Scotty Classic, Clarrie Hall Dam, Northern NSW, 2010
I attended the inaugural Scotty Yak Classic recently which was held at
Clarrie Hall Dam in Northern NSW. This was an opportunity for the Australian Bass Association to raise funds for the stocking of the dam with bass finglings.
The competitors came from far and wide to participate in the event from Southern Queensland and through out New South Wales. There was a total of 38 Competitors competing over the two day event with trophies for the winners. As usual with all other freshwater competitions I have attended it was a very social event and with the organisers providing us dinner on both nights it drew us together.
There were a number of prizes available for the prize draw where everyone could snare a prize simply by purchasing a raffle ticket. A brand new Viking Tempo Kayak was the major draw along with 23 other prize draws for prizes donated by Sponsors of the event. The fishing part of the event was held over a two day period where we could catch as many bass as we were able, recording their lengths on a catch card and then presenting out catch cards at the end of the event with your five best bass. This was all done on a honor system with no photo evidence necessary.
During the briefing on the Friday night, Leigh Shevill, the organiser of the event said the size of the bass caught would be low. This proved to be the case for the weekend with me and others catching consistently a lot of small bass. The winner of the Event, Matt Fraser caught five bass for some where in the one point eight metre mark and the biggest bass for the weekend was caught by Peter Bostock and runner up of the weekend a bass at forty two centimeters.
Myself personally could only manage to catch 4 bass with the biggest being 36cm, I took this event as a social occasion and I wasn't too serious about catching fish. The winners of the event fished all day Saturday and all of the Sunday morning session to get their bag of five competitive bass, I fished morning and afternoon on the Saturday with a lunch break and a snooze in between and a shortened session on the Sunday morning so I could pack up early. Note to self I must be more competitive next year and fish till I drop.
Overall it was a great event and most kayakers were taken aback with the sheer beauty of the dam, the lack of fish both in size and quantity was made up for by the experience of paddling in such scenic surroundings. Myself certainly took some glorious photos as most other people did on the weekend.
Thanks goes to the members of the Australian Bass Association, with a special mention to Leigh Shevill for organising such a sensational event.
The competitors came from far and wide to participate in the event from Southern Queensland and through out New South Wales. There was a total of 38 Competitors competing over the two day event with trophies for the winners. As usual with all other freshwater competitions I have attended it was a very social event and with the organisers providing us dinner on both nights it drew us together.
There were a number of prizes available for the prize draw where everyone could snare a prize simply by purchasing a raffle ticket. A brand new Viking Tempo Kayak was the major draw along with 23 other prize draws for prizes donated by Sponsors of the event. The fishing part of the event was held over a two day period where we could catch as many bass as we were able, recording their lengths on a catch card and then presenting out catch cards at the end of the event with your five best bass. This was all done on a honor system with no photo evidence necessary.
During the briefing on the Friday night, Leigh Shevill, the organiser of the event said the size of the bass caught would be low. This proved to be the case for the weekend with me and others catching consistently a lot of small bass. The winner of the Event, Matt Fraser caught five bass for some where in the one point eight metre mark and the biggest bass for the weekend was caught by Peter Bostock and runner up of the weekend a bass at forty two centimeters.
Myself personally could only manage to catch 4 bass with the biggest being 36cm, I took this event as a social occasion and I wasn't too serious about catching fish. The winners of the event fished all day Saturday and all of the Sunday morning session to get their bag of five competitive bass, I fished morning and afternoon on the Saturday with a lunch break and a snooze in between and a shortened session on the Sunday morning so I could pack up early. Note to self I must be more competitive next year and fish till I drop.
Overall it was a great event and most kayakers were taken aback with the sheer beauty of the dam, the lack of fish both in size and quantity was made up for by the experience of paddling in such scenic surroundings. Myself certainly took some glorious photos as most other people did on the weekend.
Thanks goes to the members of the Australian Bass Association, with a special mention to Leigh Shevill for organising such a sensational event.
