2011 World Koi Carp Classic report

Dave Gousmett

Heavy rain on Friday night raised river levels by 20cm and while this doesn’t seem much it was enough to encourage the carp to start feeding and spawning and most hunters saw plenty of fish. The problem was hitting them – overcast conditions and a strong wind made hunting difficult. However there were still 1555 koi carp weighed in with a combined weight of over 3.5 tonnes.

On Saturday the Solid Gold Hits team of Jason Loane and Hardie McLaren came in with 250 kg of koi with the Koi Killers (Bob Gow and Robbie Blake) close behind them with 227 kg. But they were both overshadowed by a big team effort from the Brownwater Stalkers (Kevin Low & Greg Gourley) who weighed in 170 koi with a total weight of 347.2 kg. Sunday saw them extend their lead to take out the Department of Conservation Cup for the 3rd year in a row.

The Koi Carp Trophy competition was very open this year with no really big koi shot. In fact Jason Loane’s winning fish at 7.1 kg was the smallest winner since our very first carp classic back in 1990. Jason also took out 3rd place while Heath Landon won the silver medal. The Solid Energy Cup for the best koi carp shot by a Junior went to Jordan Morland with a 6.1 kg fish.

The Corporate Team’s competition was won by Solid Energy (Jason Loane & Hardie McLaren). Second was AMS Bowfishing represented by John Gow and Graeme Warrender while Team Muzzy was third (Allan Metcalfe and Philipp Loest).

This event was again very well supported by our sponsors: Thanks to the Huntly Rotary Club, Sweetman’s Reel Fishing, Solid Energy, Roger Gill Mitsubishi, Hamilton Hunting and Fishing and the Department of Conservation as well as Muzzy and AMS Bowfishing

The long list of ballot prizes included retriever reels, hunting clothing, day packs, fishing arrows and points etc and everyone went home with a prize.