Australian Record Categories

General Information

1. GFAA maintains Australian records for both freshwater and saltwater gamefishes in line class, tippet class and all tackle categories.
2. To qualify for official recording and granting of GFAA records, gamefish, rays and sharks must be caught by a financial or life member of a club affiliated with a state branch of GFAA. In order to qualify for a vacant GFAA record a gamefish fish must be at least equal in weight, & sharks & rays double to the line or tippet class in which the record is claimed. For a fish to replace an existing record it must outweigh the current record by an amount as shown in the section “WEIGHT REQUIRED TO DEFEAT OR TO TIE AN EXISTING RECORD” under Regulations Governing Record Catches.
3. No application will be accepted for fish caught in hatchery waters, sanctuaries or banned fishing areas in national parks. The catch must not be at variance with any laws or regulations governing the species or the waters in which it was caught.
4. GFAA will not accept any record application generated from within a non-sanctioned tournament other than an internal club competition.
5. When an additional species of gamefish is made eligible for GFAA Records the effective date will be announced. Fishes caught on or after this date will be eligible for records. An announcement of additional species will be made in the Australian Game Fishing Records and Rules or by notification to State Association Secretaries.

Environment & Angler Categories

Records may be claimed in the following categories:

Environment Categories

1. Saltwater
2. Saltwater Fly (For saltwater recognised species)
3. Freshwater (For freshwater recognised species)
4. Freshwater Fly (For freshwater recognised species)
5. Landbased Saltwater (For anglers fishing from the land, bridge, pier and other structures or platforms that are not free floating).

Angler Categories

1. Male
2. Female
3.  Junior Male
4.  Junior Female
5. Smallfry Male
6. Smallfry Female
7.  All Tackle

Definitions

Juniors – Persons who have not attained the age of 16 years.

Smallfry – Persons who have not attained the age of 11 years.

All records in salt water, fresh water, salt water fly & land based salt water may only be claimed within their age & gender categories – with the exception of all tackle records.

For each species and line class, a new category for overall record has been created. the overall record must exceed all existing records for that species and line class to be eligible including a $20 claim fee.

Line Class, All Tackle & Fly Categories

Line Class Categories

Line Class records are maintained according to wet testing strength of line used by the angler (See Appendix A for testing standards). Records are kept in the following line class categories: 1kg, 2kg, 3kg, 4kg, 6kg, 8kg, 10kg, 15kg, 24 kg, 37kg and 60kg.

All Tackle Records

All tackle records are for the heaviest capture of each GFAA-recognised gamefish species caught under GFAA Record Requirements, Rules and Regulations and Line Categories.

Fly Rod Categories

Australian fly rod records are maintained according to the tippet strength of line used by the angler. The tippet is wet tested using the same procedure as for other lines. Records are kept for the same recognised saltwater and freshwater species in the following tippet classes: 1kg, 2kg, 3kg, 4kg, 6kg, 8kg, 10kg and 15kg.

Note: 15kg is for Billfish & Sharks only.