43 competitors, some as far away as Emerald converged on the Lake Somerset Holiday Park in their boats, kayaks and one in a canoe to fish the 2 day Bass Fishing event of the 2011 QSuper Qld Police and Emergency Services Games.

Competitors were treated to a fund raising BBQ at the briefing where $300 was raised for the Cancer Council of Queensland. Each entrant was also given a registration pack with lures donated by sponsors such as TT Lures, Damiki Lures, Austackle, Bassman Spinnerbaits and Solas Propellers.

A cool foggy morning greeted the anglers for the 1st of 3 sessions. The majority of competitors headed slowly to the Queen Street area where there was a high concentration of schooled fish. Competitors were only allowed to use lures for this catch and release competition. The first session saw 19 anglers weighing in bass with Wayne Knapp leading with a 2 bass limit of 3.85kg.

The second session saw a change in the leader board with Arthur Allen on a total of 5.82kg closely followed by Peter Robinson on 5.5kg. Third place after session 2 was Owen Sandilands on 5.29 kg after he landed a 3.64kg bass hopping an ice jig off the bottom. Owen secured the big bass award taking home a QFM Subscription, $50 Charlton’s Tackle Voucher and Bassman Spinnerbaits.

Day two of the event was a clear morning and again all but a few of the anglers headed to the Queen Street area to target the schooling bass. The 3rd session saw a change of technique for some anglers after the fish were harder to tempt by the cast and retrieved lures.

Toowoomba’s Peter Robinson caught his 2 bass limit during the 3rd session to take out the event with his overall 6/6 limit weighing 8.56kg. Using his ‘go to’ lure, a Mac’s Mauler in bleeding mullet colour attached to the custom made Barrabass Rod he won in the 2009 event, Peter trolled through the schooled fish to catch enough bass to upgrade twice. Peter said he contributed his win to that particular lure because it was able to get down deep to where the bigger fish were. He said that the key was to troll at a slow speed using the electric motor so the Mac’s Mauler would get down to the 20ft depth required. Peter took home the gold medal as well as another custom Barrabass Rod donated by Brad Clark with a 2000 Daiwa Certate donated by Mullet Gut Marine, Toowoomba.

2nd place was another Toowoomba angler, Arthur Allen. Arthur had a total of 6/6 bass weighing in at 8.15kg. Also using a custom made Barrabass Rod, Arthur would start off each session up in the timbered area of the lake casting soft plastics rigged on a 3/8oz TT Lures jig head. Arthur explained that he knew he could get his bag limit each session from the timbered area but the fish were not as big as the schooled fish. After getting his limit in the timbered area Arthur would then head to the Queen Street area and would target the bigger fish using an Ice Jig. Arthur was able to upgrade his smaller fish he caught from the timbered area. He said that the key factor was being relaxed as a result of getting his limit early each session and then set about upgrading with no pressure on him to get any more fish. Arthur took home the silver medal as well as a reel and lures pack to the value of $500 donated by Heritage Building Society, Toowoomba.

Coming in at 3rd place and taking home the Bronze Medal and Spotters Sunglasses prize pack was Steve Gaudron with 5/6 limit weighing in at 7.35kg. Steve fished the event in his electric motor powered canoe and also fished the Queen Street area. Using a Strudwick Softbodz rod matched to a Daiwa Fuego reel, Steve trolled a variety of bibbed hardbody lures through the schooled fish to get his limit.

Top Female Angler was Kerrie Henry with 5/6 limit totalling 3.97kg. Kerrie also caught her bass trolling the schooled fish in the Queen Street area. Kerrie was very happy with her prize consisting of a Daiwa reel and Egrell Rod. Kerrie also came in at 9th place overall.

Champion Junior Anglers were Nicolas Donaldson 10yrs and Alex Donaldson 9yrs who fished with their father, Andrew. The boys caught their bass also by trolling deep diving bibbed lures through the schooled fish at Queen Street. Champion Junior Nicolas took home a Qld Fishing Monthly Subscription, a $50 Charltons Tackle Voucher and Bassman Spinnerbaits whilst runner up Alex was awarded with Bassman Spinnerbaits for his efforts.

Special thanks go to Gordon Turner, Norm Williams and Brett Johns for taking time out of their busy schedules to run the weigh in part of the event.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank the following sponsors for their generosity allowing all competitors to sample their great products.

Thanks to QGC, Heritage Building Society, Barrabass Custom Tournament Rods, Mullet Gut Marine Toowoomba, Spotters Sunglasses, Egrell Rods, BP Reliance Petroleum, Evakool, Canvas Works Toowoomba, Qld Fishing Monthly, TT Lures, Z-Man Lures, Bassman Spinnerbaits, Blue Ribbon Motors Ipswich, Austackle, Solas Propellors, Searing Tackle, BCF Ipswich, Charlton’s Tackle and Lake Somerset Holiday Park for allowing us to run the event from there.

A special mention must also go to the Somerset and Wivenhoe Fish Stocking Association for whom without their tireless efforts of stocking the dam, we would not have the quality of fish to be able to catch. A $100 donation was forwarded to the SWFSA in appreciation. – QPES