Truely Amazing Experience || Australia 2021
THE VISIT CAPRICORN & GLADSTONE REGION WEATHER GODS PUT ON ONE HELL OF A SHOW FOR US
AUSTRALIA 2021
Clear skies, water like glass and endless amounts of prehistoric sized fish made for the most incredible fishing tournament Australia has EVER seen! Male/female anglers of all ages, skill levels and of the highest profile entered the arena in the hope they would be crowned the King of Kings! With $15,000 CASH and a total of $40,000+ in prizes on the line - Everyone prepared for battle and were willing to fight to the death for their Crown/s!
The Thursday evening briefing kicked off at 4:30pm at the amazing Beaches Restaurant. Within an hour, the venue was packed, with good vibes and pure excitement to been seen everywhere! At 5:30pm we had our major prize sponsor (Garmin Marine) demonstrating the new LiveScope and C-Map features. Harry Curley gave a full run down on the Garmin technology and happily answered every question that was thrown his way. Garmin Marine is leading the way in live underwater imagery, GPS mapping and we’re excited to see our relations grow in the years to come.
At 6:30pm the SCF crew got on stage, acknowledged the incredible atmosphere and turnout of anglers! Many thanks were given to the entrants for supporting the event, a quick safety brief, details about the local Coast Guard and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority who were setup amongst the crowd. This was followed by some lucky draw prizes courtesy of our sponsors and the best Argentinian BBQ you could imagine!
3x Fusion Marine Entertainment StereoActive Speakers
Ultimate Barra Pack from Jackall Australia
2x Drone Fishing Gadgets from Sea Ulcer
Topwater/Stickbait Pack from LapDance Lures
After 100’s of beers, laughs, hugs, tall tales and new friendships - That was a wrap as everyone headed off to rest and prepare for war!
OVER THE NEXT 2.5 DAYS, IT WAS NOTHING BUT ABSOLUTE CHAOS ON THE BATTLEFIELD!
Team ‘Daiwa’ shook up the leaderboards immediately with this 127cm barramundi!
Kingdoms crashed all over the place on day one, and by 4pm ‘Team Zerek’ were sitting on $10,000 CASH, the Barra and Thready Crowns!
Team ‘Coastal Chaos’ hit the GT leader board towards the end of day one and were in prime position to take of the GT King Crown and $5,000 CASH!
Team ‘Cast Fishing’ returned from sea well after dark to submit their catches, which saw them sitting on the GT King Throne at the end of day one!
Over 50 species had been recorded via the SCF SmartPhone App and Garmin/Fusion Entertainment brag mats.
Every single target specie except ‘lobster’ had also been accounted for and the day 2 action was to be as expected…. OUT OF THIS WORLD!
DAY 2 CONSISTED OF BLISSFUL CONDITIONS, CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER AND WORLD CLASS SURF CONDITIONS!
The SCF crew, staff and volunteers never missed a second of the action.
Big fish and early upgrades on day 2 soon put the entire field on notice! It was going to take every ounce of strength to walk away with victory as Team “Gone Adrift’ were well aware of.
Midget Magic from Team ‘The Mad Hueys’ couldn’t resist the pumping swell throughout the tournament and loved every second spent surfing this shield on the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
Jonny Brookes Fishing was sight casting 40kg Giant Trevally one second, then tucking into remote reef barrels the next!
Ellie from Team ‘Your Mates 2.0’ was among the potential Queens who really found their groove on day 2!
Rob from Team ‘Bearfanny’ managed to hit the leader board after landing some extra large iron-like cod.
The junior Princes fought hard and showed they could mix it with the true gladiators!
Uncrowned Princes were leading the battle on the Public Scoreboards at the end of day 2!
Team “Coastal Chaos’ defeated a very powerful GT Lord on day 2, which could've seen them on the GT King Throne!
THE PUBLIC SCOREBOARD WAS CUT OFF AT 10PM ON DAY 2, SO THE LAST 12 HOURS COULD RESULT IN MAJOR UPSETS AS OVER 1000 FISH AND 80+ SPECIES WERE SUBMITTED!
THE FINAL PRESENTATION | WHERE KINGS ARE CROWNED
Congratulations to Cooper Fursman for claiming the Junior Prince Crown!
Congratulations to Ellie Heisner for becoming the Queen of Queens!
Congratulations to Team ‘Lads-A-Drift’ for claiming the Lobster tiebreak title the old fashion way!
Congratulations Team ‘Wasted Seamen’
Congratulations Team ‘Coastal Chaos’
Congratulations Team ‘Anglerholics’
Congratulations Team ‘Pascoe Boys’
Congratulations Team ‘Swan Dive’ for winning the Major Lucky draw prize proudly sponsored by Garmin Marine
Congratulations Team ‘2 Stroke Hooker’ for winning the Best Action Clip award proudly sponsored by GoPro
You’ll find the full photo albums on Facebook | Briefing Album - CLICK HERE | Presentation Album - CLICK HERE
ANNUAL MARINE LIFE SURVEY RESULTS
Increased participation and more fish reported (1001 up from 454)
Increased species (82 up from 56)
Fish per entrant up (3.7 per fisher from 2.1 for men, 10.7 up from 2 for juniors, 9.7 up from 4 for women)
Fish per category increased for 16 categories out of 22. Categories where there was a decline in catches were the smaller estuary species indicating less interest from competitors when better options were on offer
The two bag design shifted effort to larger fish
110 fish exceeded 1M a record amongst InfoFish events
An increased focus on larger fish with 368 trophy fish up from 69 in 2019. The trophy fish proportion of 36.8% is higher than any other event on record in the InfoFish network. Next closest is the ABT Barra event at Tinaroo with 23.8%
15 out of 19 categories matched or exceeded 2019 in trophy fish
Within categories typically one species is dominant size wise and anglers that target that species benefit
CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW FULL STATISTICS
Annual Marine Life survey results - CLICK HERE
SHIMANO KING OF KINGS | WHERE KINGS ARE CROWNED