Well its done again for another year and I already cant wait for it to roll around again! Leading up to this years Flathead Tournament, Dayne Taylor and myself had a mini flathead comp prelude with Joel & Tulles from Hit 105.5fm, then I ended up in Victoria with family and came back Friday night just in time to hook the boat up and head to Urunga for the comp!
Due to my travel commitments I wasn’t sure if I’d make it back for the entire comp so decided not to plan a team and fished solo, which worked out well as it gave me the chance to take Joel and Dayne out for a run during the day to catch up with a few of the competitors.
As for getting a few flathead coming on board I did manage some, however it was definitely quality over quantity for me. I wasn’t finding massive numbers but had quite a few fish in 48 to 63cm range, which from the sounds of things was a little better than average for the weekend.
I fished a mix of Gulp minnows, Keitech Easy Shiners and a few different vibes and blades, and keeping them close to the bottom seemed to be a key factor – while out and about seeing a few other competitors I heard the same thing from a few people too.
I spent a bit of time moving around and fished the flats down the front, bridges, rock walls and banks further up the Bellinger, and seemed to just pick up the odd fish here and there everywhere I went. Weed beds and drop offs around the shallow flats seemed to hold the numbers of fish and I did manage most of my smaller ones from those areas – it is always a great sign to see so many fish caught even with the quantity of anglers this comp brings to our small system.
Overall I wouldn’t say I fished very hard, but the relaxed approach definitely worked for me and I ended up in 24th from about 180ish competitors.
It was another excellent weekend and I met up with heaps of old mates and made some new ones, as well as one very keen young angler, Sonny, who had rang me through the week to pick up some hints for the comp! Such a legend.
Can’t wait for next year – only about 364 days to go is it?
