THE Grabine Classic is held each year on Wyangala Dam, situated in Central NSW, roughly 33 kilometres south east of Cowra.
Wyangala dam impounds the waters of the Abercrombie and Lachlan Rivers and has some of the best backdrops of any freshwater lake in Australia. Mountains of granite rock dispersed with forest of native pine and eucalypts tumble down to meet the waters of Wyangala which is rich with native species.
Wide flat bays fish well for freshwater catfish and silver perch and also unfortunately now the highly invasive European carp and European perch or redfin.
The flat featureless bays can at times also return huge metre plus cod which at times can be a surprise as most anglers will be working the drowned boulders, rocky shorelines, drowned timber and the extensive stretches of “lay down“ timber.
The drowned timber is worked extensively for the large numbers of golden perch that inhabit this lake as well as the rocky points and shaly banks but a lure or bait fished from the front of camp will at times turn up any or all of the species.
Since European carp have taken up residence in Wyangala the prolific numbers of catfish that once could be caught have now diminished, possibly from the carp’s habit of vacuuming the bottom and possibly destroying the nests of the catfish which unfortunately are trying to breed when the carp are at their most active stage.
Wyangala Dam, venue for the annual Grabine Classic.
Huge Murray cod inhabit the dam and their numbers are increasing; the Grabine Classic gives anglers one last shot at capturing a cod before the closed season from 1st September until the 1st December.
It is hoped the large number of cod that inhabit the dam may keep the redfin under control, it is the redfin that pose the biggest threat to the endangered Macquarie perch that are still in streams higher up in the catchment, protected from the redfin’s upstream migrations due to impassable waterfalls.
The numbers of Macquarie perch are being boosted with a recovery program underway in the upper reaches.
Trout cod were also known to inhabit the upper reaches along with freshwater blackfish and Murray crayfish.
In years past, Wyangala dam was a fantastic mixed fishery with trout being the introduced species but now trout are rarely caught in the lake, even though NSW Fisheries still stock trout here.
It is noted that this year in the Classic there was not one trout registered; another fish absent was the redfin which was hopefully a good sign that their numbers are under threat from our native species.
Bait fishing seemed to be the most effective method of angling with the majority of anglers reporting worms as the most deadly method, although a few fish fell to lures.
Anglers are reminded that circle hooks are the best hooks to use when bait fishing for C&R.
As we move into Spring the golden perch and other species will soon become very active and will feed aggressively. Anglers fishing fly can also take golden perch and Murray cod regularly on fly when water temperatures begin to rise, remembering that Murray cod are not to be targeted during the Spring months!
My mate Peter Hanrahan in the weeks preceding the classic took two Murray cod on fly, the best going 85cm.
Peter Hanrahan’s 85cm cod caught on fly prior to the Grabine Classic.
As a hunter may enjoy shooting rabbits, the angler can have hours of fun culling dozens of carp when they move in to the shallows. Anglers can target carp with wet or dry fly, soft plastic, hard bodied lures or bait, all my angling mates remove all the carp they catch, one fly fishing mate keeps count with the amount of carp he has caught with a push clicker counter and is heading towards 3000!
Peter Morse with a carp taken on a dry fly at Wyangala.
Personally, I can’t wait for the Spring temps to lift the water temperature and get the golden perch actively moving about and ravenously feeding, and the 1st of December will see me at Wyangala tossing XXXL lures around for those magic metre plus cod.
Anyone keen on attending next year’s event should put the dates of 28th of August through till the 30th August aside. This year 916 anglers registered for the event, with every registered angler going into the draw to win a 430 Brooker Saratoga V-nose punt with a 30 hp Mercury motor, trailer and sounder and extras valued at over $13,500.
This year the lucky angler to have their name drawn was Peter Hampel from Blayney.
Peter Hampel (centre) was the recipient of a brand new boat in the lucky draw.
PRIZE WINNNERS 14TH ANNUAL GRABINE CLASSIC 2014
(No.CategoryWinnerLength)
1 SNR- 1st Longest COD Scott Murphy 82cm
Boyd Carruthers Memorial
2 SNR- 2nd Longest COD Anthony Walsh 80cm
3 SNR- 3rd Longest COD Petter Stibbard 79cm
4 JNR- 1st Longest COD None Entered N/A
5 JNR- 2nd Longest COD None Entered N/A
6 JNR- 3rd Longest None Entered N/A
7 SNR Dickie Elvins Longest Golden Luke Webber 51.5cm
Perch
8 SNR- 2nd Longest Golden Perch Russ Webber 49.5cm
9 SNR- 3rd Longest Golden Perch Peter Bradford 49cm
10 JNR- Longest Golden Perch Cooper Cross 49cm
JUDY MONK MEMORIAL
11 JNR 2nd Longest Golden Perch Rod Small 44.5cm
12 JNR- 3rd Longest Golden Perch Aron Jones 43.9cm
13 SNR Longest Silver Perch Robert Fazl 44.5cm
14 SNR- 2nd Longest Silver Perch Tony Holland 42cm
15 SNR- 3rd Longest Silver Perch Ron Hobby 40cm
16 JNR- Longest Silver Perch Sam Cramp 38cm
17 JNR- 2nd Longest Silver Perch Bella Howarth 29cm
18 JNR- 3rd Longest Silver Perch None Entered N/A
Catfish
19 SNR- Longest Catfish Mick Ryan 54cm
20 SNR- 2nd Longest Catfish Aaron Tool 38.5cm
21 SNR 3rd Longest Catfish None Entered N/A
22 JNR- Longest Catfish Cooper Cross 41cm
23 JNR- 2nd Longest Catfish Blake Smith 38.8cm
24 JNR- 3rd Longest Catfish None Entered N/A
Trout
25 SNR- 1st Longest Trout None Entered N/A
26 SNR- 2nd Longest Trout None Entered N/A
27 SNR- 3rd Longest Trout None Entered N/A
28 JNR- 1st Longest Trout None Entered N/A
29 JNR- 2nd Longest Trout None Entered N/A
30 JNR- 3rd Longest Trout None Entered N/A
Carp
31 Biggest Bag Carp- Overall Steven Webber 72 Fish
32 SNR- Longest Carp Steven Webber 74cm
33 JNR- Longest Carp Dean Cerovac 62.5cm
34 Lucky Draw – Ford FPV Jacket Hans Ingenhoff
Racing Jacket- AUTO1 Voucher
35 Lucky Draw- Banyande Bay Cabin Peter Bradford
36 Lucky Draw- club prize function Richard Gear
centre
37 LOCAL DRAW – Spackman Motors Miley Rattenbury
Services club voucher
38 LOCAL DRAW- IGA & Bowling Bec Hewitt
Club voucher
39 3rd Prize Raffle- Table & Chairs Jennifer Featherstones
40 2nd Prize Raffle – Seaview BBQ Tracey Anderson
41 1st Prize Raffle- Trailer & Contents Graham Hughes
42 Major Prize Draw – Boat winner Peter Hempel
