There were some fisherman rewarded for their efforts including overall champion Rowan O’Brien who managed to boat a couple of nice Cod for a total of 4310 points. 

This saw Rowan as a clear winner from runner-up Nick Rhoades who put together a respectable 2400 points.

The catch and release fishing competition was held over two days on February 15 and 16.

Run by the Inverell RSM Fishing Club, in conjunction with Inverell Fishing and Hunting, the lure-only event was aimed at raising funds for restocking of local waterways.

Fifty-four participants signed on including some well-regarded competition anglers from around the region.

While the keenness and intensity of the competition could not be doubted the fish were unfortunately not co-operating with many struggling to score a point over the weekend. 

Golden Perch were very scarce over the two days, which reflected the low scoring in this category with Paul Simpson winning on 900 points and Shannon O’Brien runner-up with 780 points.

Inverell RSM Fishing Club president, Peter Black, paid tribute to the local and national sponsors that enabled such an event to go ahead. 

“We had a raffle for the participants where there was close to $6000 value in prizes which was well received,” Peter said.

“While the final figures are still coming in we would be hoping to put at least $3000 into restocking the MacIntyre River in the Inverell area next summer.”

Based on feedback from the participants and achieving the financial goal for restocking word is the Kingfisher Lure Copeton Invitational Classic is set to become an annual event.