BEAUTIFUL conditions welcomed the field of 39 anglers to Round 10 of the BASS Electric Series at Wivenhoe Dam on June 11.

At starting time the fog had just begun to roll in and by the time it cleared, there remained nary a ripple to disturb the dedicated field of anglers.

Despite the perfect conditions and everyone’s expectations of enormous Wivenhoe bass, competitors struggled to find any single technique to suit the conditions. This was reflected at the weigh-in, with only four fish weighed.

Champion basser John Schofield managed to land and weigh a 2.16kg bass to take out the Biggest Bass prize and the Champion Angler, even with a 50g time penalty. He lured his fish with deep fly in Logan Inlet in around 26 feet of water. John used his own green and black Bass Vampire pattern on a twisted leader attached to a Scientific Anglers Striper IV line fished over an Innovator HLS rod.

Second place getter Rex Mildren used completely different techniques to entice his 1.96kg bass off Wivenhoe’s plentiful edges. Using a purple Bassman spinnerbait, Rex slow rolled it back to the boat to score his fish.

ABT’s Steve Morgan managed to pull a 1.51kg fish from the depths using a spinnerbait, but it didn’t count in the final tally as Steve wasn’t in the running for a prize. [A pity, as it would have been interesting to see him shake his own hand – Ed]

Despite the disappointing result, all competitors declared Wivenhoe a success and expressed wishes to return next year. John Schofield summed it up by saying: “We’ve all had our hard days, but imagine the potential this place has of being a major tournament venue with the fish we all know are in here.”

So the results after the first ABT tournament on Wivenhoe are, Wivenhoe Bass 1, Bassers Nil. - Jamie Kanowski