Fishermen from every state in Australia flocked to Mulwala in the first weekend of December for the Yamaha Cod Classic.

Held on Lake Mulwala and the Murray River, this year’s competition attracted a staggering 2660 competitors – another record, and itis confirmed to be the largest inland freshwater fishing competition in the world.

Apart from the consistent 20 knot winds, the weather was much better this year with warm sunshine most of the weekend and only a few short downpours directly over my unit and the footy oval.

The monumental effort started Thursday evening when 30 volunteers from Mulwala Footy Club, plus Bourke Hire staff, erected an absolute behemoth of a tent. Stretching 90 metres and spanning another 15 metres, it almost covered half the footy field and I’m sure you could see it from the moon (if you squinted).

Competitors pack the tent for presentations.

Friday night saw the massive influx of competitors into the tent and many took the chance to listen to the excellent catch & release and casting clinics held by Dave “The Barefoot Fisherman” Hodge while “Flathead Fred” whipped the kids into a soft drink and sausage fueled frenzy on Saturday night.

Flathead Fred fired up the kids and Dave ‘The Barefoot Fisherman’ Hodge educated the adults.

Lucky door prizes were given out Saturday night including a staggering 1434 minor prizes that saw more than 66% of competitors go home with a reward for showing up. All juniors received a free Bassman spinnerbait upon entry as a lucky door prize and there were 6 boat and trailer packages available to competitors.

The boats up for grabs.

On Saturday night the finals of the adult and junior amateur casting shootouts were held. Hundreds of onlookers stayed around to watch this event, with the Australian Pro Casting shootout closing out the night.

There were some absolute cracking fish caught and released including a 121cm, a 103cm and a 100cm cod, plus many golden perch exceeding 50cm.

The funds raised in the event have helped the town build new football club rooms and community centre.

Keep an eye on www.codclassic.com.au, and hope to see you there next year!

There were marshals available both on land and on the water to measure, record and release your fish.

2006 Cod Classic
Stats, Facts & Figures

Competitors
2326 Adult, 334 Junior
Total: 2660 (+400 on 2005)

Boat Winners
Early Entry – Greg Gillet, Lara
Cod C & R - Darren Brauman, Bannockburn
Carp Boat - Daniel Webb, Lara
Raffle - Anne Hilet, Mulwala
Lucky Door – Chris Hal, Mulwala
Combined Lucky Door – Adam Veenvliet, Drysdale

Fish Numbers
375 Murray cod (+22 on '05), 149 golden perch (-1 on '05), 894 European carp (+109 on '05) – Total: 1418 (+130 on '05)

Longest Cod
Adult – Hayden Brown, 121cm
Junior – Harrison Manning, 62cm

Hayden Brown took home the perpetual trophy for the longest cod of 121cm.

Longest Golden Perch
Adult – Kevin Doyle, 56cm
Junior – Alyssa Kershaw, 51cm

Longest Carp (Open Section)
Warren Black, 79cm

Jnr Champion Angler (Most Combined Length)
Locky Long -1.09m of Murray cod (3 fish)

Lady Champion Angler
Julie Perkins, 69cm

Fish Stats (All Murray Cod – As Indicated on Complete Catch Cards)

375 Caught & Released
Adults: 364, Junior: 11

50-59cm:313, 60-69cm:48, 70-79cm:9, 80-89cm:2, 90-99cm:0.
And the big fish: 1 @ 1.00m, 1 @ 1.03m & 1 @ 1.21m.

Most Productive Methods
Bait: 245 (identical to '05), Lures: 91 (+9 on '05), No Response: 39

Breakdown
Bait – bardi grubs: 160, yabbies:35, worms:19, cheese:14, shrimp:11, worm/shrimp combo: 6.
Lures – Oar Gee:19, Stumpjumper:13, AC’s:5, Custom Craft:4, Codger:2, Swagman:2, Predatek:1, Others:14 (non sponsors), Spinnerbaits:31.   

Fish Stats (All Golden Perch – As Indicated on Complete Catch Cards)

149 Caught & Released
Adults: 137, Junior: 12

Most Productive Methods
Bait: 76, Lures: 60, No Response: 13 

Breakdown
Bait - Worms:35, yabbies:22, shrimp:8, bardis:7, worm/shrimp combo:4 
Lures – Oar Gee:8, Stumpjumper:4, Codger:4, AC:4, Custom Craft:2, Jumbuck:1, Halco:1, Legend:1, Spinnerbaits:23, Others:11   

European Carp
An incredible 894 carp were removed from the lake and taken to “Charlie Carp” for processing. Ron Kaponica form Charlie Carp report that the total weight of all the carp was 1.52 tonnes.

Casting Champions
Juniors: 1st:Tom Heatherington, 2nd:Luke Simpson, 3rd: Jack Simpson.
Adults: 1st: Joe Linehan, 2nd: Jamie Roberts, 3rd: Jeremy Beasley
Pros: 1st: Jarrod Healey, 2nd: Dale Ford, 3rd: Tony Bennett.

Jarrod Healey took out the Adult Pro Casting competition.