The first ever BASS Electric night competition was held on 31 March with an encouraging turn out of 35 competitors fishing from 21 boats. Even though a 20km southeasterly change made conditions cooler and a little more difficult for anglers, over 30 fish were weighed-in.

Chris Proctor took out first place with a respectable bag of 2 fish for 1.85kg. His 41cm, 1.1kg fish also snared him the Big BASS. Chris’ gear of choice was a Millerod Bass Buster rod matched with Shimano Sienna reel. Chris used a Daiwa shad and Shimano lipless crankbaits on 8lb braid and leader to target the weed edges in about 10-13ft of water. He caught both fish after dark.

In second place was Chris ‘Cowboy’ Galligan with a two fish limit of 1.55kg. Cowboy used a Daiwa Pixie rod and Liberto reel to land his limit. Cowboy also targeted weed edges in water between 10-15ft and landed his limit during the dark sky.

In third place was Baden Sparrow with two fish for 1.5kg. Baden targeted the deeper water next to the rock wall near the dam wall for his two fish. Using either a Jackall lipless in ayu or a duo 55, Baden’s fish came from deeper water but again they came after dark.

John Ski (1.3kg bag) came fourth and William Schloss (1.25kg bag) came fifth. The top five competitors will all receive invites to the BASS Electric Convention to be held at Lake Wivenhoe later in the year.

A huge thank you must go to Barry and Gail Oxford for their help on the night and a special thanks to Gail for her steak ‘sangers! – Roy Souter