Rods and reels from across the region and beyond turned out for the 27th Annual Cromwell Rotary’s Fishing Classic competition held on Sunday. Favourable weather conditions encouraged a record number of anglers into the event with anglers spanning generations enjoying a big day out. The Lowburn Inlet was a hive of activity for the big weigh-in which took place in the afternoon. Organiser and Rotarian Doug Winter was pleased to see participants enjoy a family friendly day out while supporting the community event. “The annual fishing competition is often a popular event on people’s calendars, but this year has been outstanding. We are 25% up on entries from last year, and whether the weather played a part in on-the- day registrations is yet to be debated, but the weather certainly played its part,” Doug explains. A crew of volunteers from Cromwell Rotary took to task weighing, measuring and formulating the condition of fish ensuring each entry had their prize catch analysed to perfection. Tahlia-Rose Rawcliffe (10) spent the day reeling two rainbow trout in from Lake Dunstan out by Smiths Way enjoying every part of the fishing competition. “One of my fish weighed 1.77 kg, it’s been a good day out,” she says. Volunteers processed 126 rainbow trout, brown trout and perch were fished from the lake with no salmon making the weigh in since 2016. A total of 126 entries made it to registration with 78 of those registering on the day. A 2.12kg brown trout caught by Colin Bailey won heaviest Fish of the Day, Rocco Shaw (8) from the child grade (12 and under) took home a 1.778kg rainbow trout, impressing his grandparents, Joshua Reihana-Flett took out the junior division with a 1.7 kg rainbow trout, Walt Smith caught the heaviest rainbow trout with a weight of 2.05kg, and Tom Scott caught the smallest fish of the day, a perch weighing in at 0.188kg. Doug wishes to thank all those who supported the event on behalf of Cromwell Rotary and welcomes you all back next year
