The Inaugural Sportsfish Australia Golden Dash

Right from the start, the 'Golden Dash' created a lot of interest. All the teams that competed in the 2001 Windamere Golden Classic were eligible to enter, and the attention that the competitors showed at the briefing was second to none in my tournament experience - which probably reflected both the interest of the anglers, and the fact that over $1,000 in cash was on offer!

Luckily, we managed to keep the details of the competition under wraps until the eve of the event. Teams would compete over a short 2 ½ hour session to catch the highest point-scoring golden perch. Each team could enter more than one fish if they wanted, but only their highest point scoring fish would count, and to be eligible each had to be returned live and in good condition for official measuring before release.

However, the big difference in this event was that the normal point-per-centimetre rule was discarded in favour of a sliding pointscore system that rewarded a quick catch. Submitting a golden perch within the first fifteen minutes rewarded the team with a large bonus added to the length of their fish. However this bonus diminished every quarter of an hour until the fish would only be worth face value for the last quarter-hour section.

Obviously some new strategies would come into play for this event. Even with the fastest boat in the field, the favoured grounds at the bottom of the dam were too far away to make the return journey and spend some successful fishing time all within fifteen minutes! Later that night, many teams could be seen in conference around their camps discussing the rules, and tactics, for the next day!

It was a very different Lake Windamere in the morning to that which most of us were accustomed to seeing. Over thirty boats idled around behind the marshal's boat on a glassy calm lake surface, waiting for the Bimini-style start. The odd bunger tossed into the water by a few larrikins kept everyone on their toes and when the flare was fired and the siren sounded, everyone hit the throttle and took off in a mad dash to get to their selected spot first! As competitor Brett Young said afterward, "It was really funny to see all these boats, that had been fishing in the far reaches of the dam over the previous two days, roar only a couple of hundred metres before coming to a screaming halt to get their lines in!"

For many competitors, it would be a case of what might have been. I for one took a punt on a long run down the lake to a bank where I'd taken four big fish over the preceding sessions. On my third cast I watched a fish well over 55cm follow the lure in, make a quick swipe at it and disappear into the depths. Previously, I'd managed to convert such fish on subsequent casts, and after more follows on my next couple of casts, I was getting a little shaky - it was a big fish! I looked at my watch, which told me just over 15 minutes had lapsed, and even though I didn't end up hooking that fish, later on I still spent some time to calculate what it would have earned me!

But for some the cards did fall in their favour. In fact, during the first quarter of an hour no less than six fish were returned for measuring; one each by Team Platypus, 'Hardcore', the Young Guns, Gettin' Hammered, Oakdale Workers and Team Shoalhaven Heads. Over the next fifteen minutes four more fish were submitted, this time by the Old Guns, Goin' Bush, Haveacast and the Oakdale Workers - who were burning some fuel running back and forth to the marshals area!

In the third fifteen minute section another four fish found their way to the Fisheries measuring board, with Getting Any getting at least one scorer, and Hardcore making a second appearance. If anyone doubted the availability of fish close to the ramp they may have been surprised by all this close-by activity, particularly when Oakdale workers made their third return in as many quarters, and, believe it or not, Hardcore returning twice in the same section when they blasted back to submit another measurer with only seconds remaining!

After that the returns slowed down a little as competitors started to work further afield, hoping for that one big fish. Nearly an hour and a half into the event, Goin' Bush roared back again, this time with a massive fish of 62cm that would still score enough bonus points to get them in the money. However the fish had been trolled from deep water and as it unfortunately could not be revived, was disqualified from the competition. Undaunted, Goin' Bush took off again for whatever fertile grounds they had been fishing to continue trying.

In the end a total of 17 fish were submitted for official measuring by the NSW Fisheries officer, including yet another big fish by Goin' Bush, who almost drove their boat all the way up the bank in their haste to return a 61cm beauty with less then two minutes left on the clock! But despite their great efforts, they were still to narrowly miss out on the money.

The cash prize of $150 went to third place getters 'Old Guns' (Brett Young, Andy Budd and Ray Whitmore), proving they still have plenty of ammo left in their artillery when they measured a 50cm golden in the 21st minute to make a score of 66 points. Second place went to hard fishing, team Hardcore (Glen Stewart, Chris Burbidge and Gary Cook), who scored with the last of their three entered fish - a fat perch of 55cm returned in the last seconds of the third section - scoring 70 points and earning the boys $250 in folding stuff.

The winning team was Platypus (Jon Knols, Georgina Cullen and Greg Beattie) who managed to return the first fish - a big golden of 56cm - that simply could not be headed when the bonus points were added to give them a score of 76 points. Sportsfishaustralia's Neil Ryan handed them a bundle of cold hard stuff totaling $800 to take home. According to some guys fishing nearby, there was one heck of a commotion when the big yella' came over the side of their boat so early in the session! I reckon a few anglers would have had their knees knocking as they drew a winning fish toward the landing net that morning!

For its first run, the sportsfishaustralia Golden Dash was great success. It certainly was a lively and fitting finale to a terrific Windamere weekend, and its refreshingly new format put a spark into everyone's competition fishing. Already, there are other tournaments looking to incorporate a 'Dash' event into their proceedings.

And here at sportsfishaustralia, we're already planning for next year's Golden Dash to be even bigger, better, and more fun!

Ian Miller