Organisers of the 2019 Horsham Fishing Competition are preparing for a mad rush on Saturday morning.
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Committee chairwoman Adele Rohde said arrangements were coming together for this year's competition - though the committee could do with more volunteers.
"It's always a busy time of the year," she said.
"We did probably get our promotional material out quite late this year, but we've seen a lot of registrations come in this week ahead of stake pick-up."
Mrs Rohde said she expected the stake pick-up at Horsham Apex Club on Saturday morning to be "incredibly" busy, if previous years were anything to go by.
"We shut off entries at 5pm on Friday, and anyone who has entered prior is eligible for pre-registration - which basically means from 8am on Saturday they can come and pick up the stakes to mark their fishing spot along the river," she said.
"It's a crazy morning. We get people sleeping out at the Apex clubrooms the night before, so they are able to pick up their stakes as early as possible to go and get their spot.
"We try to do it as orderly as we can, and we normally clear the line of a few hundred people within 10 to 15 minutes.
"Each person gets 2.5 metres of space, and there is about 22 kilometres of riverbank to fish from, so there's room for everyone."
Mrs Rohde said the committee had worked with the Wimmera Catchment Management Authority to make sure the Wimmera river was in good condition as it had been in previous years.
The 2006 competition was cancelled due to low river levels during the drought.
She said the competition falling on the Sunday after the Wimmera Machinery Field Days could have an impact on its popularity.
"The last two years it hasn't, and numbers have probably been a bit down, so we could see a resurgence as a result of the field days timing for sure," she said.
"We're still in desperate need of volunteers for the weekend. We normally try and seek as many clubs as possible, but we really need as many people as possible on board as stewards along the river."
Mrs Rohde said people interested in volunteering could contact the Horsham Fishing Competition organisers through its Facebook page.
Mrs Rohde said people could register to compete either online or in person at the Horsham visitor information centre.
Alexander Darling
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
