Sooty Champion Slade Overcomes Power In World Championships

Mackay Area Fishing Stocking Association hosted another great family friendly fishing tournament at Eungella Dam over the May Day long weekend, putting the region on the national fishing stage once again.

The 18th World Sooty Championship has been a popular fishing tournament for many anglers who are keen to target the vast quantity of stocked Sooty Grunter. This tournament is as unique as it is fun.

If you haven’t heard about the 2023 INDT World Sooty Championship, it is the only fishing tournament for Sooty Grunter, hence the tournament’s name. It is also the main fundraiser for MAFSA to operate and maintain the Rob Symons Hatchery in Rural View as well as promote the Stocked Impoundment Permit fishery at Eungella Dam.

MAFSA Chairman Tim Swann explains, “this year for the World Sooty Championship, on top of record numbers of anglers and boats, we have been able to work with Mackay Regional Council, Mackay Isaac Tourism, Mackay Airport and Reef Marine in attracting and hosting Mark Berg to fish our tournament.

“This highlights the attraction of Mackay’s stocked impoundment fisheries to national angling celebrities as well as other travelling anglers looking for world class fishery and is proof that MAFSA continues to work towards a better fishing future for the Mackay region.”

The event saw nearly 70 boats registered to compete with 107 anglers looking to score as many points for the bag of six Sooties over the three sessions from Saturday morning to Sunday lunch time.

“This three session format has proven to be popular over the years with allowing the public and the spectators, mainly kids, an opportunity to see these big brutes up close in the holding tank at the end of each session,” explains Mr Swann.

“These fish are then released by an army of helpers to be returned to the water to be hopefully caught again next year.”

This break in the sessions on Saturday also allows everyone to gather for a release of juvenile Sooty fingerlings from Bass, Barra and Barcoo who have been a regular supplier to MAFSA of quality Sooties to restock Eungella Dam with funds from the SIP scheme.

Even if you find the fish in big numbers, you still need the biggest overall length and the best bag of six fish with each millimetre worth one point to win. Around 180 Sooties being caught was attributed to an action-packed weekend.

The first session saw our regular bridesmaid in Mick Slade hold the lead on Saturday lunch with 2163mm to Peter Behrens with 2119mm with a few ex-WSC champions, Daniel Grech, Keegan Hayden and Ricky Wetherall, just a couple of fish behind.

Junior angler Darcy McFarlane was out to good lead on Saturday morning with 1168mm with only one fish to previous junior world champ in Balin Tweddle and last year’s biggest Sooty Winner Cohen Olsen.

Session two saw some regular WSC anglers change their plan and some persevere and with some good numbers returned we saw the lead change at the close of the day with Daniel Grech on 2379mm in the lead over Mick Slade by a mere 6mm sitting on 2373mm. Keegan finished strong in 3rd on 2244mm and a few others nipping at the heels of the leader.

Juniors did manage a few more fish this session but no one managed the numbers to give Darcy a concern with Michael Paton in 2nd on 830mm and Finn Gee in 3rd on 716 and all juniors looking to the Sunday session for a few more fish.

Session three saw an uninterrupted day with a slightly earlier start to last year and we like to keep the scoreboard covered until the presentation so no one could keep track of anyone else which means you just have to find the Sooties and upgrade your bag if possible.

Everyone in the top 20 found fish on Sunday which was promising and some found more Sooties or bigger Sooties which made for an exciting last session.

Mick Slade was lucky enough to hold onto the lead with 2517mm over Trent Power with 2508mm to crown Mick the 18th World Champion. Congratulations Mick!

Nick Moore was a very close 3rd place with 2497mm which is only 20mm behind Mick, just one more upgrade in his bag of 7 Sooties could have been the game changer for Nick but not this year unfortunately. Daniel Grech finished 4th on 2460mm which proves he can still find fish with a bag of 8 and his boating partner Daniel Curry finished in 8th with a bag of 8 as well, these two anglers did well to find that many.  

Keegan finished in 5th with a bag of 10 Sooties and a late upgrade on Sunday with last year’s World Champion Ricky in 6th with a bag of 6 just in time on Sunday. Peter Behrens found the most Sooties with a bag of 12 and a few small upgrades. Damien Casey found some good Sooties on Sunday for a late dash but only managed a bag of five and Ivan Baulch rounded out the top 10 with a bag of five, this made for an exciting finish.

We also saw a senior angler take out the largest overall Sooty over the juniors in recent years with a solid 496mm Sooty from Robbie Brook who fished surface lures for the majority of the last session on Sunday and he was fishing his 16th World Sooty Championship.

Juniors managed to find a few Sooties on Sunday too and the McFarlane boys gave each other a run for their money with Isaac landing the largest junior Sooty at 492mm over Darcy’s 491mm fish. Isaac managed to claw back into 3rd place with 1200mm with a bag of three behind Finn Gee with a bag of five Sooties for 1794mm. Darcy McFarlane rounded out the tournament with a bag of six Sooties and a total of 2377mm and was now crowned the junior champion! Congratulations Darcy!

‍

Pic: Mick and Darcy

Mick Slade and Darcy McFarlane

‍