THE 2011 Flathead Classic hosted by the Gold Coast Sportfishing Club was held last week in Queensland and attracted a record 450 entrants across 185 teams.
The competition was run over 2.5 days on a strictly catch & release basis, with no live wells permitted. Entrants were required to record their catches on a digital camera using a tournament ruler provided to verify the size of point scoring fish. The Classic is run via a lure and fly-only format and can be competed by teams of two or three members and has trophy categories for the Champion Team as well as individual trophy and species categories. All major prizes are won by random draw.
Fishing World’s resident flathead guru David Green again featured heavily in the mix at this year’s Classic with his team Dead Fishy, which included Kelvin Williams and son Michael Green, taking out top team honours. Greeny senior also scored 2nd place in the Seniors rankings.
Greeny told Fisho the weather over the three days ran from “awful” with bucketing rain on Day One’s Thursday to “not bad”, although Friday experienced nor-westerly winds of up to 30 knots to make fishing challenging. The Dead Fishy team accounted for a total of 79 flathead to 75cm in length during the Classic with Greeny telling Fisho trolling proved the most productive method with 63 fish taken. The team’s trolling lures of choice were Micro Mullets in pink and silver or purple and pink as well as Pig lures.
Greeny says his team’s most successful casting lures were Redeye Shads and Gulps.
Stay tuned for Greeny’s full rundown on the Flathead Classic in Fishing World magazine.
Here’s an abbreviated rundown of results, for more go to: www.goldcoastsportfishingclub.com.au
Top 10 Teams
1 Dead Fishy 3782 pts
2 Team Sands 3691 pts
3 Luxmarine 2874 pts
4 Plastics Paranoia 2824 pts
5 Austackle Anglers Connection Senior 2692 pts
6 Pig Lures 2399 pts
7 Keep It Cool 2327 pts
8 Team Live Vision 2261 pts
9 Team Hi Seas 1922 pts
10 Team TTs 1743 pts
Top 10 Senior Placings
1 Shane Gartner 1896 pts
2 David Green 1700 pts
3 Danny Sands 1469 pts
4 Geoff Carey 1423 pts
5 Brett Rayner 1403 pts
6 Chad Paterson 1289 pts
7 George Sands 1256 pts
8 David Whyte 1255 pts
9 Michael Green 1250 pts
10 Matt Kair 1212 pts
Top Junior Angler – Kai Sanderson 626 pts
Top Female Angler – Christinme Hunt 636 pts
Largest Flathead – Kurt Buhner – 91cm
Largest Flathead on Fly – Gavin Dunne – 66cm
Largest Mulloway – Brendon Knight – 117cm
Largest Australian Salmon – Joel Erskine – 67cm
Largest Trevally – Ben Godfrey – 60cm
Largest Estuary Cod – Jamie Douglas – 41cm
Largest Tailor – Christine Hunt – 40cm
Largest Whiting – Darryl McMahon – 39cm
Largest Bream – Phil Hill – 39cm
