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REEL IT IN

MEET OUR TEAM

TROY EATON

From a young age Troy had a love for fishing at his old Victorian stomping grounds of Lakes Entrance and Ocean Grove –  whether land based fishing or hiring a boat he would always be out casting a line. Then camping, fly fishing and spinning up rivers for Trout became a new passion.  Later, after buying his first boat (a little tinny called “The Kipper”) he would be out fishing 3-4 days a week chasing Snapper in Port Phillip Bay and the mighty Mulloway in Western Port Bay.

Troy start filming his fishing trips and big catches and the REEL IT IN Youtube channel was born. After teaming up with good mate Scott Wakefield, they became hooked on Estuary fishing particularly at Mallacoota, chasing flathead and Bream using the humble frozen prawn. BUT then soft plastics became a huge hit and both Scott and Troy became obsessed with one thing – catching BIG MUMMA FLATHEAD.

It didn’t take Troy long to land his first trophy flathead at Narooma measuring 92cm and then regular BIG FLATHEAD became the norm for them both. REEL IT IN then started out on social media and their Youtube channel grew to become a popular channel for fellow fisherman who shared the same passion. From there the REEL IT IN Flathead Challenges began with anglers all over Australia participating in them.

REEL IT IN has created a huge supportive community of passionate anglers and the boys are more than willing to help anyone land that Flathead of a lifetime. The hunt for the legendary 1 meter Flathead drives Troy to fish hard. Gut wrenchingly Troy lost one boat side and will continue to chase that elusive Unicorn Flathead.

SCOTT WAKEFIELD

Scotty kicked off his passion for fishing in his early teens and back then, it was mainly focused on spinning and fly fishing in rivers for Trout.
In the late 90s, like many others at that time he was taken by the soft plastic revolution. That first trip to Mallacoota with good mate Troy Eaton started the passion for Dusky Flathead. The two guys still laugh about some of the stories from those days and just how inexperienced they both were. Trying to learn to catch Live Mullet and trying to get those strange squishy lures to work.  It took some years to nut this species out and for Scott to land his first big flathead, but once the monkey was off his back, with the first over 90cm coming from Wagonga Inlet some time ago, Scotty was landing them with consistency.
He loves throwing BIG plastics at these fish and believes the old saying “big lures equal big fish” and has the runs on the board to prove it
In 2013 after a few years of filming with Troy for REEL IT IN,  the two began the first REEL IT IN Flathead Challenge held at Mallacoota. The event was about getting away with mates and having a ball, whilst chasing their favourite species. It has now become an outlet for many that enjoy the weekend away with good mates.

TRENT DAVIS

Like most angler’s Trent’s passion for fishing came at a young age. He’s father and godfather were big influences in getting him started in the sport. Bait fishing was the main method, slack lining a prawn into the snags or soaking some worms down a mountain stream was something Trent couldn’t get enough of.

After growing up in Lakes Entrance till he was 19, Trent did a 10 year stint in Perth WA followed by 5 years in Spain, on he’s return to
Australia he knew there was only one place he wanted to live LAKE TYERS Victoria  (the home of the one meter flatty). It was here where Trent became obsessed with fishing for flathead using plastics then came the swimbaits and surface lures.

Quote: I love fishing for flathead in the shallows, the buzz you get when you see those bow waves come charging in on the lure really gets the heart pumping. To read the contours of the sandbanks, look for lays, watch what the baitfish are doing, sight casting to a big girl, it really is stalking at its best. I love it.

If you ever get down to Lake Tyers, keep an eye out for Trent, he’ll be out on the water somewhere either in he’s boat, stalking the flats or in the pub (ha ha) go and say g’day as he’s more than happy to give advice on how to catch your next big flatty.

LACHIE MA

Lachie hails from Lake Macquarie in Northern NSW. Having only started fishing when he was 9 years old, whilst fishing on family holidays. It was not until he finished year 12, that he rekindled the passion for fishing which led to chasing big Flathead, to the elusive mulloway and even the most subtle Bream bite. 

Quote: “I love the values that the REEL IT IN boys show in handling and looking after the longevity of the bigger Flathead and the way they promote catch and release to look after future fish stocks. 

Having grown up a stones throw away from Lake Macquarie’s prime fishing spots, it has always been a place that Lachie holds in high regard. He also loves to travel up the coast finding new areas to fish, this also led to fishing the inaugural year of the Mallacoota Challenge, which is now on most fisho’s to do list. 

Lake Macquarie is a prime location for so many great area’s to fish and along with Lachie’s passion and similar ideas to the REEL IT IN boys, will give the team some great insight to fishing Lake Macquarie.

SCOTT KINGMAN

A quote from Scotty

“My love of fishing was sparked at a very early age. I watched and learnt from my Dad as he fly fished the Victorian high country, fished the Victorian surf beaches for salmon and bait fished the Melbourne bays for Snapper, Bream and Flathead. Upon relocating to Lake Tyers Beach, East Gippsland Victoria around 7 years ago, it was really only a matter of time before my love of lure fishing was reignited and the call of the big Flatty’s of the lake took hold.

A PB of 95cm on Christmas day this year has only fuelled my love of catching these incredible fish and my interest in the development of lure fishing in general.

The obsession is real and my want to continue to learn more, while documenting the process of catching these big beautiful fish is an ongoing endeavour. I’m stoked to now be part of the ‘Reel it In’ family of crazed fishing enthusiasts”.

BRICE HAYWARD

Brice lives on the Mid North Coast, and is a Primary School Teacher. As a kid growing up, he developed a prolonging health condition in his ear which had significant impacts on his schooling, social life, overall development and health leaving him with 20% hearing in one of his ears. This condition also impacted on activities that he could or couldn’t participate in. Two of them were swimming and sports. From this early age, his father and a teacher who supported me through these hardships introduced him to fishing, and from there, his passion and you could say addiction took off. Brice says that fishing is an outlet for not only his own, but also his mates’ mental health. Brice targets various species but Flathead and Jew are among his favourites, and he likes swimming big live baits for them or using big plastics/hard-bodied lures. Bass and other freshwater species are some of his favourites as well.

Brice quote. “The boys from Reel It In promote fantastic messages regarding fish handling and encouraging catch and release. Plus, they run the best comps! The boys and I got chatting, and I was very keen to jump on board to help promote their fantastic products as I already use many of them, but also to share their love and passion for this awesome sport as well. This industry is forever evolving and growing, but one thing that sets this team apart from the rest is that they are willing to help you and assist you with tips and tricks in anyway way they can. Also, through their laid back and genuine nature, they take the time to ensure their products or competitions provide you with deserving experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. It is just important to remember only to take what you need, plus I think there is no better feeling then watching your catches swim off to fight another day, especially the Big Crocs!”
Follow Brice’s captures and story at
Instagram- Fishin4Pics YouTube- Fishin4Pics Facebook- Fishin4Pics

NATHAN PYNE

Nathan’s been hooked on fishing for most of his life.  Based in Tamworth NSW, he is lucky enough to have multiple species of fish to chase. His favourites include Golden Perch, Trout, Bass and Murray Cod.

Nathan is a gun angler in the fresh and at 24 years old has accounted for many trophy fish.

Nathan has recently been testing some of the new gear from the REEL IT IN range against some of our amazing native species and the results are exciting to say the least. 

Quote from Nathan. “ I love the release that fishing gives. To get away and really take in the serenity. To share stories of catches with like-minded people. Most of the time the fish are a bonus. 

My favourite part of fishing is one day I can be hiking gorge country chasing fish and the next day taking the boat out in an impoundment or even kayaking river systems, the options are endless. I love taking pictures and videos at times of not just fishing but also the environment. Some of the places I go are breathtaking.”

Follow Nathan’s journey and his captures at

Instagram – Nathan_Pyne_Fishing

YouTube – Nathan Pyne

ZEPPELIN ALLAN 

Zeppelin Allan born in 2011 landed his first fish on fathers day 2015 and hasn’t looked back ever since and getting into soft plastics fishing in 2017 at the age of 6 the addiction began.

Zeppelins fathers dreams came true when at the age of 9 Zeppelin asked if he could sell his playstation to buy a better rod for lure fishing to which lucky for him santa came to the rescue that year. Coming from a fishing and camping family Zeppelin could set up his own swag by the age of 7 and had fished every bank, drop off and drain in and around Lake Tyres and Nowa Nowa and catching 60 cm flathead and 40cm bream had become second nature and just how he rolled.

One of Zeppelins biggest inspirations and roll models was/is Robbie Alexander from Youtube Channel Robbie Fishing and the two became pen pals and then best friends. Robbie a well known Murray Cod & freshwater fisherman came to Nowa Nowa to do some fishing and filming with Zeppelin, showing Robbie the fine art of catching bream and then proceeded to out fishing his idol Robbie.

At the age of 11 zeppelin started to target Big flathead landed of pb 71cm then upgraded to a  pb 78cm. Then after teaming up with Troy and the boys at REEL IT IN, Zeppelin went onto improving his skills and then the Bigger flathead started to come. A 81cm followed by a 83cm and then his biggest fish to date an 86cm on his favourite  and go to soft plastic the KROCS Frog Belly flipshad. Zeppelin was so keen to improve his casting ability he would set up buckets in the backyard and each bucket had points and would cast all day. Then last year in the Australian Flathead Challenge, Zeppelin took out the Best Junior division in Victoria.

Zeppelins passion for fishing and sharing his knowledge and skills with anyone of any level is second to none as long as you want to go fishing zep doesn’t care just shut up and let’s go fishing…

DANIEL MAROTTI 

Daniel began his fishing journey when he was only just old enough to hold a fishing rod, taking inspiration from his father and nonno.

He spent a lot of his younger years fishing various locations around South Australia chasing squid, bream, carp and redfin. Over the past few years he noticed that jetties were getting over crowded and was incredibly frustrated with the crowds. He decided to invest in a fishing kayak. The opportunity to fish from a kayak opened many doors, including meeting some amazing people in the fishing community that taught him so much and put him onto locations that he’d never fished before. Daniels best catch to date from the kayak is a 90cm snapper caught in Garden Island, SA.

Daniel is big on promoting kayak fishing and fishing in general while educating others during the process.

ABOUT REEL IT IN FISHING CHALLENGES


From humble beginnings in 2009, the Reel It In Flathead Challenge hit its straps in 2013 to include 55 anglers and since then has gone on to become Victoria’s premier Flathead event. The Mallacoota event held in November 2017 was full by mid July, some 4 months early, and saw 240 anglers battle it out for thousands of dollars in prizes.

A second calendar event was announced for Lake Tyers in 2017 which has also become a favourite of many.

In 2019 we are excited to be a part of the famous Narooma Flathead Challenge. This event will be the 9th time Narooma has hosted this very challenging but rewarding weekend.

The Flathead Challenge is a team event where each angler is supplied an official Reel It in Flathead Challenge Bragmat.

Your teams best 10 flathead over Saturday and Sunday within the assigned fishing times are photographed on the supplied Bragmat along with your team’s numbered keyring. ( also supplied).

Each cm is worth 2 points. For example a 47.5cm flathead will give your team 95 points.

The team with the winning length over the 2 days will be crowned winners.
The 2017 Mallacoota winners “Coota Time” walked away with some amazing prizes including a team prize of a $2000 boat wrap from Form a Sign. Each angler of the team also took home a Shimano Stella FI 2500 and Shimano Zodias Rod, a pair of Tonic Eyewear and as is tradition from the early days, a bottle of Johnie Walker Blue label.

Team prizes in 2017 were given to the top 10 finishing teams and included some great gear from many great Sponsors.

Prizes were also awarded for longest Flathead each day as well as a host of different categories.

With door prizes galore the event was a huge success and promises to be even better in 2018.

The Shimano Reel It In Flathead Challenge is also a proud supporter of Beyond Blue and last year through the kindness of all involved raised over $2000 for this great cause.

Entry to all Reel It In Fishing Challenges can be made directly on this website. To view our up’n coming events and register, click the button below!