Our state and regional tourism organisations have joined together with Kingfisher Bay (as the local operator) to host the Australian Fishing Championships over the next three years to help raise the profile of the Fraser Coast as the home of recreational fishing. As Tournament Director, Steve Morgan, said, geographically speaking the Fraser Coast was a top spot where anglers can readily catch bream, bass and barra.

The weekend saw the two-man teams from Teams Mercury (Matt and Dylan Mott) head out onto the eastern beach with our own dynamic duo (Mike and Ben Heber) to fish the gutters around The Maheno (Dylan and Mike are pictured above). Team BCF (Dean Silvestor and the only international competitor this year, Takayashi Orimoto) paired up with our own fishing expert, Andrew Betteridge, for some more beach fishing action. They even managed a trip up in the skies above Fraser Island with the folks from Air Fraser Island.

WE'RE ON YOUTUBE: Here's a snapshot of what they got up to - featuring Mike from Kingfisher Bay's Mainland Reception (look for the white hair); Mike's son, Ben, who has joined the Kingfisher Bay Resort Ranger team and our very own mechanic, Andrew B at the tail end of the clip.

The current Hobie World Kayak Fishing Champion, Richard Somerton and his Team Hobie fishing mate Dan Clancy, managed to take in the major sites of Fraser and took plenty of pictures of a cute echidna on the eastern beach. Whilst the fishing boys were doing what they do best, Australian Fishing Championships' 2014 vehicle sponsor, VW, were taking full advantage of the weather and scenery to film plenty of footage of their VW Amarok's in the sandy terrain!

The Australian Fishing Championships screen on the Nine Network and Fox Sports later this year and we welcomed Yuuichi Matsuno (Sky TV) and Japanese journalist Keitchi Kondo (Mr K). The show is also syndicated on the WFN and CCTV in Asia - so it's great to showcase our World Heritage-listed backyard on the small screen.