Gamakatsu/Anaconda Evans Head Fishing Classic 2023
What an amazing week it was. It almost felt like we were all living in some Swedish time warp where everything was free and the weather as perfect as you could want it, except Tuesday of course which lived up to previous years with weather about as dreary as being stuck on a Chinese U boat in the south China sea.
The fishing was as red hot as an African desert with many competitors duking it out for fishing supremacy. Luckily the family atmosphere precluded it from feeling like the cold war between the US and USSR.
In the offshore category, competitors seemed to travel the distance from Paris to Dakar to find the fish. Snapper are like the United States of fish, tough and pugnacious and really don’t give a damn about anyone. The winners were, 1st, Dk McKenna with 890mm, 2nd, Darcy McKenna, 3rd, Peter Moore
Kingfish/cobia, laid back like Australia was a hard-fought category. Plenty of large cobia were measured but in the end, it went like this 1st, Chand Banks with 1468mm, 2nd, Benjamin Campbell, 3rd, Alex Campbell
Pearl perch, like New Zealand, are beautiful and pristine looking. They look so good you just want to eat them. Delicious. Coady Strong had the biggest at 586mm. 2nd was Brad Mayes and 3rd, Troy Robson
North Korea is one of the most difficult countries on the world stage and AJ/sambo are no different. They fight like a nuclear winter. Hard and uncompromising, they are hard to beat. Winners are 1st Darcy Banks, 2nd, Coady Strong and 3rd, Brad Mayes
Mulloway are just cool, like a smoking Jamaican, you cannot help but feel the vibe. This week some massive Mulloway were caught. Dylan Carberry won ahead of Glenn Banks and Ron Rayner. The biggest mulloway a healthy 1415mm.
Trag, the Tasmania of the fishing world. Kind cool but really the poor cousin to the real thing. They may look like a mulloway but they are far from it. It wouldn’t surprise me if I saw one with two heads one day. It didn’t happen this comp but Troy Robson’s 799mm fish won out over Ethan Donnely and Brad Mayes.
Blackfish are the domain of older gentlemen, usually. They love Blackfish like they love Thailand. We’re not really sure happened but this year it was a young man’s game. Bernard Richter, 1st, Alex Klassen, 2nd and Shane Griffiths, 3rd.
If you like dart, you will love Ibiza. Like the dart, its beautiful. The dart, though is only good for one thing. And that is that it fights well. Ibiza is only good for one thing also, dancing. After that you’re going to be wishing you were chasing something else. This year Tom McCall won with a 452mm fish ahead of Ryan Kernaghan and Shane Griffiths.
The classiest looking fish, like a well-dressed Italian, is the whiting. Fast as a flash and just as good at a daytime siesta, the whiting is the most fashionable looking fish in the sea. Oska Hancock landed a 410mm to win the week ahead of Bernard Richter and Zoe Hutley.
Flathead rising like a serpent from the Amazonian jungle floor, flathead are awesome. The big ones are harder to come by than a poison arrow frog but despite this Hamish Soutar landed a massive 978mm fish. Kim Richter, a 960mm fish ahead of Brodie Gosling in 3rd.
Bream the chinaman of the fishing world, there are simply so many of them. Bream are also ravenous and plenty were caught this week. The winner was Mal Hancock ahead of Natalee Reynolds and Tegan Schneider.
Most meritorious was won by David Matheson’s Snake Mackerel in 1st, Joshua Jolley in 2nd and Pewter Cowan in 3rd.
As always, the organisers would like to thank the competitors who make this comp so much fun to organise. We will see you next year.
Overall Random Winners
Prize |
Winner |
| $5,000 Cash | Lyle Outerbridge |
| $5,000 Cash | Alex Campbell |
| TV Samsung 85 | Nathan Olley |
| Lowrance HDS 9 | Allen Raymon-Newton |
| Lowrance HDS 9 | Michael Dutton |
| Kayak Passport 10.5 | Ray Palmer |
| Woodburn Marine | Tristram Poulton |
| Kayak Passport 10.5 | Glenn Coomb |
| Soundbar Harmon | Christine McCabe |
| TV Samsung 65 | Tom McCall |