The Mackay Area Fish Stocking Association Inc. conducted the
Nashy’s Compleat Angler World Sooty Grunter Championships at Eungella Dam on 3rd
& 4th May. With the dam at 100% water Capacity 63 anglers enjoyed perfect
fishing and camping conditions when they contested this years event.
This years event was contested over 3 sessions with the first session being
Saturday afternoon and the second and third session being held on Sunday Morning
and Sunday Afternoon. This new format allowed the anglers plenty of time on the
water as well as time to gather round a campfire on Saturday night and enjoy a
drink and discuss the results of the first session and plan thier tactics for
the next day.
With 52 fish presented the the weighmaster in the first session
only millermeters seperated the leading anglers after 4 hours of fishing. Sunday
morning again brought perfect weather and the 6am start in the first light of
the day with 36 boats leaving at 30 second intervials was a magnificient sight
to see. The sunday morning session produced another 33 fish and buy the start of
the final session on Sunday Afternoon it was obvious that any one of about 7 of
the leading anglers could take the title.Although the current champion Ivan
Baulch got away to a great start the championship was wide open right up untill
the last few fish were presented to the weighmaster.
After the weighmaster
totaled the points a large crowd gathered around the presentation area to
witness DANIEL GRECH from Mackay recieve the title and his prize of goods to the
value of $1200.00 from Bruce Nash from Nashy’s Compleat Angler. Daniel revealed
his secret to winning was to fish the deep timber with lipless crank baits.
Other prizes included a $350.00 cheque from ActiveAngler.net for the largest
sooty presented and this was presented by Ben Holder from ActiveAngler to DEAN
COGHILL for his capture of a lovely 465mm fish. Dean revealed his prize winning
capture came while using a (come -in spinner bait in the crowns of drowned
trees). Also presented was the major prize draw of goods to the value of
$1000.00 which was won by Lee Brake of Mackay.All together a total of
over $4,000.00 of prizes were awarded .
Tournment director and Publicity officer
for the Mackay Area Fish Stocking Assn Mr Jeff Eales said
that over $3,000.00 was raised from this event and 100% of this money raised
would go toward the purchase of fish fingerlings to be released in the Mackay
area. Mr Eales said he would also like thank the sponsors Nashy’s Compleat
Angler and ActiveAndler.net for thier generous support and acnowledge the effort
put in by the MAFSA members who were involved in helping to make this years
World Sooty Grunter Championships a great success.
1st. Daniel Grech 1709 points
2nd. Peter price
1627points
3rd. Wade Inskip
1616 points
4th. Arthur
Lovern 1593 points
5th. Dave Creffield
1581 points
6th. John
Trigg 1568 points
7th Ivan Baulch
1505 points
8th Glen Lacey
1502 points
9th Aaron Gilmore
1459 points
10th Lee Brake
1458 points
11th Brendan Micallef 1396
points
12th Thomas Murray 1204
points
13th Peter Larsen
1170 points
14th Craig Bredsell
1160 points
15th Billy Joe Halberstater
1146 points
16th Mark Grech
1142 points
17 th Ray
Schneider 1067 points
18th Josh Davis
1014 points
19th Nick Wood
818 points
20th Ben Holder
785 points.
Largest Sooty Presented: Dean Coghill 465mm