MULWALA has been on my bucket list for a long time but I must admit it was deep down in the bucket and was one of those things that would happen when the opportunity arose.
This happened recently when my mate Roy Holmes, who has fished this comp for each of its twenty five years of running, found his long time partner for the event couldn’t make it.
Yes I was keen and would love to make up the other person in the team!
Arriving late in the evening to a blood red sun setting below a smokey horizon made so from back-burning in the many cultivation paddocks that fringed the Murray River and plains beyond, we awoke the next morning to the near deafening calls of the huge flocks of noisy Corellas who make their homes in the giant river gums along the Murray.
Our accommodation was in a deluxe cabin for the three nights of our stay and included buffet style meals of an evening, cooked breakfasts of a morning and a supplied lunch of salad rolls, muffins and drinks rivalled those of some of the best fishing lodge’s I have experienced.
Add to this, raffles each night with some great prizes along with a super draw on Saturday evening and a prize pool that was very rich and extensive and this event is one of the best run events you could hope to fish, originally set up to rival the Barra Classic run in the NT each year.
Michael Bressan and co. should be commended for the time and effort they devote to making this one of the best events on the fishing calendar.
Lake Mulwala is something else, possibly the most written about and visited Murray cod fishery in the eastern states. Completed in 1939 the weir wall holds back the waters of the Murray River and has flooded the vast Red Gum forests that bordered the river.
Now in 2017 there still remains a lot of standing timber but there are numerous trees that have rotted off at water level forming hidden traps just below water that will see a boat balancing lopsided on top of a submerged stump on a regular basis as well as causing the breaking off of many transducers.
I think if I fished Mulwala regularly I would definitely have a through-hull mounting for my transducer!
Fishing Mulwala for us was mostly trolling the channel edges, working the shallow flats and standing timber as well as paying particular attention to any lay downs that could be seen either above or below water.
The classic has many lure makers that make up many of the sponsors of this event.
Lures that worked were many and varied but spinnerbaits and bibbed lures were the two most bandied about in chat after the day’s fishing was over.
Joel Thomas, who took out champion angler and also second largest Murray cod, took all his fish but one on a fluoro orange-bladed Murray River Spinnerbait and mostly fished the shallows close in to weed and structure.
The Codger range of lures was also very successful with plenty of pics going around of cod supporting a lip piercing of the Codger variety.
At the end of the event in conjunction with team Ermel and Ripper our team finished in 12th position. My success came with the Edgecrusher fluoro orange spinnerbait, and the ever reliable Stumpjumper along with a purple rattling lure with red eye’s which I cant put a name to.
All in all this comp is such a well organised and run event I can see why many anglers will nearly sell their soul to gain an invitation to fish this comp.
- Total Murray cod caught for the Friday / Saturday session was 489 of which 102 made legal size.
- Total golden perch caught was 37.
- 110 anglers competed and only six had zero catch cards.
- Biggest cod caught was by Gregory Crellin coming in at 933mm.
- Jim Taylor caught the most number of cod with 16, fishing with the founder of the event Graeme Clark.
- Champion Team was Inwood and Bumstead – Pejkovic and Pejkovic with 76.016 points.
If your a keen Murray cod angler and would like to fish the classic then put your name down with Michael Bressan with the hope that a position becomes available with Michael saying on average there is about twenty positions that become available each year.
As they say you have to be in it to win it!
Further information can be found on the Mulwala Classic FB page.
