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Because things are a bit quiet at the moment on the tournament scene we thought we would post up some info from past events. As you can see, this year it has been pretty ordinary in the fish catching stakes. Maybe the next few comps will see everything will improve.
Dan Ryan and Justin Scott headed out to Glenbawn for a quick 2 hr session this morning and a lot of Bass hit the front deck. Fish came mainly from the edges with some caught from the deep. TN 60 Jackalls, and the new Bassman compact spinnerbaits both did the trick.
Now why can’t this happen in a comp. Or maybe it will.
Next Round is at Glenbawn on the 7-8th of August.
Last weekend 57 teams competed in Bassin’s R4 event at Lake Glenbawn on what could be said one of the best weekend’s weather wise but probably one of the hardest Bass wise. With only 109 Bass brought back to the weigh station with an average weight of 798grams
Optional Extra’s father and son team of Ron & Jack Jones took out their first win of the Bassin series. The boys have competed since the start of the competition back in 2007 and finally cracked it for a win. In another tough bite Ron & Jack started session 3 with a 2kg lead on the rest of the field and did it pretty easy getting their limit of 4 Bass within the first ½ an hour of each session to secure a full limit of 12 fish for 9.88kg and the only team to do so. Jack said the lure of choice was a Jackal ice jig in red and black. They targeted suspended fish in the 10 – 15’ mark watching the sounder carefully, holding the ice jig in front of their faces and using short sharp twitches. The boys fished right up the back around the 8 knot zone during the competition and twice Jack had to be brought back to the weigh station with his teams fish and the key tag due to the fact that Dad hadn’t got the Yamaha serviced properly before the comp and was having some electrical issues.
Second place went to the ever consistent Team Mako’s Greg Parkes and Steve Almond who vertically fished Berkley Gulps also on suspended fish around the 15’ mark. There second placing has enforced their current first place standing in the team of the year points score with a 10 fish limit for 7.79kg.
Third placed team of Gregg Flett and Toby Wilson (Team Damiki / Barz Optics) also fished towards the top end of the dam fishing around trees and suspended Bass with plastics, Damiki blades and ice jigs to secure their 7 fish bag of 7.380kg
The EvaKool Big Bass went to Bassfury’s Pro angler Steve Richards with a tiny 1.41kg specimen, but hey it was the biggest for the weekend. Steve also caught his fish on a Jackal ice jig. Well done Steve.
Ist placed Junior Angler also went to Jack Jones with 3 Bass for 2.63kg and took home a Lamiglas Competitor Spin rod and a prize pack for his troubles. 2ndplace was James Fairburn with 2 Bass for 1.7kg and 3rd was Ryan Jones with 2 Bass for 1.49kg.
Everyone seemed to have a good time even though for some the fishing was tough. Hope to see you all in a couple of months for R5 at Glenbawn on the 7th August.
56 teams headed to Lake St Clair for R3 of the 2010 Bassin series. In what was the toughest bite in Bassin’s 2 year history, only 100 Bass were returned back to the weigh master over the 2 day event. The conditions were perfect but the Bass just didn’t want to bite, bringing most teams to there knee’s wondering what they had to do just to get on the board. No team weighed in their full limit of 12 fish.
But one team came close though. David Williamson and Ryan Jones from Team Full Scale / Berkley went into day 1 with a plan that worked a treat. The boys vertically slow rolled Berkley Gulp minnow grubs in Camo colour and targeted fish in the 30 to 40 foot mark. Ryan said that once we found the fish you had to get them to follow the Gulp down to the bottom and once you got them to do that you would generally get a strike on the first couple of turns back up. David and Ryan moved between a couple of spots they found on pre fish day trying to find those active fish. If the fish wouldn’t bite they would go to their other location only to return later. The boys weighed in 11 fish for 7.380kg and took home around $2000.00 in cash and prizes.
In second place we had the ever consistent Team Mako who also slow rolled Gulp grubs and targeted Bass in deep water. Greg Parkes and Steve Almond in the last two rounds have showed some great form finishing 1st at Glenbawn and 2nd at Lake St Clair. The points that they have received for the last 2 rounds will go a long way to keeping them up at the top of the Team of the year point score. Greg and Steve weighed in 9 fish for 6.83kg.
Colin Ipsen and Brad Chambers “Team Woodstock “decided to ease up on the drinking and secured 3rd place. The boys landed their fish throwing spinner baits and plastics to the edges. Colin said that they kept their boat in around 6m of water and over suspended fish hoping that one would come up to the edge to feed. The bites were very few and far between but we just kept persisting with our technique, and it worked. 8 fish for 5.020kg
First placed Junior was Ryan Jones, 3 fish for 2.47kg. Second place was “Chick Magnet “Jack Jones, 2 fish for 1.51kg and third place was Dylan Glover with 1 fish for 800 grams. Well done
The EvaKool Big Bass went to Wes Smith with 1.80 kg. Wes said that he was just plain lucky, throwing a jackal smack bang on top of its head. Too modest I think Wes.
The Bassman Spinnerbaits encouragement award went to Team Acko for their consistant efforts in not catching many fish so far this year lol. But they keep on turning up and that shows some great ticker along with a lot of other teams, but hopefully you all will get to experience a great bite soon.
Hope you all had a good time and hopefully R4 Glenbawn on the 15th May will see the Bass biting their heads off.
Results available on the results page
60 teams competed in R2 of the Bassin series in what was probably one of the toughest bites we have had at Lake Glenbawn. But the weather did hold out for us with foggy mornings and overcast skies, and was exactly what was predicted by champion weather forecaster Bruce at the briefing. Perfect fishing conditions.
Team Mako’s Steve Almond and Greg Parkes worked hard in a very fickle bite to clench their first victory in the 2010 Bassin Tournament series. The boys remained in second position for most of the weekend making their move during the last session to take home the win. Steve and Greg fished deep on standing tree structure in 40 – 50’ of water, slow rolling Camo Berkley gulps vertically up through the branches of the trees. If the Bass weren’t active at a particular tree they were targeting they would keep moving trying to find active fish. Mako concentrated their efforts mainly between the Dam wall and the northern end of the main basin to secure their full limit of 12 fish for 9.870kg.
2nd Placed brother combination, Squirrel Bros started the last session out in front but couldn’t quite get the weight they needed to hold out Mako. Neil and Ron Scott also rolled gulps and paddle tails to secure their full limit of 12 fish for 9.620kg. We did nothing wrong Neil said, our aim was to get a full limit of fish but the weight just wasn’t their in the last session.
Husband and wife pairing of Mark and Julie Lennox “Team Wranglers” ended the weekend on a high finishing in 3rd place. Julie out fished Mark 2 to 1, returning to the weigh master a full limit of 12 fish for 8.920KG
Champion Junior angler was Ryan Jones of Aberdeen who also slow rolled Camo and Banana Prawn Berkley Gulps to secure his full limit of 3 fish for 2.660kg. Ryan took home the Champion Junior prize of a Lamiglas cert pro baitcaster and a tackle prize pack.
The EvaKool Big Bass prize went to Ron Jones for his 1.29kg effort which he landed in session 3 by also vertically rolling plastics in deep water.
The Bassman Spinnerbaits encouragement award went to Father and Son combination of Gerard and Jonah Hayward. The guys tried hard all weekend without any success. One day it will all come together and a top 10 will be just around the corner.
We would like to sincerely thank all our sponsors, Bassman Spinnerbaits, EvaKool Ice Boxes, Dreamfish, Damiki, Berkely, Lamiglas Rods, Glenbawn Kiosk and also the assistance we get from Frogley’s Offshore, Jackal and Canobolas Marine.
St Clair teams results click to view
63 teams competed in the first round of the Bassin NSW Team’s series for 2010. Storms and rain greeted the 126 angler strong field with all anglers struggling to achieve their full bag limit of 12 fish.
One team did achieve there full bag though. Ian Wratten and James Browning ( Team Black Jack)put a few of the more favoured anglers back in their place by trolling jackals and spinnerbaits along the weed edges to secure their full limit of 12 fish for 7.630kg. The boys were stoked to take home the $ 1200.00 winners cheque and tackle prize packs valued at $320.00.
In 2nd place was the ever consistent team of Craig Robertson and Jade Cornish (Team Lamiglas) with 11 fish for 7.510 kg. The boys fished the same point all weekend putting to good use their Lamiglas rods and taking home the 2nd placed cheque of $ 800.00 and tackle prize packs valued at $320.00.
Gregg Flett and Toby Wilson (Team Barz Optics) rounded out the top 3 taking home the $500.00 cheque and $ 320.00 of tackle prize packs.
Best placed Junior was Blake Lambert (Team Big Game) who fished with his mum Judy. The guys finished in 28th place overall with Blake taking out the juniors with his maximum 3 best bass of 2.050kg. Blakes fish came mainly from Jackalls and Spinnerbaits to the edges.
Big Bass went to John Picton (Team Smico) who landed his 1.53kg fish in the 3rd session on a Jackall.
The Bassman Spinnerbaits encouragement award went to Judy Roeth in here first ever tournament. Judy didn’t weigh a fish in but for her to get up on Sunday morning in the pouring rain at 4.30 just to be out there with her son was great to see. Don’t let Blake get his hands on the Bassman’s Judy you deserved them.
Overall there were 197 bass brought back to the scales with an average weight of 725mm. Not too bad I suppose considering the terrible conditions experienced by the competitors over the weekend.
See you all at the next round at Glenbawn on the 6th March
66 teams turned out for the 6th and final round of the Blue Acres/Lamiglas 2009 NSW Bassin Tournament at a picturesque Lake Glenbawn.
Even with the hot and glassed out conditions the bass were seemingly on the job and enabled the anglers to catch a record tournament haul of 421 fish at an average weight of 746grams.
Heading out in first place for the last session was the ever consistent Team Loomis who had a 780gram lead over team Bassin.Com. Mick and Joel fished fly all weekend adjacent to a weed bed opposite the soil con shed. Mick said that the bass were taking the fly very tentatively and most of the time you thought that you had picked up some weed.
Team Loomis weighed in their smallest bag for the weekend of 3.190kgs giving them a total of 12/12 fish for 11.220kgs and giving Bassin.Com a great chance to knock them off for the first place spot. With Justin & Wayne needing a 3.970kg bag they could only manage 3.270kgs giving Mick & Joel their third 1st place for the year. In contrast to Loomis, Bassin.com fished mainly reaction type Jackalls to the edges and timber lined creek beds.
Bassin.Com hung on to 2nd spot for their equal best finish for the year with a 12/12 fish limit of 10.520kgs.
For the second round in a row Team Mako’s, Steve Almond & Greg Parkes rounded out the top 3 with a 12/12 limit of 10.660kgs.
The EvaKool Big Bass of 1.570kgs was caught in Session #3 by Team Woodstocks Colin Ipsen.
With his first tournament win, Greenback Spinnerbaits angler Rhys Tiggemann took out the junior division with a 3 from 3 fish limit of 1.780kgs.
For the second consecutive year Team Loomis’s, Mick Pascoe and Joel Norman took out the Team of the year with their best 4 rounds being 3 firsts and a second adding up to an almost perfect 399 out of a possible 400.
Junior Angler of the year went to Pioneer Fish Farm’s Walter Scifleet with his best 4 rounds adding up to an impressive 396 out of a possible 400.
Big Bass for 2009 went to Bugger Me Bass’s Steve Newman with a fine specimen of 2.090kgs caught way back at the first round of the year at Lake St Clair
NSW Bassin Tournaments would like to thank all their sponsors and competitors for their support throughout 2009 and look forward to seeing you all again in 2010.
34 teams paid their entry fee to fish the inaugural NSW Bassin Tournaments, Bassin Big Bucks event at Lake Glenbawn on the 10th & 11th of October.
With a 2 week pre fish ban being implemented for this event, teams would be using every bit of their bass fishing knowledge to locate & bag their limits to win as much of the $10,000 plus cash pool as possible.
Teams also had the opportunity to Option Up at a cost of $200.00 per team to create another cash pool and with 13 teams doing so they put another $865.00 per session up for grabs to the highest placed Option Up team in each of the session.
The tournament was run as a skins event over three sessions, so having a bad result in the first session didn’t mean the end of your weekend.
Bring in what was possibly the biggest bag of 4 fish in the last 4 to 5 years was Team Kiwi’s Dave & Rana Trinder with a weight of 7.260kgs earning them $1500.00 for the session win. Their massive bag included a 2.050kg specimen that took out the Big Bass prize for the weekend earning them another $600.00 and they also were part of the Option Up choice picking up another $865.00 giving them a total of $2965.00 for the weekend.
The ever consistent Team Loomis Joel Norman & Mick Pascoe also had a good weekend picking up a first place in session #2, second place in session #3 and winning both session 2 and 3 in the Option Up choice giving them a total of $4230.00 for their efforts.
Other winners over the weekend were Team X Factor consisting of Greg Beattie & Rich Potter who picked up second place in both sessions 1 & 2 for a total of $2000.00
Husband & wife team, Team Megabass Jade & Kylie Cornish picked up $665.00 for 3rd place in session #1, Tomo’s Marine/Pfleuger’s Wayne Beazley & Andrew Drennan also had a 3rd place finish in session #2 picking up $665.00.
Tournament regulars Steve Chang & Charlie Babbage fishing as Team Lured In picked up session #3 by a mere 10grams with a bag of 4.740kgs to pick up the $1500.00 prize money, rounding out session #3 in third place was Aberdeen locals Steven Richards & Ron Jones fishing as team Optional Xtra earning themselves $665.00.
The Blue Acres/Lamiglass series will return to Lake Glenbawn on the 14th & 15th of November for the 6th and final round for 2009 where some lucky angler will win a trip to Fiji just from attending one of the rounds throughout the year.
70 teams made their way to beautiful Lake St Clair on the 12th & 13th of September for the 5th round of the Blue Acres/ Lamiglas 2009 NSW Bassin Tournament on a magnificent spring weekend with clear skies and a gusty afternoon breeze.
After an encouraging prefish over the previous weekends, most teams were confident of catching enough fish to fill their required limits. With 101 fish caught in the first session, 99 in the second and 72 in the third for a total of 272 fish weighing in at an average of 773grams per fish, most of the teams ended up very disappointed.
Breaking through for their maiden win was Team of the year contenders Total Hoardings Daniel Clancy & Ian Roberts. Sitting in first position overnight their plan was to just go out and catch a full 4 fish bag and hope it would be enough to secure the top spot. Not only did they catch their limit, it was the best bag for the session giving them a total limit of 12/12 fish for 11.630kgs to secure their first win.
Previous winners of the last two rounds Team Loomis’s Mick Pascoe & Joel Norman had to settle for 2nd. After sitting in third place overnight with a 1.180kg deficit to catch the leaders, they would need a great bag to jump them into the #1 position. They did manage their 4 fish for session #3 but it wasn’t enough to get them their third win in a row ending up with a 12/12 limit of 9.930kgs
Team Mako consisting of tournament regulars Steve Almond from Singleton & Greg Parkes from Armidale rounded out the top three with a 12/12 limit of 9.300kgs
The EvaKool Big Bass of 1.600kgs was caught in Session #2 by Luke Novak from Team Skullin.
Fishing in his first Bassin comp Team Bassooka’s Jye Flemming took out the junior division with a 2/3 limit for 1.990kgs.
The Encouragement awards sponsored by Bassman Spinnerbaits, Damiki & Dreamfish went to Secret Creek #2 and Team Nice One.
The next event will be the inaugural Bassin Big Bucks which will be run as a skins event with the top 3 from each of the session receiving the cash, so the more teams that enter the more money to be given away.
The Blue Acres / Lamiglas series will return to Lake Glenbawn on the 14th & 15th of November for final round of the 6 event series.
On what could only be classed as perfect conditions for fishing, 70 teams greeted the start line for the fourth round of the Blue Acres/Lamiglas 2009 NSW Bassin Tournament at a picturesque Lake Glenbawn.
With the water level having risen since the last visit and with reports of the fishing being a bit easier than previous comps coming true, a total of 315 fish were brought to the weigh station at an average weight of 860grams, a considerable increase in weight from the last visit here in April where the average was 695grams.
At the end of the weekend round #3 winners & the most consistent team so far, Team Loomis’s Mick Pascoe & Joel Norman came from 3rd place over night to take out the event with a 12 from 12 limit of 11.480kgs.
Sitting in 2nd place overnight Team Gecko lures tried hard to get into the #1 position and did all they could to bring in their 4 fish for the morning but it was not enough but still maintained their 2nd spot on the board with a 12 from 12 limit of 11.040kgs.
Team Kiwi consisting of Dave & Rana Trinder brought in the 2nd biggest bag for session #3 of 3.920kgs which jumped them from 5th spot overnight to take out 3rd overall with a 12 from 12 limit of 10.840kgs.
The Eva Kool Big Bass of 1.890kgs was caught in Session #1 by Boatland Marines Steve Woods using a slow roll retrieve of a 3” Slider grub in Smoke Yellow Core colour.
The junior division was taken out by Team Big Games angler Dominic Jordan fishing his first comp with a 2 from 3 fish limit of 1.910kgs.
The Encouragement awards sponsored by Damiki & Dreamfish went to father & son team of Malcolm & Luke Draper from Team Draper and Team Maverick consisting of Stuart Rae & Michael Bunt.
The Blue Acres/Lamiglas series will return to Lake St Clair on the 12th & 13th of September for Round #5 REGISTER HERE
The water level at Lake Glenbawn is currently over 80%. And with the higher water levels comes an increase in weed growth which also encourages an increase in bait, smelt, shrimp, gudgeons etc to breed up. Every bay you go into you will see schools of smelt. So with the increase in the size of the bait schools comes the increase in the size of the bass.
The growth rate of the bass in Glenbawn is amazing with all the fish caught as fat as footballs and looking very healthy. A lot of the fish are also full of roe so their tummies are pretty fat. Come spring, when things start to warm up the fishing should improve even more than it is now. A good few spinnerbaits and Jackalls will certainly be lost to these hard fighting fish.
The bass seem to be a bit scattered about at the moment, but can be caught both hard on the edges or out a little deeper mainly by casting plastics with ¼ oz jig heads or slow rolling blades.
Bassin’s next round on the 1st & 2nd of August should be a cracker, so give your reels a service and increase your leader size as these fish are certainly hitting the lures extremely hard.
Here we have Neil and Ron Scott from Team Squirrel Bros with a great limit of fish caught at Lake Glenbawn this weekend. Ronny’s looking a bit old don’t you think?? We might even have to find someone to cast his line out for him pretty soon.
2009 Team AOY points are now available: http://www.bassin.com.au/xl/2009Team-AOY-points-May.xls
62 teams made it to the start of round #3 under a thick blanket of fog on a chilly autumn morning only to have it clear to an almost perfect day.
Lake St Clair proved to be not that much different to the last round at Lake Glenbawn with once again the fish not co-operating. In what was one of the toughest comps ever held on Lake St Clair only one of the team managed to catch their 12 fish limit and only 118 out of a possible 744 fish were brought to the weigh station over the weekend.
Team Loomis’s Mick Pascoe & Joel Norman was the only team to bring their full12 fish limit to the weigh station for a total of 8.710kgs.Mick and Joel fished fly all weekend throwing Bass Vampire pattern fly’s with fast sinking line to the edges and returning the fly back to the boat with short sharp retrieves. A teqnique that certainly worked for them.
Session #1 leaders Bassin.Com’s Justin Scott & David Green fell short in the second session and only managed a 10 from 12 limit for 7.450kg to fill second place. The boys fished mainly suspending shallow crankbaits over the weed patches and fly to secure their bag.
Compleat Angler Toronto’s team of Wayne Beazley & Andrew Drennan rounded out the top 3 with a 9 from 12 limit for 6.220kgs fishing mainly Pro Blue Sliders on ¼ oz jig heads and casting to the edges with a slow retrieve back to the boat.
The evaKool Big Bass was won by Koolabung Lure’s angler Steven Richards with a chunky bass tipping the scales at a creditable 1.850kgs caught on a silent brown dog Jackall.
The junior division was taken out by Conner Walmsley who outfished his dad “again” by casting TN60 Jackalls in Noike Gill & Brown Dog colours to weigh in 2 from 3 fish for 1.780kgs.
The Blue Acres/Lamiglas series will return to Lake Glenbawn on the 1st & 2nd of August for Round #4
Round 3 overall results: http://www.bassin.com.au/xl/R3-2009.xls
Round #2
As the 65 teams started out on Saturday morning no one would have dreamt how tough their weekends fishing was going to be.
In what was arguably one of the toughest comps ever held on Lake Glenbawn not one of the teams managed to catch their 12 fish limit and only 103 out of a possible 780 fish were brought to the weigh station.
Secret Creek Lures #1′s, Greg Flett & Shayne Broderick managed to tough out the constantly changing weather conditions to finish first with a 9 from 12 limit for 7.550kgs . Greg and Shayne secured the bag by fishing mainly deep and jigging Berkely gulp minnows from 60′ to 120′ of water, with the fish only just tapping at the lures. The use of high quality and sensitive rods and a light 2lb leader and 1/8 jig head was the order of the day. Following in second place by Team M & M’s comprising of Armidale based anglers Mark Lennox & Mark Fitzgerald with 9 from 12 fish for 6.900kgs also getting their fish in the deep.Rounding out the top 3 was last rounds winners Bugger Me Bass’s Dave Lane & Steve Newman with 10 from 12 fish for 5.640kgs.
The EvaKool Big Bass was shared between Secret Creek #1’s Shayne Broderick & Secret Creek #2’s young gun Sam Dykes with a fish of 1.300kgs each.Both anglers received an EvaKool 45ltr ice box for their efforts.
The junior division was taken out by Walter (Waza) Schifleet with his 3 from 3 fish limit weighing in at 2.900kgs.
Round #3 will be held at Lake St Clair on the 9th & 10th May where hopefully a more co-operative bite will greet the anglers.
65 teams took to the water for Bassin’s first round of the 2009 season.
The weather was fantastic and the water level of St Clair currently stands at over 70 % of capacity, which mean’t that there were plenty of grassy banks to fish.
Although a lot of the bass were holding up in deep water they weren’t the fish that were biting.
Team Bugger Me Bass’s David Lane and Steve Newman took out the event by heading up the back of the Fallbrook arm in the search of glassy water. All their fish were caught on the surface by using Taylor- Made Fatbanger fizzers in black. Although the boys didn’t catch a fish in the second session their 2 x 4kg bags was enough to clinch victory by a mere 10 grams. Steve also took out big bass with a 2.09kg fish coming off the surface at 10.00 o’clock on Sunday morning. Dave and Steve said that bass can be caught on the surface in every month of the year and all times throughout the day in Lake St Clair but you must target the shady areas. The gear the boys used were Shimano Rackraider rods matched to Diawa 2000 spin reels with 6kg braid and 6lb vanish leader.
Losing their first placed position, which they held at the start of the last session by 10 grams, was Team Total Hoardings Daniel Clancy and Ian Roberts. The boys caught their fish up in the Carrobrook arm fishing a very shallow point. The guys cast ¼ oz Beetlespins with a Berkley Powerbait T-Tail minnow attached, and Jackals up close to the edge and cranked the lures back quickly keeping them up and out of the grass and weed. The gear of choice was Berkley Drop Shot rods matched to Abu Cardinal Spin reels and Abu Revo baitcasters
3rd placed team Boatland Marine also fished the Fallbrook arm of Lake St Clair. Steve and Dennis Woods caught all their fish by casting ¼ oz Nitro’s and 3” Sliders in Smoke Yellow core to the edges in the morning and then moving back out to deeper water in the 20 and 30’ mark as the sun got higher.
Anyway a great weekend was had by all with plenty of fish hitting the scales. Looking forward to seeing you all for round 2 at Glenbawn in April.
Champion Team for 2008 saw Team Loomis’s Mick Pascoe and Joel Norman take out the honors. Mick and Joel finished with a total of 660 AOY points out of a possible 700 to blitz the rest of the field. Mick and Joel will be heading to Weipa for some Barramundi fishing with the guides from Weipa Fly Fish, during the run off. They will be flying up to Weipa all expenses paid for hopefully a very memorable fishing trip leaving on the 25th of April next year. Well done guys.
Our Champion Junior angler for 2008 went to Team Optional Extra’s Jack Jones from Aberdeen. Jack consistently out fished dad, weighing in some great bags of Bass. Jack finished with a total AOY point score of 465 ahead of Reid Tierney and Jack Jones both on 435 points. Great work Jack.
Oh and guess who took out the Lucky Draw. Dennis the Menace.
Well that’s it for 2008. Next year we will be trying a few different things with some new events , including a Golden Perch Series and a Bassin’s Big Bucks event to be held at Lake Glenbawn next October. Also there will be some slight twitches made to our point score and rules,regulations and registration procedures. These changes will be posted up soon.
Hope you guys all enjoyed our first year and hope to see you all in 2009.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!!!
A very strong 60 team field turned out at Lake Glenbawn to compete in our last event for the year with every team weighing in fish. A total of 537 Bass were weighed in with an average of 0.711kg. Remembering that fish with a minimum length of 30cm to the fork are only allowed to be weighed, so a tremendous amount of Bass must have been hooked.
Billy Pumpa and Dennis Roughan showed no form most of the year, but came home in our last two events finishing 5th in round 6 and 1st in round 7 to complete the year on a high. Billy and Dennis fished the Lost Island area the whole weekend guarding it from other competitors and accumulating a full bag of 12 bass for 9.980kg. The ever consistent TN60 Jackalls in Brown Dog and Black Market were the go to lures over the weekend. Billy’s gear consisted of a Loomis Bronzeback rod matched with a Diawa Sole spooled with 10lb Castaway and 10lb Nitlon leader. Dennis used a Loomis Crankbait 783 matched with a Curado 200 spooled with 16lb Castaway and 14lb Siglon leader. Both Billy and Dennis slowed rolled their Jackalls out over the fresh green weedbeds that were prolific around the island. “You had to keep your lure down in that green stuff” No weed no fish Billy said. “Also if it wasn’t for Dennis in the last session catching all of our keeper fish we would have definitely finished outside the top 10.” What a great partner.
2nd placed Hotrods 1, Michael Hall and Daniel Quinn from Aberdeen also through Jackalls along with Spinnerbaits to finish with 11 fish for 9.810kg. Daniel also scoring the big bass for the year of 1.92kg to take home a Down Under esky and the Big Bass perpetual trophie.
3rd placed Therapy’s , Darren Taylor and Jeff Randell also fished very consistently over the weekend compiling a full bag limit of 12 fish for 9.750kg. Jackalls and spinnerbaits were also the order of the day.
Just goes to show that if you can firstly aim at achieving your full bag limit each session, then try to upgrade you will find that most teams who do this will be in the mix for a top 10 at the end of the tournament.
Campion female angler went to Kylie Cornish and Champion junior angler to young Thomas Stewart. Thomas out fished his dad all weekend also throwing a Jackall in Purple Snake to the edges and slow rolling thelure out from the bank with plenty of pauses. Most of Thomas’s fish hit while the lure was on the pause.
It was great to see lots of smiling faces coming up to the weigh station throughout the weekend. Especially from those who struggled through out the year, finally catching some good bags to weigh in. What a great way to end the year.
63 Teams converged on Lake Glenbawn to compete in our round 6 event. Most teams got amongst the fish with a total of 400 Bass caught with an average weight of .729kg which is up on past events.
Most of the Bass were taking Jackalls and spinnerbaits cast to the edges with plenty of stories of hard running Bass not getting back to the boat. Surface was an option also, but only in the first session, with the fish not playing the game with surface in the last.
Team Savage’s, Craig Robertson and Jade Cornish scored their second win at Lake Glenbawn for this year by casting Rattling Brown Dog Jackalls to the edges and fishing the same section of bank all weekend. With very tight drags on their Lamiglas crankbait rods the boys secured victory with a full limit of 12 Bass. “You had to go hard on the Bass early due to the fact there was lots of timber just under the surface, which did result in some pulled hooks” Jade said. Well done guys.
2nd place we had Team Smico, John Picton and Dylan Smith also with a full limit of Bass, 12 fish for 9.050kg. This is only the second event the boys have entered, having a 32nd placing last round to a 2nd this time around. Look out next round guys these boys are brimming with confidence.
3rd place we have the ever consistent and current competition overall leaders, Team Loomis.Mick Pascoe and Joel Norman. Mick and Joel fished mainly up around the Big House Bay area, also catching their full limit of 12 fish for 8.690kg.
It was great to see the patience everybody showed during the start of the second session with the start location being moved to the bay near the new boat ramp area. The conditions of the dam had become pretty treacherous but the enclosed waters of the bay allowed for a reasonable start. A number of teams didn’t feel comfortable about going out at the start of the second session but headed out a bit later on in the afternoon when things settled down a bit.
This weekend we had 17 juniors competing, with two junior only teams venturing out on their own which was great to see. Team Nitro, Darren Reardon and Christopher Reggars from Nabiac and Team Bassooka , Kallin Cameron and Jyh Heming from Belmont. What a great bunch of young blokes. It was great to see these guys out mixing it with the big guns.
Big Bass went to Brad Turner from Team Nomads on a Jackall and Champion female angler went to Cass Boyce from Team El Vulpes.
Hope to see you all at our next and last round for this year at Lake Glenbawn on the 6th-7th December .
Team Loomis does it again
71 Teams entered our Round 5 event at Lake St Clair last weekend.The weather was great although a strong N/E wind picked up through out the day, troubling some of our anglers. With the recent rise in water levels the Bass were very hard to come by with none of the 71 teams catching their full bag limit of 12 fish. Most anglers though would have had no trouble putting together a good bag of Golden Perch.
Our current championship leaders Mick Pascoe and Joel (Slim) Norman headed out in 3rd place on Sunday morning behind teams Twitchen and Just 4 Fun. Mainly fishing spinner baits and fly to the edges, with some mist opportunities and a couple of bust offs they stormed home to take out the round, compiling a 10 fish total bag. Finishing in 1st place will go a long way to securing their hold on the Weipa trip for champion team this year. Sorry for doubting you guys on Lake St Clair, revenge is sweet isn’t it!!!
Finishing in 2ND place we had Team Just 4 Fun, Greg Parkes and Steve Almond. Greg and Steve also fished mainly reaction baits to get their 9 fish total bag. The boy’s have been pretty consistent this year also finished in second place at our round 2 event at Lake Glenbawn. Greg will be competing in the ABT Grand final in a couple of weeks so he wasn’t too keen to give too much away which I can’t blame him. It’s a very small world in the tournament scene, but I hope his plans for the event will come through for him.
In 3rd place were the young guns from Tamworth Ian Roberts and Daniel Clancy. Charlie’s Corner Fishing Tackle started out in 11th place at the start of the 3rd session also fishing reaction baits. Blades, Spinner baits and Jackalls were the order of the day. Daniel and Robert stormed home with a 4 fish, 2.940kg bag to take out 3rd spot overall. Ian is also getting married in a few weeks time so I hope he is allowed to keep fishing. Maybe give Daniel the flick Ian and bring your girl along next time.
To have a top 10 finish in a big field of 70 + teams is a great achievement. So congratulations to those of you who got there. It was great to see a few teams up there who have only started fishing tournaments this year. See it’s not too hard; it’s just a confidence thing. Maybe you guys will be stepping up to the Pro ranks very soon.
Thanks for a great weekend. Hope to see you all at Glenbawn on the 8th November.
Lake St Clair Round Presentation
What a great weekend!!
The Skeeter owner’s tournament was held at Lake Glenbawn last weekend with 25 teams competing.
The event is organized by Josh Batterson of Skeeter Boats Australia every year on the 3rd weekend in September for all Skeeter owners. It is a teams, shared weight event and runs over 2 days with anglers fishing a 7hr session on the Saturday and a 6 Hr session on the Sunday.
Skeeter owners are allowed to invite a friend along for the weekend and yes I do have friends. Mick Elsley invited me along to fish as the Elsley team, probably because of my great “fishing ability” or was it my great company; anyway we had a great time, and catching some Bass as well. The weekend was fully catered with plenty of food and refreshments supplied by Josh. There were also lots of prizes on offer. There was a yellow duck hunt where a prize was attached to each duck. There were secret weight prizes. There were Jackall packs, Lucky craft packs, MinnKota chargers, Megabass, Flueger , Bing Lee, Shimano, Loomis, Lowrance , Evinrude, Pure Fishing etc, etc. You name it all the big names were on board for this one. The meals were again supplied by Sandra, Dennis, and the girls from the Lake Glenbawn Kiosk, and we all know how they can look after us.
Craig Simmons and Adam Ward took out the event with a total of 6 fish in a pretty well shut down bite. The fish are there they just have lock jaw at the moment. During their presentation speech Simmo and Wardy didn’t give too much away, (Megabucks coming up) only saying that they kept their lures down deep due to the fact that the water was very clear.
Anyway a great weekend Josh, hope to be there again next year.
With 3 rounds to go, who do you think will take out champion team for 2008 and win the trip to Weipa.
We have 1 round left at Lake St Clair and 2 at Lake Glenbawn.
1st place we have Team Loomis. Mick and Joel have been very consistent through out this year but tend to struggle at St Clair (Sorry boys it’s the truth). Put them at Glenbawn though and watch them perform. Mick would be one of the best exponents of deep fly bass fishing that I have ever seen and has also won over $12,000 in prize money fishing ABT tournaments over the past few years.
2nd place currently is Team Extreme, the boys from Windsor, Greg Beattie and Allen Cleary. These guys are a couple of well seasoned tournament anglers both in bass and bream. They are very thorough with the way they approach each event doing lots of homework before they compete and usually have some type of game plan prior to even leaving home.
3rd place we have North West Fishing Tackle 1, Robert and Daniel from Tamworth. These two blokes are very quiet achievers. They were unknowns at the start of the year and have snuck up on the rest of the field. But everyone knows them now. They don’t say too much, don’t give too much away, but boy can they fish.
4th place we have teams 2 teams. Team Bass About, Ben and Ron Pepperall. These guys are locals to our 2 major dams Glenbawn and St Clair and know them both very well. Probably the most consistent anglers when it comes to extracting deep schooled bass. Ben’s an expert in the art of targeting single fish on the sounder and slow rolling plastics up through the depths to usually get his limit, which sounds a lot easier than it really is.
Also in 4th place are The Squirrels Bros. Ron and Neil are quiet often mistaken for father and son but their not, they are bro’s. Probably because Ronny looks a lot older than he really is. These guys love their surface fishing, with Neil being one of the most patient fishermen that I have ever seen throwing a popper around for surface feeding fish. Neil also took out ABT’s Borumba round this year in Queensland bringing home the $3000.00 cheque. But don’t ask them where or how they are catching them, they won’t tell you.
5th place we have Team Savage. What can I say about these two? Robo and Jade are the most unlikely partners that you would ever expect to fish together. They are both the biggest stirrers, “BS artist” that we have competing. They are both very competitive with each other and always arguing. But in saying that they are both great guys. Ask them who is the best angler and both will poke themselves in the chest. How they are sitting in 5th place is beyond me though, maybe the use of their Lamiglas sponsored rods are getting them over the line.
Who do you think is going to take the competition out? Will it be out of these 6 teams?
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Due to recent rain, water levels in the dam are rising, this is creating more country for bass and more food being produced, which means more bait balls are seen whilst out fishing. Due to warmer days, there have been more bugs and moths appearing after dark. Since water temperature is rising, there might be a surface action start up in the mornings and afternoons.
We have been catching fish on Slider Pro Blue 3″ with 1/4 ounce jigheads. In schools, dad, my brother and I have been using a variety of lures – one of them being Jackall Blades. The technique we’ve been using with the Jackall Blades is just letting them sink to the bottom, then slowly rolling them off the bottom.
Catch you on the water
Ryan Jones.
