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For the top 50 bream teams from all over Victoria and Interstate the weekend of the 13th & 14th of October was the event they had been working towards as the Glenelg River at Nelson played host to the 2007 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Invitational. The scene was set, the weather was good and all were ready to truly see who would be crowned the best of the best and for Melbourne Father and Son team or should I say Son & Father Team Smack That's Brad & Mike Hodges this was to be a weekend that they wouldn't forget as they came from behind on day 2 to be crowned the 2007 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Champions.

Saturday morning started with a sea of anxious anglers eagerly awaiting the 7am start. After Friday's bad weather had abated anglers were greeted with much more user friendly weather to open up their account on Day 1. For Team Smack That Saturday morning wasn't the start that they were looking for as their choice to fish some water 3km's past Donovan's landing didn't pay off and when at 10.30am they only had 1 fish in the well it looked as though a 5 five bream bag was out of reach. When plan A failed Brad and Mike decided to put their faith in the sounder and started fishing the inside corners of the river with a combination of techniques. Mike fished the deep water with soft plastics while Brad searched for fish on the edges by casting Ecogear SX40's hard up against the rock ledges and fallen timber. By adopting a slow twitch and pause retrieve, this was by far their most productive method. "Hits came steadily as we made our way back toward the ski-zone, and with four fish in the well with an hour to go, we filled our bag and even managed a couple of upgrades" Brad said. Even though the boys came home on Day 1 with a flurry of fish it wasn't enough to take out the Round 1 Berkley Prize as that honour went to Team Bite Me's Tony Schroeder and Steve Terbos who amassed a great bag of 5 bream for 3.58kg. Included in their bag was a cracking 1.58kg monster that would eventually take out the Eco-Gear Big Bream Prize at least 500 grams ahead of any other big bream contender.

With only 1 decent bream separating the top ten teams going into day 2 it was going to be anyone's race to win and sitting in 2nd Place was Team Smack That and the boys were feeling the pressure. The arsenal of weaponry the boys placed their hopes on going into the final days fishing included a combination of Shimano/Ian Miller Raider Series 7'6" Bream Finesse and 6'8" Rack Raider rods matched to Shimano Stradic, Symmetry and Sedona 1500-2500 reels. "Our main line consisted of 4lb-6lb Berkley Fireline attached to a 4lb-6lb Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon leader. At the business end, our most productive hard-body lure was the Ecogear SX40F in the 304 pattern. We also tried a range of Berkley Gulp and Powerbait soft plastics, fished on 1/16-1/8oz TT jigheads on 1/0 hooks" Brad said. Brad and Mike quickly moved through any unproductive water on day 2 and focussed their efforts on the areas that brought success on the previous day's competition. "We knew that a 'kicker' fish was vital and when a kilo plus bream smashed an SX40 at 9:30am, we both put our heads down and worked really hard to complete the bag. By scaling down our leaders, slowing the retrieve and incorporating a lengthy pause, fish were more than willing to hit our lures. Again the last hour was the most productive period and we upgraded our bag a couple of times" Brad said.

When Brad approached the scales with his bag of 5 bream that weighed in at 3.20kg he knew it would put them in a good position, but as it was a close final day he wasn't totally convinced. The only team that could really put the pressure of Team Smack That was day 1 leaders Team Bite. As Tony from Team Bite Me approached the scales it became evident that he only had a bag of 4 bream as that elusive 5th bream never found the net. As their 4 bag pulled the scales down to only 2.42kg it was evident that the Smack That's Brad & Mike Hodges had got over the line with 10/10 6.26kg ahead of Team TanCam's Cameron Whittam and Tan Treiu at 10/10 6.06kg and Team Bite Me's Tony Schroeder and Steve Terbos at 9/10 6.00kg.

The Berkley Round 2 winners for the heaviest Day 2 bag was a bit of a surprise packet as it went to 19th place finishers Paul & Stuart Ford from the Bream Wizards who weighed in a great 5 bream bag of 3.24kg. The Club Marine Team of the Year Award was also presented to Team SSBB's Phil Smallman and Sing Ling who were this year's most consistent team throughout the qualifying rounds. For Team 'Smack That' however is was their weekend and a more popular winner you could not find. The boys walked away with over $13,000 in cash and prizes thanks to Humminbird and the crown of the 2007 Humminbird Vic Bream Classic Champions.