Riverina Classic catches truly impressive haul

Over three massive days of fishing, over 1300 fish were caught and landed by hundreds of keen fishers testing their own unique methods.

The competition began in 2014, and has grown every year since then from 415 competitors in 2014 to a massive 781 competitors in 2023.

Organiser Shaun Roche was pleased to announce that 2024 was the biggest competition yet, with 818 entrants to the fishing competition.

"It went really well. Conditions were really favourable for everyone, the weather was great," he said

"If you added up all the cod caught over the weekend, we had 562 metres of cod caught," he said.

"There were only 100 carp as well, which is very healthy for the river."

The competition raises funds for various community organisations and charities as it goes, and has donated funds to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, CanAssist, the Griffith Motor Neurone Disease support group and Rural Outreach Counselling.

After helping restock the Murrumbidgee River with fingerlings, the classic managed to raise a staggering $20,000 for mental health not-for-profit Rural Outreach Counselling this year.

Corey Roche took home the prize as the Senior Champ with a massive 19 fish, totalling a length of over 12.5 metres. The Junior Champ was Blake Newman with five fish caught to come to almost three metres of scaly goodness.

The Biggest Carp was won by Jack Brady, who landed a 67cm carp on the day to take the win.

The Biggest Cod competition was taken out by Josh Forrester, who reeled in a cod that was over a metre long in the Senior Male category. The Junior Female champion Charlotte Forrester was close behind with a 94cm catch while Senior Female Mel Swan had a 90cm cod. Junior Male Austun Rankin earned his place with a 79 centimetre specimen.