The second Berkley Summer series event didn’t follow anyone’s expectations.

A record field of 51 teams left in the dark for a day of wind, rain showers and the peak tidal flow for the year.

With conditions like that it was remarkable to see almost half the field weighing a full bag of five bream.

Demanding weather and tides usually only reward one technique so it was a surprise to see opposite techniques dominate the top results.

Chris Britton and Ben Collins of team Bush ‘n Beach threw every lure in their bag and worked all their favourite spots in the river to claim the first prize cheque with a 2.28kg bag.

The opposite tactics worked for second place team Evinrude Lowrance. Steve Wilson and team mate Sean Harahan caught all their fish 100m from the start line. Concentrating on the one location nearer the ocean, and using a mix of surface and sub surface plastics rewarded Sean with a big bream just under the kilo at 970g.

In a show of teamwork, John Thwaites of team Breamaholics claimed it was his driving that put team mate David Karadag onto their 1.93kg of bream to grab third place.

The most excited winner on the day was young teenager Nathan Johns, who in his first event fished with Julian Gascoine (Team Evinrude – Attack) to secure fifth place and the opportunity to go to the finals in November to shoot it out for a new Skeeter.

That’s what the Summer Series is all about, fishing as a team and introducing new fishers to the ABT format. - Gary Fooks