Friday the 12th to Sunday the 14th of August 2016
THE Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic (DIMSC) is a catch and release angling event that draws anglers from all around Australia. The event was original created by a number of Dave Irvine’s close friends, to pay tribute to his larger than life character and is in recognition of his life’s passion of catch and release angling. The event has been held annually since Dave passed away suddenly in 2007.
Dave in his own right was a pioneer in the “Catch and Release” fishing movement. He was an advocate for catch and release angling and helped develop many of the current practices that are used today. His most prominent contribution to catch and release angling was the development of the Enviro-net, which is now a necessity for participants in catch and release angling event around Australia and other parts of the world.
Following Dave’s legacy and passion for developing catch and release angling methods, the DIMSC committee has been no different. Constantly pushing the boundaries in the catch-and-release angling events arena. With the DIMSC being established as one the first offshore lure only catch-and-release angling events in Australia that targets snapper with a unique point scoring system. That simply requires the anglers to take a photograph of their catch on a brag mat, before safely releasing the fish into the water. More recently the DIMSC committee has developed the kayak catch-and-release angling section of the event, that involves teams fishing from kayaks.
This year will be no different with DIMSC committee’s inclusion of a family fishing day on the Saturday. The family fishing day has been developed to get more anglers involved in catch-and-release angling. That are either new to fishing or simply just don’t have access to a vessel for fishing offshore. The family day has also been established to encourage families to become involved and to help educate the younger generation on the safe handling practices, that will ensure their catch swims away. Both Dave and the DIMSC committee believed it is imperative to educate younger anglers in catch-and-release angling as they will be the future of recreational angling community throughout Australia and the world.
Just like every other year the DIMSC is an event that is great to get involved with, however, this year is quiet significant, as this year marks the 10th anniversary of the event and in recognition of this achievement the committee is intending to make this the biggest and best event yet. This year will also include some live fishing action with the inclusion of the Shimano Reef Science Fishing Show, better known as Dave Moss (Mossy) and his Super Tank.
The event will be held on the Friday 12th until Sunday 14th of August 2016 at Coffs Harbour Yacht Club. For further information, please see the Facebook page.
