Age: 36

Birthplace: Warracknabeal

Lives: First 17 years of my life was spent at Kerang. It was then off to Melbourne for work for 5 years. I have now been living in Yarrawonga on the Murray River for 14 years. It's the best move I have ever made.

Married: to Vanessa for 12 years with 2 great kids Tori (12) & Cooper (9) who all love fishing.

Occupation: Maintenance Fitter at Australian Defense Industries (ADI). Tournament Director of the Cod Classic fishing tournament adviser, other business’ include TB’s Bardi Pullers, The “Magical Mark”, Kipawa Propellers and a fishing journalist.
Nicknames: TB or Mr. T

Fishing History: Growing up 20kms south of Kerang our fishing was limited with the Loddon River being our closest fishing spot. Many an hour was spent there catching countless carp with the occasional redfin and yellowbelly. Our yearly family holiday was always in the old May school holidays to a friend's sheep/cattle station at Robinvale on the Murray. I will never forget the freezing cold mornings fishing with dad trying to catch yellas or the odd catfish. In the 25 years I can remember going there we have never caught a cod.

On moving to Melbourne from the bush, some friends and myself found a couple of good freshwater fishing spots in the suburbs, these places being Rowville Lakes the dam behind Waverley Football Ground. We had a lot of good times there catching reddies and eels. We also discovered fishing the bay and when we had some spare cash we would hire a boat around the Black Rock area and go out catching flatties.

The best move I made was to shift to Yarrawonga to play football. With this came the bonus of living on the edge of Australia's greatest Murray cod fishing ground, Lake Mulwala and the Murray River. Since then I have caught the fishing bug in a big way, fishing this area around 3 times a week.

In the last 7 years I (along with Vanessa) have been the organizers of the COD OPENING CLASSIC fishing competition. This competition has quickly grown into the largest freshwater fishing comp in Australia with an approximate prize value around $100,000. This competition is run on behalf of the Mulwala Football/Netball Club and puts considerable amounts of monies raised back into fish restocking and other beneficial projects for our region.

Favorite Fishing Method: Casting spinnerbaits. I have found they have the knack of being able to pick up natives quicker than hard-bodied lures. They can be varied so much with different weight ranges, blade configurations, skirt colours and retrieval methods. After dark you can’t beat the surface fishing action for cod in Mulwala.

Favorite Spinnerbaits (in no particular order):
1. Bassman Spinnerbaits
2. Outlaw Spinnerbaits
3. Murray River Spinnerbaits
4. Macca’s Spinnerbaits
5. Oar-gee & AC hard-bodied lures

Favorite Spot: Lake Mulwala and surrounds, both above and below the lake.

Other Hobbies: Kickboxing, football (Aussie rules), cricket, shooting, lure collecting and most of all being with my family.

Advice: Talk as much fishing as you can to whoever you can because you are bound to pick up a handy hint somewhere along the line & "never bite the hand that feeds you".

Email Tony: codclassic@aapt.net.au
Call Tony: 03 57441667

See Tony's current fishing report here.