Luke Hook and Tracey Reid are encouraging anglers to take part in the FlatTrack Carp Muster, with proceeds helping support FlatTrack’s youth programs in Moree. Photo: Moree Online News.
The FlatTrack Carp Muster will run from Friday, July 10, to Sunday, July 12, combining a weekend of fishing with fundraising for FlatTrack’s youth programs in Moree.
Nominations open from 9am on Friday, July 10, at the FlatTrack shed, 10 Des Young Drive, Moree. The event will finish with a presentation and barbecue at FlatTrack from 2pm on Sunday, July 12.
FlatTrack is a Jobs Australia Enterprises program that helps young people build practical skills, confidence and life skills through hands-on learning and community projects.
Organiser Luke Hook said the Carp Muster helped pay for materials used in those programs.
“It helps with funding to buy materials for programs,” Luke said.
Putting community first
Tracey Reid from Jobs Australia Enterprises said the Carp Muster also helped put FlatTrack in front of the wider community.
“For me, for the Carp Muster, it’s putting FlatTrack out there as a community program,” she said. “Jobs Australia wants to help communities.”
FlatTrack works with young people who may be disengaged from school or looking for a different way to learn. Tracey said participants can try practical activities including welding, woodwork, art, cooking and sewing.
“Luke teaches them to weld, he teaches them to do woodwork,” she said. “We do things like the bird boxes, different welding, we’ve got a plasma cutter that’ll be teaching them art. We’re in a cooking room and a sewing room, so the kids can come with their school and do all sorts of activities.”
Luke said the program was not only about trade skills.
“It’s not just welding skills or woodwork skills. It’s all about life skills,” he said.
Tracey said the hands-on approach could help young people build confidence by starting with something that interested them.
“I think it gives them that little confidence, getting out of, you know, some are stuck at home, they can come and meet, work,” she said.
“We don’t push them to do anything,” Tracey said.
She said one young person wanted to build a gate for his grandmother, and FlatTrack staff helped turn that idea into a practical project with purpose.
“I thought that was very impressive,” she said.
For Luke, the reward is watching young people practise a skill and then recognise what they have achieved.
He said young people might start with basic welding practice, then, within an afternoon or over a week or two, see the progress they had made.
Competition details
The Carp Muster also encourages the removal of pest carp from local waterways.
Native fish are catch and release. Carp must be humanely disposed of by competitors, and no fish are to be brought back to FlatTrack.
Competitors must follow NSW Department of Primary Industries fishing rules.
Fishing is allowed in the Gwydir River from Bingara Bridge to the wetlands west of Moree, and in the Mehi River from Tareelaroi Weir to Combadello Weir.
When competitors nominate, they receive an identification tag. Fish must be photographed with the tag visible so organisers can verify and record the catch.
“They’ll nominate, we’ll give them a tag, and when they catch a fish they use that tag on their brag mat so we can see the photo and see the length of it,” Luke said.
Competitors then send the photo, tag number and fish species to organisers, where the catch is verified and recorded against their name.
Entry, categories and prizes
Entry is $20 for adults and $10 for competitors under 16.
Categories include longest yellowbelly, longest carp, carp wildcard and longest catfish, with divisions for adult male, adult female, under 16 boys and under 16 girls.
Luke said the first Carp Muster in 2025 attracted 84 contestants.
Presentation, barbecue and raffle
The FlatTrack Carp Muster will finish with a presentation and barbecue at FlatTrack from 2pm on Sunday, July 12.
Community members can also support FlatTrack through a kayak raffle, with tickets $5 each or five for $20 available from the FlatTrack shed. Prizes are an adult fishing kayak, an adult kayak and a kids kayak, all with oars.
The raffle will be drawn at the presentation. Eftpos will be available at the barbecue, and no alcohol is permitted on FlatTrack grounds.
For more information, contact Luke Hook on 0448 721 491.
