What can we say... the name says it all.
The Rowdy Floyd's came and put on a show... well, a little taste of one anyway. This was by far our most "well-behaved" comp to date.
The chicken mask still made an appearance, and the white Flatty version of Oprah Winfrey returned with the classic "you get a car, you get a car"... except it was shot buckets instead. This year it'll be 10 buckets.
The 2025 Classic team saw Samurai young gun Prykey stepping in for old Podgey. Joining us were the three OG Rowdy Floyd's dream team members: Jake Fredericks, Lucas Smith, and yours truly, Capt ChaufFurphy the Chauffeur.
Friday – Our first day on the water.
What a start! We raced to the top of the river and slowly worked our way back down. Not a single fish by 12:30 pm. It honestly felt like all hope was lost.
We decided to go back to the basics—plastics along the edges at Snapper Point. We found a decent patch of fish and worked it for the rest of the day, managing to fill our bag of 10 along with a couple of handy flathead. By day's end, we were sitting around the middle of the leaderboard but leading the divisions category.
VIP booth, baby!
Saturday – This is where things got interesting.
As captain of any team, your job is to put the crew onto the fish. Think of it like being the skipper of a charter boat, with your teammates as the clients.
I went into this comp with the mentality of "no weed, no flatties." From previous comps, we'd fished the flats plenty of times without success whenever there wasn't any weed.
Boy, was I wrong.
We spent the morning on the flats, and by midday we had over 1,400 points on the board. It was a session we'll never forget. Multiple 60s, 70s and 80s one after another, not to mention Jake landing his 90 cm PB and taking out biggest fish of the entire event.
By the end of the day, we were sitting on top of the leaderboard and leading our division.
VIP booth again, baby.
To top it all off, we got picked up in a limo 50 metres from Scallywags, driven around the block, and dropped straight out the front. A true VIP entrance and one of the highlights of the trip.
Gutsy gave us the best 30-second ride of our lives.
Sunday – The pressure was on.
Angler's Mismanagement were right behind us on the leaderboard.
We tried our luck on the flats again, but it was a completely different day. It turned into a slow grind, but fortunately we managed two upgrades, with the kicker being a late-70s model landed by Samurai Prykey that helped seal the deal.
We couldn't have asked for a better comp. The way it was organised, the way it was run, and the teams we got to fish alongside made it an absolute privilege to be part of.
Did we expect to come home with the results we did?
No.
Will we be back to defend our title in 2026?
Hell yes! (Sorry, Father Flatty.)
What advice would I give?
Follow Bowan and Angler Management everywhere!
What gear did we use?
Pretty much everything and anything, but mainly Millers and Samurai.
Personally, I use:
• Millers Swimfreak 7'8" 6–12 kg with a Daiwa Tatula 300 and 40 lb Tasline, rigged with the floating G2 Glide Bait.
• Murasame 7'0" 4–8 kg with a Shimano Curado DC150HG and 30 lb Tasline, rigged with the Crossfire 195 Bent Minnow.
• The GOAT of all flathead plastics rods – Millers XMFC 7'3" 2–5 kg with a Daiwa Revelry 2500 and 16 lb Tasline, rigged with the MyLureBox Paddle Tail Soft Glide.
• And finally, the Millers Grub Freak for general plastics.
One huge tip that worked incredibly well for us: have the skipper do everything, and keep your crew's rods in the water at all times.
Someone hooks a fish? The skipper nets every fish... every single one. The skipper unhooks it, gets it straight back in the water, measures it, takes the photos, then immediately sends the photos to the group chat for safekeeping.
Double-check your photos—trust me. They can go missing, and you'll be kicking yourself if you've misplaced a 60 cm-plus fish.
Then the skipper gets straight back to fishing.
Have you ever noticed that when someone catches a big fish, everyone stops fishing? That's 10–20 minutes of no casting.
Don't stop. Keep casting.
At the end of the day, it's a team event. Work together as a team.
For the new teams just starting out, or those chasing better results, get to know who the consistently top-performing teams are and go have a chat. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Learn from everyone and adapt what works to your own style.
Remember, everyone started somewhere... and none of us were born as talented as Bowan.
All the best, boys.
The Rowdy Floyd's will see you out on the water.
Bring on the good times!
Where the team name came from
Most people think that Rowdy Floyd's comes from us being the loudest team on the water and me being an attention seeking whore. In fact, the name Rowdy came from my wifes nickname given by a close friend and the person who actually taught me how to fish. Originally the name just felt right. Later on, after my old man passed away to MND, I decided to incorporate his nickname "Floyd" into the teams name. So the team name actually means the world to me and is not just another generic name. People seem to remember it and us. Clearly because we're not raging lunatics.
Multiple 60s, 70s and 80s one after another, not to mention Jake landing his 90 cm PB and taking out biggest fish of the entire event.
Matt Furphy, Rowdy Floyd's
more stories from 2025 are coming...
The invite's out to the rest of the crews. All stories