The township of Warrnambool played host to the first round of the 2006 Vic Bream Classic Series held over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of May. The Hooked On Rods and Reels Hopkins River Bream Classic saw a maximum capacity field of 40 teams enter the tournament in an attempt to outsmart the Hopkins monster bream. A number of teams missed out on fishing the round due to the full field, which is a reflection of the growing popularity that the Classic tournament format is receiving among anglers.
The question on everyone's mind at Friday night's briefing was, could the Hopkins handle the pressure that 40 teams would throw at it over the course of the weekend? Many anglers were adamant that on Sunday it would be almost impossible to land good numbers of fish after the 40 boats worked the river on the Saturday, but what a surprise everyone was in for as the mighty Hopkins River flexed its muscles and produced some impressive bags of fish to the weigh in. This proved to be the case for the Hooked On Rods and Reels Hopkins River Bream Classic winners from Timboon in Stephen Bacon and Steve Vail of team Pigs -Jigs who used their years of local knowledge and perseverance to weigh in a two day bag of 9 fish for 7.32kgs to take out the tournament victory.
The field awoke on Saturday morning to cold winds and intermittent rain, but luckily the fishing was far better than the weather. Most teams found that the bream were on the chew very early before shutting down mid morning and for Saturday's Berkley session one winners Max Saunders and Kevin Plozza of the Fish-a-holics this was no exception with 5 fish for 4.90kgs in. Max also sent a challenge for the rest of the field when he weighed in a bream of 1.6kg to set the lead for the Spotters Big Bream Prize. "We went straight to the Bay of Biscay on Saturday and worked the reef in the middle of the river with a slow retrieve using 6 inch Berkley sandworms in the camo color and Berkley 3inch Gulp minnows in the smelt colour rigged on Pigs Jigs 1/48th ounce heads" Max said. After that technique was no longer producing fish Saunders and Plozza anchored in the shallows and proceeded to thoroughly work the one area with a combination of Mick Rantall Custom Rods and Berkley Drop Shot Rods matched to Mitchell reels until the fish decided to bite. When two bream around the 1.6kg mark finally decided to play the game the Fish-a-holics knew they had a good chance.
Not far behind and sitting in third place after weighing in 5 fish for 4.06kgs on Saturday was Stephen Bacon and Steve Vail of team Pigs-Jigs. Fishing the area known to locals as the Hen and Chicken the boys repeatedly drifted over the shallows casting a combination of Eco-Gear SX40's in colour 306 and Berkley 3inch Gulp minnows in the rainbow colour rigged on 1/48th ounce minnow head pig -jigs. For the majority of teams that weighed in an impressive 120 bream on Saturday there was a definite preference for the Eco-Gear SX40 hard body lure followed by the ever popular Berkley Gulp sandworms and 3inch minnows.
Cruising down the river on Sunday it was clear that tactics had been shared over dinner on the Saturday night as a large number of teams were casting from anchored boats. The technique involved sounding up large schools of fish, anchoring up and waiting for them to come on the bite. Anglers reported having hot sessions for 20 minutes or so and then the bream would switch off. For Pigs - Jigs Steve Vail and Stephen Bacon their surge for the lead didn't look promising after spending 6 hours for only 2 two fish at the Hen and Chicken. Then with one hour to go they made a decision which would win them the tournament as they ventured to the end of the Bay of Biscay and anchored. Armed with their Nitro Power Bream Rods, Shimano 2500 Stradic and Symetre reels they made three casts which resulted in 2 solid bream helping them to scrape over the line for 1st Place with 4 bream for 3.26kg to win $1300 cash, two awesome Mick Rantall Custom Rods along with a swag of other prizes. Losing the top honour by only 0.06 of a kilogram was the Fish-a-holics who picked up 2nd Place being $700 cash, two Nitro Rods and other prizes.
One of the outstanding performances for Sunday was by team Game Plan's seasoned local Byron Blain and young gun Jordan Trusty who showed that wisdom and youth was a formidable combination as they took out Sunday's Berkley Session 2 Prize Pack with the heaviest Sunday bag of 5 fish for 4.24kg. This rocketed them up the leader board from 29th to finish 10th and cement a spot in the Vic Bream Classic Series Grand Final.
The Spotters Big Bream Prize went to Max Saunders and Kevin Plozza who weighed in a serious bream of 1.6kg on the Saturday. Hot on their heels and with almost the perfect way to cap of Mother's Day was Gillian Knight of team Whatever who weighed in a bream on Sunday that went 1.58kg and just missed out on the Big Bream Prize, a fantastic effort for our only female angler of the weekend. The $500 Mercury Big Perch Prize went to Rodney Stephen of team Rod - Tip which weighed in at 0.64kg and just out weighed Al Moore's Saturday perch of 0.62kg.
238 bream where weighed in for the weekend with a total weight of 150.4kgs showing how productive the Hopkins River can be. All bream were tagged and released by Scott Gray and the gang from Fish Care Victoria, with a 100% survival rate illustrating how polished their processes are.
Hopkins River Handles the Pressure
Hopkins River 2006 Report
Posted: July 23 2007 10:00pm
©2008 Vic Bream Classics
Comp
Pos
|
Team
Name
|
Angler's
Name
|
Rnd1
Fish
|
Rnd 1
Weight
|
Rnd2
Fish
|
Rnd 2
Weight
|
Total
Fish
|
Total
Weight
|
1
|
Pigs-Jigs
|
Stephen Bacon
Steve Vail
|
5
|
4.06
|
4
|
3.26
|
9
|
7.32
|
2
|
Fishaholics
|
Max Saunders
Kevin Plozza
|
5
|
4.9
|
4
|
2.36
|
9
|
7.26
|
3
|
Team Bite Me
|
Tony Schroeder
Steven Terbos
|
4
|
3.36
|
5
|
3.88
|
9
|
7.24
|
4
|
Team Duff Rods
|
Drew McGrath
Spiro Spyropolous
|
5
|
3.1
|
5
|
3.88
|
10
|
6.98
|
5
|
Team Cormorents
|
Greg Conquest
Al Moore
|
5
|
3.66
|
5
|
3.1
|
10
|
6.76
|
6
|
Rod - Tip
|
Rodney Stephens
Paul Tippett
|
5
|
4.68
|
2
|
1.36
|
7
|
6.04
|
7
|
The Stealth Minnows
|
Scott Togni
Dion Vale
|
5
|
3.02
|
5
|
2.92
|
10
|
5.94
|
8
|
Team Mack Attack
|
Graeme Taylor
Barry Thomas
|
5
|
3.72
|
4
|
1.96
|
9
|
5.68
|
9
|
Fugu Gurus
|
Peter Howell
Mick Kaksa
|
5
|
2.52
|
5
|
3.08
|
10
|
5.60
|
10
|
Game Plan
|
Byron Blain
Jordan Trusty
|
2
|
1.08
|
5
|
4.24
|
7
|
5.32
|
11
|
Young's SP - Jiggy Jigs
|
David Orsini
Troy Hamilton
|
3
|
1.28
|
5
|
3.76
|
8
|
5.04
|
12
|
Whatever
|
Philip Knight
Gillian Knight
|
3
|
1.18
|
5
|
3.78
|
8
|
4.96
|
13
|
Team Daiwa
|
Mark Gercovich
Matt Olsen
|
3
|
1.44
|
5
|
3.36
|
8
|
4.80
|
14
|
Team Fish Care
|
Leighton Bennett
Darren Evans
|
5
|
2.88
|
2
|
1.9
|
7
|
4.78
|
15
|
Team SSBB
|
Sing Ling
Phil Smallman
|
5
|
2.54
|
3
|
2.18
|
8
|
4.72
|
16
|
Team Way Off
|
Jason Way
Christopher Loft
|
2
|
1.68
|
5
|
2.9
|
7
|
4.58
|
17
|
Bluey's Hunting & Fishing
|
Mick Pressnell
Paul Taylor
|
5
|
2.46
|
5
|
2.06
|
10
|
4.52
|
18
|
Hooked On Jig-Smith
|
Mick Rantall
Andrew Smith
|
5
|
2.76
|
4
|
1.58
|
9
|
4.34
|
19
|
45 To The Fork
|
Emil Tjoeka
Thuan Huynh
|
5
|
2.7
|
3
|
1.64
|
8
|
4.34
|
20
|
Team Kakadoo
|
Graeme Steel
Cris Kelly
|
5
|
3.1
|
1
|
.86
|
6
|
3.96
|
21
|
Breamlarden's
|
Mat Hedger
Mat Wright
|
4
|
2.24
|
3
|
1.54
|
7
|
3.78
|
22
|
Reel Big Fish
|
Rudy Holzfeind
Ben Scullin
|
2
|
2.34
|
2
|
1.16
|
4
|
3.50
|
23
|
King Limpits
|
Travis Bailey
Tom Bowditch
|
3
|
1.38
|
2
|
1.96
|
5
|
3.34
|
24
|
Team Oakdale
|
Martin Fellows
Tran Thai
|
1
|
0.42
|
5
|
2.82
|
6
|
3.24
|
25
|
Geared Up
|
Shane Bentley
Wayne Sleep
|
3
|
2.66
|
1
|
0.48
|
4
|
3.14
|
26
|
Team Strike Zone
|
Mick Cleaver
Trevor Hirst
|
4
|
1.84
|
3
|
1.24
|
7
|
3.08
|
27
|
Waterview Homes
|
Matt Flukes
Matt Bowman
|
2
|
1.66
|
2
|
1.24
|
4
|
2.90
|
28
|
Team Humminbird
|
Shaun Clancy
Wayne Friebe
|
3
|
1.48
|
3
|
1.28
|
6
|
2.76
|
29
|
Team No Idea
|
Roger Thornton
Anthony Scullino
|
0
|
0.00
|
4
|
2.34
|
4
|
2.34
|
30
|
Team Berkley
|
Steve Wheeler
Gary Lockyer
|
2
|
2.32
|
0
|
0.00
|
2
|
2.32
|
31
|
Nelson Boat Hire
|
Chris Carson
Brett Carson
|
3
|
1.62
|
1
|
0.56
|
4
|
2.18
|
32
|
Bream Busters
|
Dean Truman
Shane Hill
|
1
|
0.44
|
3
|
1.40
|
4
|
1.84
|
33
|
Team Anaconda
|
Mat Virgato
Robert Harvey
|
2
|
0.94
|
1
|
0.56
|
3
|
1.5
|
34
|
Pacific-Tica
|
Joe Gorham
Gary Worrall
|
0
|
0.00
|
2
|
1.08
|
2
|
1.08
|
35
|
Mornington Peninsular MC
|
Stuart Buckingham
Steven Joy
|
0
|
0.00
|
2
|
1.02
|
2
|
1.02
|
36
|
Team Nelson Hotel
|
Nick Glenn
Barry Johnson
|
1
|
0.36
|
1
|
0.44
|
2
|
0.80
|
37
|
Team Hayden Reels
|
Martin Van Velzen
Terry Hayden
|
1
|
0.62
|
0
|
0.00
|
1
|
.62
|
38
|
Sungold
|
Grant Foreman
Robert Logan
|
1
|
0.4
|
0
|
0.00
|
1
|
.4
|
39
|
Elwood
|
Les Bernstein
Paul Malov
|
0
|
0.00
|
1
|
0.38
|
1
|
0.38
|
40
|
Forty Plus
|
Gary Beazley
Chung Chan
|
0
|
0.00
|
0
|
0.00
|
0
|
0.00
|
