The decision of the McLachlan family to venture to a few of their favorite spots on Copeton Dam certainly paid dividends, and they dominated the podium at the presentations. 

Peter McLachlan fought off some stiff competition among the men, with the number who measured in fish providing the strongest contest for some time.

McLachlan caught his bag of Yellow Belly on Saturday, which including a rare double hook up that helped him accumulate a total of 1227.5 points.

Runner-up in the men’s division was the ever consistent Kevin Mepham, who managed to coax a few Yellow Belly from Pindari Dam for a total of 975 points

Among the ladies, Kristy McLachlan made sure a few Yellow Belly came her way on the victorious boat, to rack up 570 points and the win for the weekend.

New member to the club, Kay Osborne caught a couple of Catfish and a Yellow Belly to not be too far behind on 429 points.

Just to keep things in the family, young Will McLachlan amassed 1145 points indicating he will be a force to be reckoned with in the junior division this year.

Last year’s junior champion Daniel Mepham fished solidly to record 750 points and runner-up for the weekend.

Lachlan O’Brien measured his first fish with no doubt of many more to come as he claimed victory among the sub-junior anglers with 81 points.

This weekend the club will be hosting the Kingfisher Lure Invitational Classic at Copeton Dam in conjunction with Inverell Fishing and Hunting.

This competition has gone from strength to strength and around 100 of the best anglers around the region will pit their skills against each other over two days of catch and release fishing.

The invitational event assists the club with funding to undertake major fish releases in the local area.

This year’s releases will include thousands of Cod and Yellow Belly fingerlings in the Macintyre River in proximity to Inverell.