The first day of the 2010 Spirit of Tasmania Trout Classic was heralded by fresh south west winds and the odd passing shower of rain.

True to form, all teams were on the water by 6:50am, so with no further ado a series of rooster tails, matched only by high expectations, surged across the lake.

The fishing proved to be a lot tougher than many had predicted, with all teams reporting short takes or follow-ups to the boat with either no take at all or a very ‘fluffy’ take.

In the final analysis on day one, Team Cranka Pro holds the lead going into the second day on Great Lake. As this event is decided by rankings in each of the two days, the two fish, 67cm lead counts for nothing – only another good day can give them the title.

In total 76 fish were measured for a total of 32.72m – an average length of 43cm, up a couple of cm on the average. All fish were reported as being in good solid Arthurs Lake condition, so let’s hope Great Lake comes home with the goods and some thumping fish. After reviewing the fish pics, I am very happy to report that the fish are in very good condition, and some real fatties amongst them.

Day Two of the 2010 Tasmanian Trout Classic started in extremely cold conditions, with the mercury dipping to -7°C at start time.

This lead to all sorts of chaos, with an iced up ramp and plenty of frozen outboard tell-tales.

After enjoying some of Jason Harris's egg and bacon rolls + a hot coffee, some life returned to the fingertips and life was good!

In spite of the frigid conditions, teams squirted across the lake in search of those famous big brown trout.

While the Weather Bureau promised light winds and clear blue skies, what transpired was a windy day with total cloud and scudding showers – pretty ordinary really.

Great Lake as always polarised teams, with a vast difference between top and bottom on the scoreboard.Five teams failed to score a fish, while the top three teams caught 58 fish between them!

The key was fishing shores that had consistent wind action on them over a number of days, and then casting lures right into the shore to provoke a reaction bite.

Day Two leaders Cranka Pro again showed their prowess by taking out the Great Lake session by a 30cm margin from multi-championship team Spirit of Tasmania/Sportsfishtasmania.com. Ever consistent Happy Hookers measured 20 fish for the day, but as most were quite small were in fact nearly 100cm off the pace.

The overall championship was taken out by Cranka Pro, consisting of Andrew Cox and Steve Steer. The guys consistently fished the shallows over the two days, looking for flooded sections on Arthurs Lake in search of worm feeders, and shore feeding trout on Great Lake. Their lures were almost entirely hardbodied lures, especially the Nories Laydown Minnow on Great Lake and a mix of Ecogear, Nories and Storm hardbodies on Arthurs Lake.

Second placed Breamiton Troutathon fished in close as well on both days, concentrating on rocky shores with significant wave action.

Again their technique was to provoke a reaction bite, and multi-award winner Nigel Harris said that getting the lures in close was the key.

Third placed team Spirit of Tasmania/Sportsfishtasmania.com fished quite poorly by their high standards on day one, but had a barnstorming day on Great Lake with 19 quality fish. All of their fish were taken on the amazing Berkley Black and Gold T Tail cast into the wind swept shores. As with Steer and Cox, they looked for the shores that had wind on them for a number of days and cast right into the rocks.

Many thanks to the many sponsors of the event: Spirit of Tasmania, Ecogear/Alsta Angling, Daiwa, Pure Fishing, StrikePro/Greg Woods, Howler Custom Rods, Wigston Tassie Devils, Warwick and Sally Medwin for their generous fuel vouchers, Jason Harris and the Tasman Door Centre and the Great Lake Hotel for their support – these events could not be possible without their wonderful support.

Andrew Pender was the lucky angler who won the $550 Howler Custom Rod, with Damien How on hand to present the rod – awesome prize.

This will in all probability be the last Tasmanian Trout Classic that Nicole and I are able to run – changing priorities and moving from Miena means that our time is limited. We have thoroughly enjoyed doing these events for the past five years, and hope that a team can be assembled to ensure that tournament trout fishing can grow like tournament bream fishing.