A 30 knot westerly brought very cold conditions for the pre fish day of the Austackle Nelson Bay round of the Gamakatsu Teams Series (GTS).

On tournament day, 20 teams decided to brave the cold and windy conditions with a 20 knot westerly still blowing at the start. The wind eased during the day and conditions improved on the water, which produced some great fish; five bream around the 1kg mark and 25% of the field weighing in over 3kg bags.

Taking out the event with a fantastic bag of five fish weighing 4kg was team Big Wiggs, with anglers Brendon Hughes and Scott Greentree using some local knowledge to help produce quality fish. They had a troubled start with their electric not working by 8.30am. With no fish in the livewell by 9am they decided to go to some racks that produced good fish a few weeks ago near the islands.

Big Wiggs had to exercise some ingenuity to compensate for not having an electric. They used the main motor instead of the electric, one person would drive the boat to the entrance of the racks and the other would then cast Gulp baits into the racks. The driver would hold position with the motor and reverse out once they hooked up. Big Wiggs landed a consistent bag of good fish using this technique, with their biggest fish at 980g.

Coming in second place was team Whack It with Brent and Greg weighing five fish for 3.84kg. Slow rolling Chubby Crankbaits on shallow flats near the islands, the guys enjoyed a great day and caught plenty of quality fish, their largest weighing 1.07kg.

Third place was Team Sportys with Tony and Jay (Barnacle Man) travelling down from the Gold Coast and Ballina respectively. It was their first time on the system and they gave the locals a good run for their money, weighing in five fish for 3.6kg. Tony and Jay landed their fish casting Atomic Hardz Crank 38 Mid and Deeps close to the bank on the north side of the bay.

Big Bream was taken out by Team Valley Air Conditioning with Andrew and Joel producing a 1.11kg bream to just take the win from team Whack It’s 1.07kg fish. Catching their fish on a Chubby, the guys took home $250 cash plus the Damiki $250 prize pack.

GTS would like to thank the public that turned up to support the anglers and the event, also the Soldiers Point Holiday Park for giving GTS anglers discounted accommodation. Got One Port Stevens assisted with gift vouchers and hosting a bream technique presentation on Saturday night. Got One also put on some great specials for everyone that attended.

With every team taking home product packs from naming sponsor Austackle and series sponsor Gamakatsu, the teams were very happy with the event. GTS would like to also thank Rhys Withers and Andrew Smith for helping on the day.

Thanks to Austackle for some great prizes and giveaways for the public that attended the weigh in and presentation. Hope to see everyone at the next round at the Gold Coast on 14 August. – Michael Starkey and Vinnie Bleakley

Gamakatsu Teams Series Winners