Lake Conjola Flathead Classic Results

Hi Peoples,

Sorry for the delay since the last post. My new work arrangements mean i'm sightly more pressed for time now but i do endeavour to get back here a few times a week and keep all you fishos inspired to go out and fish. Im no less committed to wetting a line but now it's a matter of preparation rather than the luxuary of picking and choosing.

As happens when it rains it pours... exactly the predicament with the weather at the moment. I fished the annual 2009 Lake Conjola flatty classic last weekend and it was a real scorcher. I mean over 40 degrees both days and stiffling hot. Right now im gazing out my window and its raining sleet and a coolish 20 odd degrees...who can pick it???

So anyway the conjola classic is a hotly contested tourney with alot of the local guru's vying for dominance evry year. It's almost impossible to get an invite as the numbers are limited for legal reasons but i got my look in this year...and it was time to put up a spirited fight for the imports.

The comp is the accumulation of the 5 longest flathead on day 1 plus the 5 longest flathead on day 2 to give you your total length catch.

The lake was a tepid 28 degrees which wasn't a good indication early. I reckon its far too hot for the fishing to be optimal. My mate sean cremin and devised a gameplan and decided to hit the shallow fringes early. We thought the frst hour or so of day one was when the friges in a foot of water might produce. The lake is quite small so 70 odd boats plus skiers plus other ring-ins was going to make a large impact on the the fish. Our initial plan was spot on. We both hit a few early and got on the scorecard.

The 40 degree day bit home and things slowed down. 4 hours past and both of us were stuck on 3 fish each. Sean dropped 2 fish in two casts and on a slow day basically spelt the deadth of his chances, especially when we heard of a 80 plus and a 90 plus fish being caught. To my luck i snagged two fish late in the day to get my full bag of 5 fish and managed to accumulate 1.91m of fish, sean had 3 fish for 1.30m. The winning angler after day 1 was an astounding 2.84m of fish witha lovely kicker fish of 83cms.

I had 90 odd cms to make up but was in 2nd place.

Day 2 started very slowly. I persisted with the baldes which caught me 2 important fish on day 1. But things were slow. We tried a few spots and decided to prospect an area that sean dropped a cracker on day 1. I also changed to a plastic and i had immediate results. 3 fish in 3 cats if you dont mind umpire. A 45, 67 and 56. Back in the ball game. I then hit another 48 and 42. In fact in went on to snare 10 legals for the day and upgraged my 42 to a 61. I had eventually bagged 1.73m of fish on day 2.

I thought i had got 20cms too little and sure enough i was close to the mark. The winning angler got a 48cm flathead on his last cast of the day and effectively done me by 15cms. In fact he only got 4 fish on day 2...spewin.

Well thats how it goes. Once again the bridesmaid. This is a vey informal comp and a family orientated one to boot. It was a great few days and maybe just maybe the sun god can have arest next year cause 40 odd degrees is far too hot for any man...especially one thats built like an artic seal...hehehe.