October the 14th and 15th saw the picturesque but sleepy little township of Nelson situated on the Victorian and South Australian borders transformed into a bustling hot spot filled with anglers and boats that had all converged on the town for the Glenelg Shire Glenelg River Bream Classic. A record Vic Bream Classic field of 48 teams had entered the Classic in an attempt to earn one of the last remaining 15 spots up for grabs to qualify for the 2006 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Invitational on the 25th & 26th of November.
Day One
Anglers awoke to a relatively fine morning on day one which quickly turned sour by mid morning with strong winds and heavy showers impacting on the angler's ability to feel their own fingers let alone detect bites. During the 2 week fish ban the rumours had circulated from local anglers not in the competition that the river was fishing very tough and that anglers would have to travel a fair way up the river to find good numbers of fish, but this wasn't the case for Saturdays Berkley Round one winners in local favourites Chris Carson and Brett Carson from Team Nelson Boat Hire. Chris and Brett went against the trend and headed down towards the mouth of the river to find good numbers of fish which they managed to land a 5 bream bag for 3.68kg using a selection of Berkley Gulp soft plastics such as Berkley 6 inch sandworms in natural, 3 inch Fry's in watermelon, 4inch Turtle Back Worms in watermelon and 3 inch Gulp Minnows in smelt.
Hot on their heels after day one was the new comers to the competition scene in Doug Phayer and Brad Hodge from team S.E.M.A.S who weighed in 5 bream for 3.46kg to give themselves a real chance of coming home with the win.
Day Two
The big story going into day two was surrounding 7th place Team Humminbird's and 3rd Place Team Portland Bait & Tackle's friendly grudge match which had been running all year and with only 240grams separating them, the scene was set for a huge charge at the leaders not to mention at each other.
The word was coming in early on day two that areas towards the bottom of the river that had produced fish the previous day were shut down completely and teams that had taken the gamble to head to the mouth on day two were coming back with very empty live wells. When competition leaders Team Nelson Boat Hire only weighed in 2 fish for 1kg on Sunday it was evident that any team in the top ten could take out the win.
Using a combination of GLoomis and Shimano T-Curve rods coupled with Shimano Sustain 1000, Twinpower 2500, Stella 2500 and Capricorn 2500 reels Shaun Clancy and Wayne Friebe of Team Humminbird had an excellent arsenal at their disposal to help target the Glenelg Bream. "We mainly used Eco-Gear SX40 hard body lures in colours 307, 309, 303, 339, 304 and 340 for the majority of the weekend, tied to a combination of 2, 3 and 4lb Berkley Crystal Fireline and 3 and 4lb Yamatoyo Flurocarbon leaders of considerable length. Our method included casting to isolated structure and rocky banks around the Donovans, Taylors Straight area. It can be an expensive way to go fishing throwing hard bodies on such light line, but the results are worth it Wayne said" The results were definielty worth it as they weighed in a day 2 bag of 5 bream for 2.58kg's which landed them 2nd place with a total 10/10 perfect bag at 5.08kg.
Although Team Humminbird had done well, the tables had been turned from the Mallacoota round and the weekend belonged to Team Portland Bait & Tackle's Stuart McKinnon and Nathan McKernan who used a combination of Rantall Custom Rods and Wilson Texalium Live Fibre Rods matched with Penn Applause and Infinity reels to knock their old rivals off the top spot with a day 2, 5 Bream bag weighing 3.48kgs to hand them the tournament victory with a total of 10/10 perfect bag of bream at 6.22kg. They also picked up the Berkley Round 2 Prize for the heaviest bag of bream weighed in on the Sunday.
"We mainly cast Predatek Min Min hard body lures in the perch colour, Berkley Craws in the cam colour on Pigs-Jigs 1/48th ounce 1/0 hook jig-heads and 1/40 ounce 1/0 hook TT Hidden Weight System jig-heads. Nath and I mainly fished from Simpson's Landing to Taylor's Straight casting to structure such as rock walls, cliff faces and reed beds using a slow retrieve. Using 4lb Berkley Crystal Fireline and light 3lb Yamatoyo leader material definitely increased our strike rate Stewie said"
A great consolation for Team Nelson Boat hire who were reeled in on day two was winning the Spotters Big Bream Prize with their 1.3kg bream that they weighed in on the Saturday. The $500 Anaconda Big Perch Prize couldn't be matched on Sunday and Cameron Whittam from Team Southern Star took out the prize with an awesome perch that pulled the scales past the magical 2kg mark to weigh 2.12kg on Saturday.
Now that all three qualifying rounds are completed the top 40 teams will make their way to Metung on the Gippsland Lakes on November the 25th & 26th for the 2006 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Invitational to battle it out to be crowned the Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Champions. It is sure to be a huge event with some of best local and interstate anglers competing on this magnificent water way, so come on down and bring the family to view the weigh in each day at 2pm on the spectacular Shimano Reef Science Tank. Register for the free raffle and you could find yourselves going home with a Minn-Kota electric motor to be given away to one lucky spectator at Sunday's presentation. For all enquires please call Bill Hartshorne on 0409 823 070
Glenelg Grudge Match Doesn’t Disappoint!
Glenelg River 2006 Report
Posted: July 23 2007 10:00pm
Comp
Pos
|
Team
Name
|
Angler's
Name
|
Rnd1
Fish
|
Rnd 1
Weight
|
Rnd2
Fish
|
Rnd 2
Weight
|
Total
Fish
|
Total
Weight
|
1
|
Portland Bait & Tackle
|
Nathan McKernan
Stuart McKinnon
|
5
|
2.74
|
5
|
3.48
|
10
|
6.22
|
2
|
Team Humminbird
|
Shaun Clancy
Wayne Friebe
|
5
|
2.5
|
5
|
2.58
|
10
|
5.08
|
3
|
No Idea
|
Jason Way
Mick Cleaver
|
4
|
2.26
|
5
|
2.68
|
9
|
4.94
|
4
|
Ray & Anne's Tackle
|
Bryan Johnson
Tom Hahn
|
5
|
2.68
|
5
|
2.16
|
10
|
4.84
|
5
|
W.H. Parker & Co
|
Steve Parker
Warwick Hamer
|
5
|
2.56
|
4
|
2.18
|
9
|
4.74
|
6
|
Nelson Boat Hire
|
Chris Carson
Brett Carson
|
5
|
3.68
|
2
|
1
|
7
|
4.68
|
7
|
S.E.M.A.S.
|
Doug Phayer
Brad Hodge
|
5
|
3.46
|
2
|
1.22
|
7
|
4.68
|
8
|
Southern Star
|
Matt Campbell
Cameron Whittam
|
5
|
2.32
|
5
|
2.16
|
10
|
4.48
|
9
|
Mack Attack
|
Barry Thomas
Graeme Taylor
|
4
|
1.66
|
5
|
2.58
|
9
|
4.24
|
10
|
The Grubs
|
Ken McCoombe
Stephen Theodore
|
5
|
2.12
|
4
|
1.78
|
9
|
3.9
|
11
|
Team Berkley
|
Shane Dyson
Nick Hannon
|
1
|
0.5
|
5
|
3.36
|
6
|
3.86
|
12
|
Morn Peninsula Marine
|
Stuart Buckingham
Steve Joy
|
5
|
2.64
|
3
|
1.2
|
8
|
3.84
|
13
|
Team Cormorents
|
Greg Conquest
Al Moore
|
5
|
2.22
|
4
|
1.6
|
9
|
3.82
|
14
|
Hooked On Jig-Smith
|
Mick Rantall
Andrew Smith
|
5
|
2.24
|
3
|
1.42
|
8
|
3.66
|
15
|
Team Soft & Hard
|
Sean Kennedy
Dean Truman
|
4
|
2.06
|
3
|
1.32
|
7
|
3.38
|
16
|
On Strike
|
Brad Gaffney
Nick Mace
|
4
|
1.96
|
3
|
1.36
|
7
|
3.32
|
17
|
Team Daiwa
|
Mark Gercovich
Scott Gray
|
5
|
2.42
|
2
|
0.84
|
7
|
3.26
|
18
|
Game Plan
|
Byron Blain
Jordan Trusty
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
2.24
|
7
|
3.24
|
19
|
Fluff 'N' Stuff
|
Dion Vail
Jason Orr
|
1
|
0.58
|
5
|
2.44
|
6
|
3.02
|
20
|
Rod-Tip
|
Rodney Stephens
Paul Tippett
|
5
|
2.04
|
1
|
0.66
|
6
|
2.7
|
21
|
Sneath/Saunders
|
Hayden Sneath
Greg Saunders
|
4
|
1.82
|
2
|
0.82
|
6
|
2.64
|
22
|
Team Fish Care
|
Darren Evans
Leighton Bennett
|
2
|
0.82
|
4
|
1.78
|
6
|
2.6
|
23
|
Team Kakadu
|
Chris Kelly
Graeme Steel
|
3
|
1.52
|
2
|
1.04
|
5
|
2.56
|
24
|
A.C.F
|
Roger Thornton
Anthony Scullino
|
3
|
2.06
|
1
|
0.42
|
4
|
2.48
|
25
|
EcoGear-Jiggy Jigs-Yam
|
Troy Hamilton
David Orsini
|
1
|
0.34
|
4
|
2.14
|
5
|
2.48
|
26
|
Two Deer
|
Tom Deer
Tim Deer
|
3
|
1.34
|
3
|
1.1
|
6
|
2.44
|
27
|
Wheelock
|
Steve Wheeler
Gary Lockyer
|
3
|
1.36
|
2
|
1.06
|
5
|
2.42
|
28
|
UKLYPTUS
|
Clyde Hulme
Ralph Norman
|
3
|
1.34
|
2
|
1.04
|
5
|
2.38
|
29
|
Team Alpine Country
|
Bruce Robinson
Matt Kerr
|
3
|
1.5
|
1
|
0.52
|
4
|
2.02
|
30
|
Pigs-Jigs
|
Stephen Bacon
Steve Vail
|
3
|
1.18
|
1
|
0.6
|
4
|
1.78
|
31
|
Team SSBB
|
Sing Ling
Phil Smallman
|
3
|
1.3
|
1
|
0.44
|
4
|
1.74
|
32
|
Mad Fisherman
|
Shane Hill
Gary Chuck
|
1
|
0.44
|
2
|
1.28
|
3
|
1.72
|
33
|
Team Bite Me
|
Tony Schroeder
Steven Terbos
|
2
|
1.14
|
1
|
0.58
|
3
|
1.72
|
34
|
Water Rats
|
Michael White
Dave Morris
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
1.44
|
3
|
1.44
|
35
|
Lepers
|
Garry Tebb
Jay Bailli
|
3
|
1.36
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
1.36
|
36
|
Fishaholics
|
Max Saunders
Kevin Plozza
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1.34
|
3
|
1.34
|
37
|
Team MK 2
|
Tim Atkins
Frank Tzortzowas
|
1
|
0.34
|
2
|
0.94
|
3
|
1.28
|
38
|
Whatever
|
Philip Knight
Gillian Knight
|
3
|
1.14
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
1.14
|
39
|
Team Head Seeker
|
Craig Stowers
Andy Gray
|
1
|
0.36
|
1
|
0.5
|
2
|
0.86
|
40
|
Team Veederline
|
Lee Williams
Trevor Hirst
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
.48
|
1
|
0.48
|
41
|
Nelson Hotel
|
Nick Glenn
Janelle Jewel
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
.46
|
1
|
0.46
|
42
|
Team Sungold
|
Grant Foreman
Larry Logan
|
1
|
0.44
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.44
|
43
|
Pro-Strike
|
Mark Lucas
Bart McManus
|
1
|
0.38
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0.38
|
44
|
Team Oakdale
|
Martin Fellows
Mike Doody
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
45
|
Pacific Tica
|
Joe Gorham
Gary Worrall
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
©2008 Vic Bream Classics
