag of undersized or undesirable reef species. In my boat myself and my son Cameron Markich did pretty much the same with 1 x 395mm Snapper and a large Banjo shark and the odd reef species as well.

I also had my main auto bilge pump fail ending up with a few hundred litres of water under the floor. Thankfully my secondary pump worked so im replacing both pumps in the next few weeks. Tony Pearce fished inside the river around flint and steel and Cowan landing a legal bream and Shovel nosed shark as well. Due to the small number of participants for the day i didn't end up cooking the usual BBQ but it still ended up being a great day out.

North Narrabeen Beach - March 2025

Sat 15 March 2025 3-8pm

A nice afternoon and evening outing was held here last weekend. The beach days are proving to be very popular. A total of 21 men women and children attended which was fantastic.

With the last throws of summer pushing well into autumn, it was a beaut sunny and warm afternoon, with a bit of a cooling nor-easterly breeze. Not everyone fished but that’s fine, we all enjoy being on the sand at the beach.

There were some record sized Whiting caught, most notably a 436mm by Peter Bylsma and 407mm by young Blake Meadows. A few others landed Whiting, Dart and Tarwine, however not many in total.

Squeezing our contingent between the swimmers to our south in the SLS flagged area, and the surfers to the north made it a bit difficult to spread out at 3pm however after 5pm we had plenty of room.

Seeing the rise of the ‘blood moon’ over the ocean on the horizon was spectacular.

After we packed-up, some of us sat down for fish n chips and hamburgers at the local cafe before heading back to the Hills. A bit easier than a bbq in the dark

Big thanks to Ben Withford our official photographer for the outing, and still managed

to catch a nice Whiting.

Mick