It was a cold, wet and windy Warrnambool that greeted the 30 teams of 2 anglers on the first morning of the first annual ABT Hopkins River Bream Classic.
Teams had come from far and wide to test their skill against a river that had developed a legendary status of consistently producing big bream well over a kilo and this weekend was to be no different.
Unlike standard ABT events where boaters and non boaters are randomly paired to compete for individual accolades, an ABT Bream Classic is a great introduction to the tournament angling circuit as it allows anglers to fish in a team with one other angler of their choice. This format creates a fantastic social feel to the weekend while still maintaining a high level of competition among teams.
It was evident with in the first few hours of Saturdays round one that big numbers of Bream where on offer for anglers as teams where reporting that they had caught their 5 fish and were already upgrading by 9am. This was no exception for young guns Dion Vail and Scott Togni of The Stealth Minnows who won the Berkley Round One Prize pack with a winning 5 fish bag of 4.770kg which they had caught by 9.20am. Using their local knowledge to good effect and showing the rest of the field how its done, Dion and Scott found their fish not far from Jubilee Park by sounding up some good reef, anchoring off it and thoroughly working the area with Berkley 3inch Minnows in the Smelt colour on 1/14 Daiwa Tungsten and Pig Jigs jig heads. Dion said that a slow shake and pause retrieve was what got the breams attention.
By Sunday the weather had improved but the fishing was a little tougher with fish much harder to find early in the day. This could have been due to the 85 fish weighed in on the Saturday shutting the river down slightly or the fact that many teams sampled Warrnambool's night life on the Saturday night resulting in only a few hours sleep and a throbbing head in the morning. Never the less as the day progressed and with a few red bull's under their belt The Stealth's Minnow's Dion Vail and Scott Togni knew they had a good chance after finally finding some good fish, this time on the flats in 8 to 10 feet of water. Using Shimano T-Curve and Nitro rods matched with Shimano Symetre reels they landed a second day bag of 4 fish for 3.148kg bringing their tournament winning total to 9 fish for 7.918kg and taking the first place prize of $1200 and two Mick Rantall custom Bream rods along with a swag of other sponsor's products. Hot on their heels and only 310grams behind in Second place with a Perfect 10 for 10 two day bag of Bream for 7.608kg where team Breamoholic's Simon Mozina and Graeme Steel. Simon and Graeme did however take out the Berkley Round two prize pack with the heaviest second day bag of 5 fish for 3.802kg.Using quite different techniques to the Stealth Minnows Simon and Graeme found their fish each day at Pelican Point and managed to temp them with Berkley 6inch Sand Worms in the Camo colour presented with a quick shake and pause retrieve. Fishing from a Russell Cairns Marine custom Quintrex 435 Hornet Trophy Simon said it was easy to maneuver the boat into position even with the wind.
Taking out the Spotters Big Bream Prize of $500 and the brilliantly presented Trevor Lumb Bream cast perpetual Trophy was Graeme Taylor with the lovely second day bream of 1.502kg that he landed in the first 15 minutes of day two off the weed beds adjacent to the ski lanes. $500 cash was also given to Barry Johnson for landing the heaviest perch which weighed a modest 0.768kg unlike the kilo plus perch that are consistently taken from the River.
Comp
Pos
|
Team
Name
|
Angler's
Name
|
Rnd1
Fish
|
Rnd 1
Weight
|
Rnd2
Fish
|
Rnd 2
Weight
|
Total
Fish
|
Total
Weight
|
1
|
The Stealth Minnows
|
Dion Vail
Scott Togni
|
5
|
4.770
|
4
|
3.148
|
9
|
7.918
|
2
|
Breamoholic
|
Simon Mozina
Graeme Steel
|
5
|
3.806
|
5
|
3.802
|
10
|
7.608
|
3
|
Benallacks Sports
|
Graeme Taylor
Barry Thomas
|
5
|
3.572
|
3
|
3.148
|
8
|
6.72
|
4
|
Team Cadillac
|
Chris Alwood
Steve Vail
|
5
|
4.152
|
2
|
1.922
|
7
|
6.074
|
5
|
Team Eco Products
|
Philip Smallman
Sing Ling
|
4
|
2.966
|
5
|
2.236
|
9
|
5.202
|
6
|
Geared Up
|
Shane Bentley
Wayne Sleep
|
5
|
3.226
|
3
|
1.932
|
8
|
5.158
|
7
|
Team Hook Up
|
Duncan Lidstone
Scott Lewis
|
3
|
2.690
|
5
|
2.318
|
8
|
5.008
|
8
|
Westside
|
Drew McGrath
Spiro Spyropoulos
|
5
|
3.768
|
2
|
1.208
|
7
|
4.976
|
9
|
Team Yellow
|
Nick Glenn
Barry Johnson
|
4
|
1.590
|
3
|
3.162
|
7
|
4.752
|
10
|
Cormorents
|
Greg Conquest
Allan Moore
|
5
|
3.604
|
2
|
1.120
|
7
|
4.724
|
11
|
Reel Big Fish
|
Rudy Holzfeind
David Holzfeind
|
5
|
2.722
|
2
|
1.664
|
7
|
4.386
|
12
|
The Misfits
|
Byron Blaine
Dianna Jacobson
|
3
|
2.184
|
3
|
1.916
|
6
|
4.1
|
13
|
Rod-Tipp
|
Rodney Stephens
Paul Tippett
|
1
|
0.922
|
5
|
3.178
|
6
|
4.1
|
14
|
Bluey's Bait and Tackle
|
Paul Taylor
Mick Pressnell
|
1
|
0.870
|
4
|
3.194
|
5
|
4.064
|
15
|
New World Honda
|
Angelo Giorgio
Eric Tattersall
|
3
|
1.150
|
5
|
2.726
|
8
|
3.876
|
16
|
The Tooram Tossers
|
Darren Evans
Sandy Moorhouse
|
4
|
2.046
|
4
|
1.678
|
8
|
3.724
|
17
|
The Hammerheads
|
Murray Wilson
Vern Barby
|
4
|
2.252
|
2
|
1.252
|
6
|
3.504
|
18
|
The Battlers
|
Peter Howell
Craig Trinder
|
2
|
1.002
|
2
|
1.994
|
4
|
2.996
|
19
|
The Squidgy All Stars
|
Steve Starling
Mick White
|
2
|
1.752
|
1
|
0.440
|
3
|
2.192
|
20
|
Team Kakadu
|
Chris Kelly
James Burleigh
|
2
|
1.404
|
1
|
0.672
|
3
|
2.076
|
Hopkins River 2005 Report
Posted: July 23 2007 10:00pm
©2008 Vic Bream Classics
