The Yamaha Great Inland Fishing Festival will be held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Copeton Dam with organisers looking forward to another successful festival.
Great Inland Fishing Festival Committee Publicity Officer, Brett McInnes is very happy with the way the way things are shaping up.
“The Dam has been fishing well, more water is going in then out at the moment and cod season opens before the start of the competition this year, so we could not have asked for better”, Mr McInnes said.
“Nominations so far have been strong and anglers are encouraged to sign up so they can get on the water early Friday morning with the competition officially commencing at 7am”.
“Committee members will be at the Copeton State Park on Thursday afternoon so people are able to sign on, set their camp up and are ready to go the next day”.
Competition is sure to be strong with over 700 anglers expected to be vying for in excess of $20,000 in cash and prizes with the champion angler throughout the competition walking away with $1000 in cash and prizes and the champion club getting a $1000 worth of fingerlings to bolster their local water ways.
“ The Festival Committee also places a strong emphasis on junior participation with secret length prizes on offer over each day of the competition in the junior category” said Mr McInnes.
“On top of that Fishing Tackle Australia have also kindly donated a rod and reel combination for the first 100 juniors to sign on”.
Friday December 5 is day one of competition and is sponsored by Copeton State Park with flag boats and bank stations operating between 7am and 7pm.
Day two of the competition is sponsored by Sapphire City Steel & Pipe and again fish can be measured over the 12-hour period between 7am and 7pm.
The final day of the competition is sponsored by awhimaway.com.au with the action finishing up at 11am to allow points to be tallied for the lunchtime presentation on the lawn area in front of the Copeton State Park Kiosk.
“A huge crowd traditionally likes to hang around for the presentation and the drawing of the fisherman’s dream raffle which includes the boat and trailer combo as the main prize”, Mr McInnes said.
Murray cod is always viewed as the trophy catch in this competition, but prize categories also exist for golden perch, catfish and silver perch.
“Some people target a particular species whilst others are happy just to try their luck and enjoy a long weekend at the dam”, Mr McInnes said.
The catch and release competition is in its 10th year and is a major draw card for Inverell and the surrounding region. There has been massive growth in the number of participants each year as the reputation of the festival grows with many people seeing the festival as a great opportunity for a family weekend away.
If anyone is wanting any last minute information they can contact competition organiser, Mr Darrel Kachel on phone 0427 221 057 or Committee President, Mr Ray O’Neill on phone 02 6722 2831. Nominations can also be completed before Friday at the Northern Foreshores Reserve, Roy Parsons Marine, Inverell Wreckers and Tourism Inverell.
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