IN the lead up to this year’s Sofala Carp Blitz, which is to be held on November 21-22 at Sofala, south of Mudgee in New South Wales, members of Sofala Branch of the Central Acclimatisation Society recently had a social fishing day aimed at catching the largest carp for a one off cash prize.
The water holes have large numbers of carp that are just starting to spawn, with huge female fish heavy with swollen abdomens cruising the water with up to a dozen males pursuing them in the hope of fertilising their millions of eggs. The fishing was a little bit tough with the majority of the fish focusing on breeding instead of feeding but despite this there would have been somewhere between 50 and 100 fish caught for the day.
Fly anglers dominated the numbers of fish caught, as well as taking out the one off cash prize, which was made up from all the entry fees for the day. More pleasing from a personal point of view were the Murray cod I saw cruising in some of the bigger waterholes. Other anglers also reported that they too had seen Murray cod, as well as golden perch and a few trout.
The Turon River is still flowing, but only just, and would benefit from a good fall of rain before the two-day Carp Blitz, which again is being generously supported by one of the giants in the fishing industry, PureFishing, again supplying a huge amount of fishing gear for prizes. Other sponsors are Fishing World Magazine, Inland Waterways Rejuvenation Association, Turon Gates and numerous other sponsors.
While our recent social day provided some big fish, there were some sad stories of straightened hooks, broken lines and fish that just pulled the hooks. The winner of the social day was new member Peter Lister, who managed a 7.81 kg carp (17.20 lb) caught on fly.
There was a larger carp caught by Juan Luis Del Carmen, from the Advanced Fly Fishing School, of 8.27 kg (18.23 lb) but Juan proved that while he is an excellent angler he is a poor time keeper. Hopefully Juan will keep a better eye on the time next month and arrive before the weigh-in deadline.
I look forward to this year’s November Carp Blitz, as we have now some of the heavy weights in the fly fishing scene attending, who are vowing to dethrone the king, Peter Hanrahan and his record fish of 86 cm which weighed in at 9.26 kg (20.41lb) which was caught on fly. I also look forward to the decimation of the carp population in Australian with whispers getting louder of a biological control agent to be released in Australian waters in the very near future. Fingers crossed!
NSW fishing regulations apply. Only carp and redfin will be weighed. There will prizes galore on offer in a range of categories, with a presentation function to be held on the Sunday after weigh-in. There will also be an all-day barbeque on the Sunday from 7am, and free camping along the Turon River. If you’d like further information you can access the flier by clicking here: Sofala Carp Blitz. You can also visit the Sofala Fishing Facebook page, email sofalacas@hotmail.com, or call Col Gordon (0414758558) or Ken Smith (0427652871).
