PRECISION XTREME PENCIL

black bream (smallmouthed sooty grunter), golden perch (yellowbelly), fork-failed catfish, sleepy cod, spangled perch, eel-tailed catfish and a few little natives. During the competition any fish of legal size is weighed in for a chance at the lucky draw.

As you may guess by the name of the comp, ‘Muddy Water’, the water clarity isn’t the best, and at times you can’t see your lure more than an inch under the surface. That doesn’t mean you can’t catch one of these incredibly prehistoric fish, but when it’s running murky it does make it a bit more difficult.

On the Friday night there’s a huge projector screen set up overlooking the Dawson that has a movie playing for the kids. They all bring their seats down and settle in for a couple of hours in this special setting.

This year, all of us adults were sitting a little closer to the riverbank, away from the bright lights of the screen, to make a decision as to what we should do if the looming lightning storm decided to change direction and head our way. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. The show came to an end, and everyone started preparing for the deluge. We had camped under a tarp with the swags rolled out, and we weren’t in the gully, thankfully. Double pegging ropes and taking as much ‘flap’ out of the tarp as possible stopped our camp from being destroyed during the storm. With solid rod racks on the old Prado, me and the boys waited it out in the old girl (away from the trees). During the 20-minute tempest, the huge red gums bent to impossible angles but held strong apart from a few small branches. Finally, the storm passed and the park was quiet again, with the only sound being the hammering of pegs from camps rebuilding.

Shortly after, laughter and music filled the air, and a resilient bunch of Aussie campers were back into the swing of things, never letting a ‘bit of a storm’ ruin the mood. We discussed how the rains would affect the fishing tomorrow, and if we’d need to change tactics. Ultimately, it was all speculation until we awoke to find out the results.

At sunrise the next day, just stoked to catch such a trophy specimen.

I rolled out of a pretty wet swag and wandered down to see how much runoff we had to contend with. There wasn’t a breath of wind, and the fog rising off the water made the best setting for a morning casting lures at our beloved ‘togas. Luckily for the boys, the swag I’d given them was more waterproof than mine, and they slept like logs after a long day diving for freshwater mussels.

Because I was paid to attend this year’s event, I opted to not compete.

The official winning saratoga of the comp was also a ripper fish of 2.826kg (around 68cm), and it was caught right in front of the weigh station on a piece of steak!

Competitors also weighed in some solid yellowbelly and black bream, along with sleepy cod, catfish and spangled perch. All in all, it was a great event for young and old, and everyone is looking forward to next year’s event.

I’d like to make a special note of someone

Tannhym and Isaac didn’t enter the comp either, although they had a fish just for fun. Tannhym got a saratoga that would have been the winning fish, but he didn’t mind missing out on a prize – he was who’s a driving force for the comp and the fish stocking group. Zelma Lewis is an absolute battler, and just before this year’s comp she had a nasty fall, breaking some pretty important bones. Undaunted, this tough old girl never stopped being involved with the organising, and the comp was a great success. She’s one of the nicest individuals you’ll ever meet, and it’s country people like her who make the town such a great place to visit.

If you’d like to enter next year’s comp (which has categories for juniors, men and women), look up “Moura stocking” on Facebook, or call Zelma on 0428 971 932.