Kalbarri Fishing Classic 2006
This story begins where lots of good fishing stories are told … at the local pub. Some twenty years ago a group of professional fishermen were sitting at the Kalbarri Motor Inn having a quiet beer and the idea was put forward that a fishing tournament would be a great idea as Kalbarri has some of the best fishing up our magnificent coast. These guys were starting to dabble in sport fishing during their spare time and so, the Kalbarri Offshore Classic was born.

The Kalbarri classic has three sections … river, game and bottom and these sections are divided up into 29 sub sections. The original format included the game and bottom sections with the river section being introduced a few years down the track to accommodate the families of the anglers who were contesting the saltwater sections although there has been a junior section since day dot. The Murchison is an unbelievable place to fish and even though it was a little weird this year due to all the rain received, the river section was still fiercely contested with some excellent fish being weighed in. All in all there were some magnificent fish landed over the weekend from all sections.

This year the competition was held over the Labour Day long weekend at the start of March and attracted 50 boats competing for a total of $18,000 in prizes. As always, the
competition receives unbelievable support from both its competitors and sponsors. One of the things that struck me about the Kalbarri Classic was the number of people of who fish this competition each year. Some have been coming back for 15 years! This year the competition attracted people from places as far as South Australia and Broome.

The two weeks leading up the tournament, a lot of time was spent reading up on the rules and trying to decide what we were going to target. This was only the second competition that Dario and I had fished in and once again we had to brush up on the IGFA/ANSA rules. I must implore anyone who is fishing the IGFA/ANSA rules to make sure you know them back to front as if you do not adhere to them, your catch will be disqualified and with each game fish which was weighed in, the fishing equipment was presented and inspected to make sure it conformed to IGFA/ANSA standards. With any form of fishing, you must strive to perfect the fundamentals and in game tournaments, the fundamentals include the IGFA/ANSA regulations.

Dario and I decided to fish the bottom section as we would be competing on Kalbarri Explorer along with Steven Eley who is a local Kalbarri lad who has had great success in the past fishing the junior river section and thought it was time give the ocean sections a go. I also took my bream gear spooled up with 4 kilo line just in case we came across a school of tuna, and there were a few around. The few days leading up to the tournament we spent fishing the coastal cliffs and we could see birds working all morning. This outfit would also double as my game snapper rod, if I had the guts to drop 4 kilo line over at the possible expense of hooking and losing a prize winning baldie/dhuie etc. The rules were that we had to try and weigh in 7 fish each day, while conforming to Fisheries bag limits. Each different species caught attracted an extra 5 points. The more species, the more points.

The set up and running of the Classic was much more than impressive. The weigh in area was located in the courtyard of the Kalbarri Motor Hotel and was attended by a huge number of people; both competitors and onlookers each day of the competition to discuss tactics and the spots where they fished that day. The camaraderie was terrific to see. It was a credit to the KOAC committee how smoothly proceedings ran.
The KOAC had organised representatives from the Fisheries Department to be on hand to collect fish frames for research as there has not been a great deal of research carried out in the Kalbarri area. Of special interest to the officers were dhufish and pink snapper frames. To help the Department of Fisheries, the KOAC had organised some expert fish filterers who donated their time to process the competitors fish and finally have them cryovaced. I can tell you that at the end of a hard days fishing, every angler dreads inevitable task of cleaning their quarry. Between these two services, not a gram of fish was wasted and kept in premium condition.

On the second day it was starting to look a little hairy at the river mouth due to the amount of silt which the mighty Murchison was depositing as a result for the deluge which was occurring inland. It was a credit to the organisers who saw the problem and dealt with it. It was also a credit to all the competitors who heeded the warnings and did not head out before sunup.
The first day we headed north on Kalbarri Explorer. This was the first time I had headed north when fishing from any boat in Kalbarri and it was great to see such spots as The Sand Patch and Bald Face.
The skipper Browny found us some likely looking ground and over went the lines. Dario, Steve and myself were fishing over one side of the boat. There was some magnificent fish being boated, many not by us to begin with. Red throat, baldchin groper, Sampson fish were the order of the day. That was until the last drop … I managed an 8.3 kilo male dhuie. Things were looking good after the first weigh in.       
The second day was a lot quieter for Dario and myself with only a few fish to weigh in. Red throat and pink snapper were the order for the day. However, Steve had a much better day landing a huge snapper on the last drop.
The third day was amazing. Because of the Murchison silting up … Browny and the boys were forced to moor the boat at Port Gregory. So an extra early start was needed and Steve arrived at our place an hour early and down to Port Gregory we trundled. We arrived at our destination around 8am and the fishing was red hot. Coral trout, baldchin groper, dhufish.

The competition was wrapped up with an awards dinner held at the Kalbarri Golf and Bowling club where everyone was impressed by the excellent job done by the volunteers. In the end, Dario and I ended up taking out the Champion Boat Bottom over 7m onboard the Kalbarri Explorer. This award should in actual fact go to Browny, Bob and the boys from Kalbarri Explorer because all the skill goes into finding the fish and they sure did find lots of them. Not only did Dario and I take out this section, Steven Eley took out the Champion Junior Angler Game on board The Kalbarri Explorer. Two sections on one boat … excellent going from the all the guys.
A big thankyou must go to all involved but especially Cheryl Eley, Bob Mitchell, Laurie Maulton, Steve Wiseman and Steven Eley for all making our first Kalbarri Classic a memorable one.

On a final note, to all those reading this who have been thinking about entering a tournament but have never taken the next step … I urge you to take the plunge. You will have an unbelievable time and if you are one of the many thousands of people who make a trip to Kalbarri each year and want to know how to fish the place better, make sure you organise a trip up there for the next Kalbarri Classic, there is no better way to get to know the area than when there are 50 boats fishing it. At the weigh in each night, it was possible to get a better feeling for the area by shooting the breeze with fellow anglers.
Everyone is helpful and more than willing to exchange a bit of recently learned knowledge.
Can’t wait for next year.
David Birrell