At the third Yamaha BASS Megabucks event, held at Bjelke-Petersen Dam, 14 sponsored teams experienced some of the best bass fishing Queensland has to offer. Amongst a field that presented the weigh master with huge limit after huge limit, Toowoomba’s Mullet Gut Marine team of David Green and Carl Jocumsen topped the board with a tournament total of 12 bass for 21.81kg.

“I’ve never really liked fishing BP – until this weekend,” Carl said, adding that it was the most awesome edge bite with quality fish he’d ever experienced. His partner, Green, also described the edge fishing as ‘unbelievable’ as nearly 40 quality bass attacked their lipless vibration baits over the three ‘skins’ style sessions.

With bass averaging 1.5kg apiece, nearly half the field shared in the session paycheques, but it was team Lowrance that amassed the second biggest weight for the weekend (12/12, 20.45kg) with team Stessco placing third with 12 fish for 19.48kg.

A lipless crankbait pattern dominated competitors’ catches for the weekend, with the top three teams and the biggest bass of the tournament all falling to this reaction baiting technique.

Carl Jocumsen and David Green worked well as a team. Carl fished the front of the boat with an Ayu coloured Jackall Mask Vib70 while David deployed a hard version of the same lure – an Ayu coloured TN70.

“Our pattern was pretty simple,” Carl said. “We fished shallow banks that had patches of spindly sticks in the shallows. We cast right up amongst the sticks into the shallows and wound the lure slowly so that it bumped on the bottom periodically for the whole retrieve.

“Most of the time, the boat was sitting in 6 to 8 feet of water and sometimes we were casting into only a foot.”

The guys said that the strike zone was anywhere from the first couple of cranks through to when the lure rose under the boat.

“When the bite was slower the soft Jackall got more bites, but when the bass were really biting the lures produced equally,” Carl said.

The team landed 20 bass in the first session, 10 in the second and only eight in the third, with a pile of fat yellowbelly as bycatch.

Carl fished a 7’ Millerods Blademaster Lite ‘Spiral Wrap’ paired with a Shimano Chronarch reel, 10lb Fireline and 8.5kg Water King leader while Green fished heavier with an Angler Stealth 7’ 842 baitcaster, Chronarch SF reel, 20lb Tuff Line braid and a 16kg Water King leader.

“I hooked a couple of fish on the weekend that ran me all over the place before pulling the hooks,” Carl lamented. “I would have liked to see one particular fish from the last session. It took line at will and even the baitcast gear was having difficulty moving it from the depths.”

The pair earned $3,\250 for a second, first and third skin placing.

Team Lowrance continued their excellent Megabucks form with two second placings and a session big bass earning $2500. Harry Watson and Peter Keidge fished more steeply sloping banks – especially those with rocks or rocky rubble showing above the waterline.

Also using Jackalls, the pair opted for smaller baits – TN60s in Ayu or Chameleon colours.

“We cast diagonally along the bank in front of the boat and took a few turns of the retrieve before letting the lure sink to the bottom, “Watson said. “The strike zone was mainly the first few turns off the bottom after that first sink.”

Their boat sat in 10 to 12 feet and they chose banks that had access to deep water.

“The weather changed three times during the weekend and the bass bit well through all of the changes, which was fantastic,” Keidge said. “Usually bass sulk after a change comes through, but this weekend they just wanted to keep eating.”

Peter’s favourite outfit included a G.Loomis CBR843 with a TDZ Daiwa baitcaster loaded with 15lb Platypus Super Braid, and Watson used a G.Loomis 783CBR, Shimano Scorpion reel and 12lb SuperBraid. Both used 20lb Siglon leader.

The Lowrance team also assessed Bjelke’s bass performance as ‘a great reaction bite’, and the rest of the field agreed. Harry and Peter landed at least 45 legal bass over the event.

Local guide Matthew Mott landed the biggest bass of the weekend and earned his place on the Greg Fernance Memorial Trophy with a 2.35kg brute that ate a Duel 3D Vib.

“It’s about time that this dam fired during a tournament,” Mott said. “There are a lot of big bass in here and the teams here all saw the potential of this place.”

Team Samios Foods earned a $4000 Yamaha voucher in the lucky draw, which was good compensation for missing out on a place on the leader board.

Bassers now look forward to the 2004 Yamaha BASS Pro Grand Final, which will be held at Lake Boondooma on the first weekend of October. – ABT

SESSION 1: Saturday 6am to 11am.

Big Bass HUSTON NISSAN 2.35kg

SESSION 2: 1pm to 6pm

Big Bass HUSTON NISSAN 2.21kg

SESSION 3:6am to 11am.

Big Bass LOWRANCE 2.20kg

OVERALL PLACING