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Mercury Glenelg Shire Bream Classic
  |  First Published: April 2007



The weekend of February 24 and 25 saw the first round of the 2007 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Series head to the picturesque Glenelg River for the Mercury Glenelg Shire Bream Classic. An excellent sized field of 47 teams had entered the event in the hope of cementing their spot in the 2007 final early on in the series.

After two days of tight competition the Victorian teams were denied victory as the top spot went to South Australians Adam Todd and Shaun Ossitt of Team Ray & Annes, who put together a solid two days’ fishing to record a 10 bag limit for 5.82kg.

Following closely in second place with 10 fish for 5.56kg were JV Marine’s Cameron Whittam and Tan Trieu, while Dean Truman and Shane Hill of Team Alan Schwarz Ag Marine claimed third place with 10 fish for 5.54kg.

On Saturday hopes were high as anglers experienced perfect conditions to get the tournament underway. Unfortunately, the fishing was a little tougher than expected with teams having to sift through large numbers of small to undersized bream in an attempt to put together a competitive bag.

Team Ray & Annes’ Adam and Shaun used a combination of Miller and Smith rods, with Shimano Stella, Diawa Exist and Saltist reels. These were spooled with Berkley 2lb Crystal & Line Systems and 6lb Bass Hard Braids, which were connected to 2lb and 4lb Yamatoyo Rockfish leaders. Adam and Shaun put together the heaviest first day bag of five fish for 3.52kg. Their bag included a kicker fish of 1.22kg, and handed them the $500 Berkley Saturday Session Prize Pack.

“Using sinking Bassday 40 sugar minnows, suspending Kangoku 45 Shads, Smith Jades and Camion Minnows in a variety of colours, we fished various sections of the estuary. We concentrated on areas with a combination of scattered rocks and other debris as well as channel drop-offs and holes allowing the bream to seek refuge between feeding beats. We used longer searching casts with the heavier minnows to cover great distances quickly,” Shaun said.

The 1.22kg bream they weighed in on Saturday had them in the running for the Eco-Gear Big Bream Prize until Mercury’s own Stuart Buckingham and Steve Joy of Team Balls Deep strolled up to the scales. Their Saturday bag weighed 3.20kg which was great, but the horse in amongst them pulled the scales down at an awesome 1.56kg, easily winning them the Eco-Gear Big Bream Prize and an overall fourth place finish.

On Sunday anglers were greeted with overcast conditions and showers, which they hoped would bring the bigger fish on the chew. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case, with anglers finding it even harder to locate the solid fish the Glenelg River is renowned for.

Adam and Shaun from Team Ray & Annes were also finding the going tough and had to alter their tactics to get their bag on day two. “We fished shallow flats on Sunday, and this required us to shift to shallow running lures such as Smith Camions and Jackall Chubby Minnows which we were also able to cast great distances. Lure choice was critical – we used bolder colour patterns and lures with rattles during low light periods (early morning and thick cloud cover) varying to natural colours often without rattles when the sun was high and the water clear,” Shaun said.

When the boys weighed in a modest five bream bag of 2.30kg on Sunday it was going to be tight with a number of teams weighing bags over that mark. However their great start on Saturday gave them the weight they needed to be crowned the Mercury Glenelg Shire Bream Classic Champions.

Sunday’s $500 Berkley Session Two Prize Pack for the heaviest day two bag went to Team Game Plan’s Byron Blain and Jordan Trusty, who are making a habit of coming home with a wet sail on day two of Vic Bream Classic Tournaments. They weighed in five bream for 3.06kg, which took them from 27th to 12th place in a great finish.

Round Two of the 2007 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Series will head to Mallacoota on April 28 and 29 for the Yamaha East Gippsland Bream Classic. It’s sure to be a huge event as last year’s winning bag went over the magical 10kg mark. Log onto www.vicbreamclassics.com.au for all the details and entry forms or call Bill Hartshorne (Tournament Director) on 0409 823 070. – Bill Hartshorne

Facts

RESULTS

Pos.TeamAnglersFishWeight (kg)
1Ray & AnnesAdam Todd/Shaun Ossit10/105.82
2JV MarineCameron Whittam/Tan Trieu10/105.56
3Alan Schwarz Ag-MarineDean Truman/Shane Hill10/105.54
4Balls DeepStuart Buckingham/Steve Joy10/105.28
5Nelson Boat HireChris Carson/Sean Kennedy10/105.28
6Portland Bait-Nelson PubNathan McKernan/Stuart McKinnon10/105.22
7Pigs-JigsStephen Bacon/Dion Vail10/105.20
8Bite MeTony Schroeder/Steven Terbos9/105.18
9Tackle ExpressMichael White/Steve Vail9/105.06
10Team NitroMatt Campbell/Thuan Huynh10/104.70

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