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Glenelg River Bream Classic
  |  First Published: October 2008



The weekend of August 9/10 saw the Glenelg River play host to the Ecogear Glenelg Shire Bream Classic. As it was the last qualifying round for the 2008 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Series, anglers were desperate to get that last chance to qualify for the big one in October at Mallacoota.

A number of firsts for the Vic Bream Classic Series were achieved over the weekend, starting with 70 teams taking to the water being the largest field to enter a Vic Bream Classic tournament. Those 70 teams were then confronted with the worst weather ever experienced in a Vic Bream Classic Tournament, as 50 plus knot winds, hail, sleet and temperatures of less than 10oC really separated the keen anglers from the clinically insane anglers.

The other notable first that occurred in this tournament was the victory by Team Berkley’s Shane Dyason and Andrew Axon, using the 2” Berkley Gulp Shrimp in the new banana prawn colour, which had not been seen before in a Victorian bream tournament.

The massive field awoke on Saturday to what would turn into the calm before the storm. Cold, clear skies and calm conditions made the check in and start rather comfortable for anglers, in comparison to what was to come. A large portion of the field headed straight towards the mouth of the river where good numbers of bream were reported on the pre-fish day. Drifting the shallow flats and casting Berkley Gulp soft plastics along with shallow running hardbodied lures was proving successful for a number of teams within the first 30 minutes of the tournament.

On the other extreme a number of teams battled the two-hour snails pace trek up to the Sapling Creek area, where some of the larger breeding bream had been reported. This was the tactic that Team Berkley’s Shane Dyason and Andrew Axon used.

“After pre-fishing a few locations on Friday we were happy with the numbers and quality of fish we found and decided for the next two days to travel approximatelytwo hours each way to get to our spot.We only had a window of only approx three hours fishing time, but we were fairly confident we could put a bag together each day”, Shane said.

Using a combination of 6’, 6’6” and 7’ Nitro Vapor Rods matched to ABU 801 and 802 Cardinal spinning reels, with 3 and 4lb Microfuse braid and 4lb Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon leader, Team Berkley set about getting their Day One bag. Upstream from Sapling Creek the boys focussed on casting 2” Berkley Gulp Shrimps in the new banana prawn colour rigged on 1/40oz 1/50oz Berkley Nitro Bream Finesse Torpedo jigheads into undercut banks and snags. This approach proved very effective and gave the boys a bag of five bream for 3.42kg on Day One, to take out the Saturday Berkley Best Bag prize. Hot on their heels and in equal second place were Team TT Lures’ Nick Glenn and Barry Johnson, along with Team Nelson Boat Hire’s Chris Carson and Brett Carson, who both weighed in five bream for 3.28kg

On Day Two of the competition the fun really began as the wind went wild, the hail moved in and the anglers must have been thinking “why are we here?” For those that braved the conditions there were some great bream on offer. Picking up where they left off, Team Berkley started working on emulating their success on Saturday.

“Our approach again on Day Two was to fish very light and to keep the lure in the zone for as long as possible.The bite for the weekend was a fairly tentative one, so it was essential to give the fish plenty of time to take the banana prawn in before attempting to set the hook”, Shane said.

The boys had three bream in the well early and with confidence high they set about getting the only 10/10 bream bag of the tournament. With a weight of 6.18kg they easily accounted for the rest of the massive field and claimed the Ecogear Glenelg Shire Bream Classic victory.

Scoring second place and taking out the Ecogear Big Bream prize was Team TT’s Nick Glenn and Barry Johnson, who weighed in a cracking 1.26kg bream on Day One.

One of the great come backs from the weekend was Sunday’s Berkley Best Bag winners, Team SOC’s Graeme Taylor and Chris Burbidge. After catching only one fish on Day One they bounced back and weighed in 5/5 bream for 3.10kg on Day Two, pushing them right up the leader board and securing them the Club Marine Team Of The Year Trophy.

With all the qualifying rounds completed, it now all turns serious as the top 50 teams will set their sights on the 2008 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Invitational at Mallacoota Inlet on October 18/19, to see who truly is the best bream team for 2008. For all the results and details log onto www.vicbreamclassics.com.au . – Bill Hartshorne

Facts

RESULTS

PositionTeamAnglersTotal fishTotal weight (kg)
1Team BerkleyShane Dyason, Andrew Axon106.18
2Team TT LuresNick Glenn, Barry Johnson85.22
3Wirth RodsGreg Wirth, Hugh Wirth95.10
4Full to the BreamSandy Moorhouse, Dave Murray94.68
5Bag-A-BreamJosh VanHeek, Jason Bird84.50
6Team LowrancePhil Smallman, Sing Ling94.42
7Cepac TowbarsKevin Tormey, Rob Williams84.16
8Team Aussie AnglerDrew McGrath, Spiro Spyropoulos84.14
9The Knuckle DraggersWarwick Hamer, Daryl Baird83.94
10HumminbirdShaun Clancy, Wayne Friebe93.94

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