2023 Cod Nationals Winners - Derek and Kade Blow with Lake Mulwala Fish, Camp and Ski owner Tony Bennett.
Australia’s most prestigious Murray Cod fishing tournament, the Great Northern Cod Nationals has been run and won recently here at the “Home of the Murray Cod – Lake Mulwala”.
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Ninety of Australia’s premier Cod fisho’s gathered from as far afield as Queensland and Tasmania to compete in the event hosted by the Mulwala Football Netball Club.
The Cod Nationals is fished over four days with five varied fishing sessions to challenge all anglers.
“Scoping” was only allowed during the first two sessions. For the remaining three sessions anglers are left to using their genuine skills, fishing and lake knowledge to find fish minus the latest technology.
Red-hot favourites, Derek and Kade Blow of Bendigo fished extremely well throughout the five sessions to blitz the field. In the three weeks before the Nationals, Derek and Kade had won the Da$h 4 Ca$h, Central Vic Lures Casters and His & Hers Partners Classic events, all held on Lake Mulwala.
Their form was unbelievable, and this was recognised on the first night when the team auctions/Calcutta got underway. The usual favourites went for some good $$$ but it was the Blows, Team KD Fishing attracting a bid of $3500 that went for top dollar.
The winners of the previous three Nationals, Steve and Thomas Pinter were clear second favourites and attracted a bid of $2000 during the team auctions.
Day 1 – Bassman Spinnerbait – Spinnerbait only day.
The Nationals got underway with perfect weather conditions greeting all. Day 1 saw competitors only allowed to use spinnerbaits with any legal sized Murray Cod being caught on a Bassman Spinnerbait earning their team bonus points.
On days one and two only, teams were also allowed to use “Scope” technology.
Cod were reported on a regular basis with over 200 50cm+ being captured for the day. Glen Joyce from “Team Coddog” landed the biggest for the day coming in at a healthy 72.6cms.
Ultimately it was the pairing of Brad Murray and Daniel Mutch of “Mutchy’s Contracting” who took overall honours for the day thanks to their use of their multiplier bonus.
Second place was filled by Anthony Pavlou and Mike Haley “Team Venom”, again thanks to their use of their multiplier bonus while team “KD Fishing”, Derek and Kade Blow fished extremely well to finish in third and pick up some very handy points.
To round out the evening the traditional “Sportsman’s night” was conducted with a couple of well-known guests. Appearing were Peter “Buzz” Bosustow, ex Carlton footy legend and Mark “Jacko” Jackson, AFL personality and all-round lunatic! They kept everyone entertained with a fair few yarns of days gone by and their escapades!
Day 2 – Gidgee and Pimpdaddy Lures – Hard Body Lure only day
Day 2 got underway with conditions being a fair bit breezier than the previous day. Fish numbers weren’t as strong as day 1 but still close to 140 Cod were landed.
Team KD Fishing had their multiplier bonus chosen for this day and they fished unbelievably well to maximise its use and score a swag of points. To top things off, Kade managed to land an 80.9cm Cod taking out largest fish for the day also.
Peter Pejkovic and Damian “Mr. Whippy” Scholten fished extremely well for the day taking out second place whilst Steve and Thomas Pinter “Black Widow” kept the pressure on the leaders with a solid third place effort.
Thursday night saw a casual evening held with competitors gathering to swap a few yarns and enjoy the Great Northern party night.
Free beer, a good fire along with an onsite pizza vendor kept everybody happy, some until the wee hours of the morning.
Day 3 – Bone Focus and Zerek Lures – Swimbait & Plastics Only Dash 4 Cash (morning session)
As the name suggests, this session was fished under a “Dash 4 Cash” format with the use of Swimbait and Plastics only. To make things a bit harder for all, all “scopes” were now not allowed to be used for the remainder of the event.
Fish numbers were reduced for the morning session due to the fishing style but none the less, there were some nice ones caught.
Thanks to Wilson Fishing, there was a full set of Bone Focus lure up for grabs for whoever caught the largest Cod on one of the new Bone Focus colours.
Kade Blow - 81cm Biggest Cod.
None other than Kade Blow took out this award as his 71.2cm was the biggest for the morning session and ultimately biggest for the day.
Lance Curry and Zac Jury had a brilliant morning fishing extremely well to take out first place.
The ever-reliable team of Ian and Matt Rogers finished in second whilst Brad Murray and Daniel Mutch kept the pressure on the boys at the top of the tree finishing in third and claiming some handy points.
Day 3 – Sponsors Lures Only – Dash 4 Cash (afternoon session)
The arvo session only let competitors use lures that were manufactured by the event sponsors. It was wonderful to see a few teams pop up at the top of the list who had not featured prominently in the past.
Taking the winners cheque was Gage Wright and Kane Bolwell “Spin Wright Lures” followed by crowd favorited James and Helen McGhee. Thanks to Helen’s efforts of 4 Cod for the afternoon, this was a great reward for a team who hadn’t done so well in recent Nationals events.
Third place was taken out by the improving duo of Shane Melrose and Jessy Pinter “Central Vic Lure Casters”.
Ultimately the Venom Rods “ANZAC Memorial Aawrd” was presented to the most consistent team over the two sessions. This was a close affair and was awarded on countback to Derek and Kade Blow just ahead of Steve and Thomas Pinter. Both teams fished well for the day and finished in the points in both sessions.
Friday night saw the running of the ever-popular Trident Group FishingTriathlon and games night. Scenes were hilarious as teams raced each other in joined plank races followed by a few extra activities and finishing with a casting comp to determine the winners.
Ultimately it was newcomers Aaron Stafford and Blake Stokes who took the major prize for the evening. Finishing in a close second were Zac McGannon and Rhys Macreadie.
The darts was taken out John “The Wizard” Anderson with Amber Wild a creditable second.
Day 4 – Coddog and Spin Wright Lures – Any Lure Style fishing day.
The final day got underway with the chasing pack hoping for some big miracles and even bigger Cod if they were to catch the runaway leaders – KD Fishing.
Fishing well on the final day was the ambition for most as it was critical to their overall standings. A bad day could see teams drop out of the top 10 and ultimately loosing some good $$$.
Team “Dirty Sanchez”, Jamie Kelly and Jamie Robinson had their best day of the Nationals to finish the daily winners and also, Jamie landed the biggest Cod for the day that measured in at 76.9cms.
Derek and Kade Blow finished off strongly finishing in second whilst rounding out the top three were their closest rivals, “Black Widow”, Steve and Thomas Pinter.
Winners!
Overall team “KD Fishing”, Derek and Kade Blow were the clear winners finishing with 64.71 points. This was well deserved as the boys had finished runners up 3 time in the past 4 years.
To top off their win they also picked up the “Venom Rods Anzac Memorial Award” and Kade also took out the Champion angler title on 6027.45points.
Finishing in second place was team “Black Widow”, Steve and Thomas Pinter. Steve and Thomas has won the Nationals the previous three years and should be commended on their brilliant fishing over the past few years.
Thomas took out runner-up individual champion angler.
Third place was filled by “Mutchy’s Contracting”, Brad Murray and Daniel Mutch. The boys fished consistently over the 5 sessions and their efforts were well earnt. Brad also finished third in the individual section.
A few new awards were presented for the first time.
First up was “Boothy’s Best Newbie”. Kane Bolwell fished extremely well to finish in 5th place individually overall. Well done Kane on your first Nationals outing.
Next up was “Jones Doyle Plumbing – Most Improved Individual”. This went to Shane Melrose who improved his finishing position by 81 places on his 2022 effort. Super effort Shane!
One of the most popular winners for the night were “Fishing Mates”, James and Helen McGhee who took out the “Fish Camp Ski – Most Improved Team”. James and Helen are very popular members of the national’s ‘family”.
Unfortunately, they have struggled to land a few decent fish in the past. All changed this year with them rocketing up the final leader’s board to finish a creditable 14th, 34 places in front of where they finished in 2022.
They were presented their award and received a huge round of applause.
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