Gold Coast plumber Trent West has claimed victory in Hinze round of the 2016 Bluefin/ePropulsion BASS Electric Series. Fishing within eye sight of the lake’s dam wall, and adjacent to the dam quarry, West called on his extensive prefish experience on the lake to pin point where the fish would be holding.

“I fished the place hard for the two months leading into the event, so I was confident I knew where the fish would be positioned,” explained West.

West’s thinking was spot on, and after a short 15-minute run thanks to his ePropulsion, he was at his first spot, a flooded grass bank, and soon casting. He didn’t have to wait long to get in on the action and he soon had two fish in the well.

“The fish were sitting in the flooded grass and a 3” Keitech Easy Shiner worked tight to the grass was enough to tempt them,” explained West.

With the sun getting higher in the sky and the light intensity increasing, West’s shallow grass fish moved deep and West followed suit.

“I moved around and fished a couple of other spots, such as the old car park, then eventually moved to a collection of trees that the grass fish tend to move to throughout the day”, explained West.

West’s thinking was on the money, and later in the session he picked up an all-important upgrade, replacing a 38cm model for a 43. West’s technique on the trees was textbook, vertical grubbing for bass. He would drop a ZMan Grubz to the bottom ,then slow roll it straight back up to the surface.

“It can be slow and tedious, but it works, and the upgrade that I got doing it ultimately was the fish that gave me the weight to win”, explained West.

BASS Electric stalwart Graham Dodds once again showed he’s always an angler to watch when the tour travels to Hinze. Starting his day fishing the flooded timber and lilies at Ians Island with a combination of a spinnerbait, and a Molik Supernato, a weedless crankbait.

“We got bites at Ians, but we just couldn’t make them stick,” explained Graham.

With nothing to show for spot one, Dodds moved, this time heading to two points close to Bass Bay. Leaving the Molik on the deck of the boat, and solely throwing his spinnerbait, a 3/8oz Kingston Fry in a natural green colour, Dodds soon found the bites he was looking for, where he and his fishing partner quickly put four fish in the boat.

“Fishing the edges might not produce as many fish as fishing out deep, but they’re generally better quality. I like to cover plenty of water and when I find a couple of fish, I like to slow down and work that area thoroughly”, explained Dodds.

Dodd’s technique with the spinnerbait involved throwing it super tight to the edge in all the cover, then slowly rolling it back through the flooded vegetation and hopefully into the path of a waiting fish.

A quiet period dominated throughout the day after Dodds’ initial early flurry, and it wasn’t until late in the session that he caught up a vital upgrade. Caught once again on a Kingston spinnerbait, it brought him the additional weight needed to move him onto the winner’s dais.

St Clair beckons for the next round of the 2016 Bluefin/ePropulsion BASS Electric Series. For all the event and series information visit www.abt.org.au , or ABT’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/ABTFishing .

Big Bass

Graham Dodds secured the Big Bass Prize at Hinze with the event runner-up catching the prize winning fish at 8:30am on a Kingston Small Fry spinnerbait in natural green colour.

Winning Ways

West’s extensive prefish on the waterway was the key to his victory. Knowing exactly where the fish were located, where they would move to throughout the day, and what they were best caught on was essential to his win.

Winning Tackle

Results