Bedford Weir Fishing Competition

Two optimistic anglers

We had planned to stay at Bedford Weir (on the McKenzie River 26 kilometers from Blackwater in central north QLD) as we had been told by other Grey Nomads that this was a nice spot. By coincidence the annual fishing competition was held 3 days after we arrived - so keen to show these Queenslanders how us West Ozzies can fish Linda and I nominated for the Saratoga Spectacular.

one of six catfish

We fished poppers, shallow divers, deep divers, blades, vibes, bait and apart from catching stinking old catfish (which were not a category eligible for the comp) and every tree, stump and each other we didn’t enter a single fish after about 10 hours on the water.

nothing to brag about here!

There were 356 fisherman entered for the 2 day comp and 37 Saratoga (largest 79cm), 3 Barramundi, 6 Yellow Belly, 2 Sleepy Cod, 37 Sooty Grunter, and 3 eel tailed catfish were caught – sadly none by Team Britton.

"are you sure there are fish here?"

Over the two day comp there were hundreds of prizes drawn for nominated fisherman – and yep Linda and I didn’t get a sniff!!

Winner - Red Claw Draw!

However – there was a novelty category for Red Claw and all you had to qualify for the $100 prize money was to catch a Red Claw and take it to the weigh in desk to be in the draw.  Linda won!! Yahoo!!
Bit of story how Linda ended up with a Red Claw but enough to say her good looks and happy smile contributed to the winning catch.

keen angler and tinny

The comp is run by the McKenzie River Fish Stocking Association (MRFSA) and all proceeds go back into stocking the weir.

two new crutch type rods 

Great atmosphere and friendly well run event – we had a ball! No excuse for not catching any fish but looks like I will need a new knee soon as the left one is giving me grief (if I was a horse I would have been shot by now).