Wet a line at Family Fishing Comp

IF you are a keen fisherman, there is only one place for you to be this weekend and that's hanging on the end of a rod at Rainbow Beach.

Tane Gordon, 11, wetting a line at Inskip Point. Picture: Craig Warhurst

IF you are a keen fisherman, there is only one place for you to be this weekend and that's hanging on the end of a rod at the Mitsubishi Motors Rainbow Beach Family Fishing Competition.

The huge fishing event kicks off on Friday afternoon and finishes the following Saturday and is luring fishermen from all over Australia to Rainbow Beach - they're even coming from New Zealand to try and win some of the $100,000 worth of prizes.

One local angler trying his luck is Nev Stutz.

This will be Nev's 13th year in the competition and he says he can't wait to chase the big fish.

“It's a great competition,” Nev said.

“There's good camaraderie, mateship and we have a lot of fun.”

He said the fish were already biting at Rainbow with a big catches of tailor caught off Middle Rock last week.

He was fishing using pilchards for bait right through to the bottom of the tide.

“The weather has been good for fishing,” Nev said.

“Along with the taylor, I have been catching a fair few dart on the beach.

“The trawlers went out this morning so it looks like the weather should be good for the next few days,” he said.

The weather is one thing event co-organiser Linda Adams is keeping her fingers crossed about.

“Let's hope we get lots of sun and nothing else,” Linda said.

“Our competition numbers are up on the same time last year so some good weather would be great.”

She said competition entries had been flooding in for the last week.

“I think we'll see an increase in numbers. We have a lot of new people entering from all over Australia.”

“We had around 700 entries last year and we're hoping for over 800 this year,” she said.

The classic has some great sponsors on board including Waeco, Quintrex, the Kingfisher Bay group, Zinc FM, Jarvis Walker, Navaco and Mitsubishi motors.

“We got $30,000 grant from Queensland Events,” Linda said.

“They have really supported us. The money goes toward marketing the Fishing Classic.”

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Originally published as Wet a line at Family Fishing Comp