THE 7th annual Sofala Carp Blitz has been run and won by the hundreds of people who attended this huge two day event.
The beautiful camp sites along the length of the Turon River were full of eager anglers and campers all keen to catch some big carp over the weekend of 21st and 22nd November.
Sofala itself, the oldest surviving gold town in Australia, swelled with visitors eager to join in the fun.
Festivities at The Royal Hotel on Saturday night saw campers strung out along the roads leading into town where they were eager to enjoy the live entertainment and a few cold drinks before making their way back to their camps on the banks of the river.
The beautiful aroma of roast lamb wafted through the cool night air as the crowds feasted on roast lamb stacked on crusty bread rolls and drowned in thick brown gravy.
Over the two days there were 168 fish officially weighed in with 167 of the fish being carp and the remaining fish being a 0.66 kg Redfin.
The numbers of fish caught would have doubled the official numbers as many anglers who walked long distances into remote areas chose only to carry out one or two fish or none at all.
For the bait anglers the top baits were fresh Hawkesbury green prawns, humble bread (which also accounted for quite a few trout) corn and earth worms.
Lure anglers couldn’t go past the Berkley 50 mm jigging grub. These grubs will take carp even when the fish appear to have shut down, the combination of action in the tail and the scent of the juice makes this grub work outstandingly well on these fish.
Fly anglers also accounted for a large numbers of fish. Woolly Buggers and Fur Flies seem to be the most popular flies aside of the myriad of bush flies in attendance .
This year’s event has been the most successful to date with record numbers in attendance.
The 168 fish weighed totalled 535 kg giving an average weight per fish of 3.18 kg or around 7lbs.
All fish weighed in were taken by Jack Bestwick and used to make an emulsion fertilizer apart from two carp which were cooked Lenka Muchova, who showed carp can be very tasty if prepared the correct way and the Redfin which was taken home for eating!
Again all children who were registered were winners in their own right and all received a prize for attending.
Children were loaded up with Peter’s Ice-creams, lollies from Westco Distributors, caps, magazines and magazine subscriptions from Fishing World, fishing gear from Pure Fishing, toys from Bathurst Goldfields, gift cards, gift packs and fishing gear from BCF and numerous other sponsors.
For full coverage of the 2015 Carp Blitz of all winners and pictures please visit Sofala Branch CAS Facebook page.
