Category: Results

Hot & Cold Barra on Offer at Teemburra

Anglers experience hot and cold angling conditions at Teemburra Dam with competitors catching 28 fish in session one then struggling in a cold, wet and windy conditions in session two to land only 7 fish.

Making hay while the sun shine to claim victory was 39 year old Townsville angler Daryl Pead who caught a full bag in the first session to compiled a 5/10, 330cm limit for the tournament to secure the win over a talented field, including Jon Millard in 2nd and Daniel Grech in 3rd.
Victory for Pead was a result of a red-hot session one with the Teemburra champion getting seven bites and landing five fish on the first afternoon of competition.

“They bit consistently for the first 3 ½ hours of the session then they shut down”, explained Pead.

His approach to catch fish during the window of activity involved anchoring the boat a cast length out from a weed and lily lined point on the western side of the lake and working the shallows with slow rolled hard bodies.

“The bites were very tentative so we down sized to a Reidy’s Baby B52. Then it was a matter of slow rolling the lure back out from the edge and adding in the occasional pause. The takes were so tentative that many of the fish were just lip hooked on the rear treble. ”, explained Pead.

Most bites as expected came on the pause.

Day two proved a lot tougher and with their hot weed-point of day one failing to produce they even looking further afield in search of warmer water and hopefully active fish.

“We found warmer water up the back of a couple of bays, and while we got a hit we couldn’t put any fish in the boat”, explained Pead.

His 5/5, 330cm limit on day one proved enough and delivered Pead his maiden BARRA Tour event win.

Pead’s Tackle

Rod- 5’6” Live Fibre baitcaster
Reel- Rovex baitcaster
Line- 30lb Platil
Leader- 60lb Jinkai Plus flurocarbon
Notes- Down sized to smaller lures and fish slower due to the tentative bite. Saw fish on their sounders on day one but none on day two.

Millard Makes Good

2011 BARRA Tour AOY champion Jon Millard continued his BARRA Tour early season form with another top three placing at the Killalure presented Teemburra event.

Fishing with team mate Daniel Grech, the Rapala/ACM pair fished a gully punctuated by a flooded point to catch their fish.

“We had the boat in about 12 feet of water and cast up on to 8 feet deep point and worked our lures back”, explained Millard.

The lure his used was a 6” Berkley Hollow Belly rigged on a 3/8oz, 8/0 jighead and worked with a constant slow rolling retrieve.

“The fish weren’t active so you needed to keep the retrieve really slow to get a bite”, explained Millard.

The approach worked with the pair getting 17 bites for the session, including 6 landed fish. Four of which belonged to Millard.

“It was definitely a day time bite with the majority of hits coming before dark”, explained Millard.

Millard’s 3rd place once again confirmed his reputation as one of the most consistent anglers on the BARRA Tour, and it also delivered him the Northern BARRA Tour AOY title. A title he lost last year on a count back, but won this year, ironically also on a count back.

“It’s great to win the northern crown, especially after coming so close to winning it last year”, explained Millard.

With the southern tour only two months away and Millard on track to defend his overall BARRA Tour AOY Title Millard will be hard to beat in 2012.

Millard’s Tackle

Rod- 6’6” ACM Slash Bait Special
Reel- Shimano Calais
Line- 30lb Sufix 832 PE
Leader- 30lb YGK flurocarbon
Note- fished a flooded point that had plenty of cover including weed, lilies and trees, and had wind blowing onto it.

Killalure Big Barra Prize

Craig Griffths claimed the Big Barra Prize at Teemburra with the Rolleston barra angler picking up the winning fish (95cm) on a FLT Transam just after the start of the session one.

Attention now turns to the southern leg of the 2012 JM Gilles BARRA Tour slated for the end of the November and early December. Visit www.australianbarra.com.au for all tour information and entry forms.    

Place	Angler	Team	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL	Cash	Prizes
1	Daryl Pead	DDC	5	330			5	330	$550	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
2	Jon Millard	Rapala – ACM Rods	4	281			4	281	$350	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
3	Daniel Grech	Rapala – ACM Rods	2	157	2	118	4	275	$250	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
4	Peter Price	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	2	154	1	87	3	241	$200	Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
5	Glen Smith	Barra Fever	3	212			3	212		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
6	Steven Wright	Team Nitro	1	75	2	116	3	191		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
7	Keith Stanford	Barra Fever	2	155			2	155		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
8	Nathan Chapman	DDC	2	147			2	147		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
9	Donovan Power	Team Power	1	80	1	67	2	147		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
10	Scott McAuley	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	2	146			2	146		Rapala, Killalure, Storm & Squidgy Pack
11	Craig Griffiths	Area 51 Jig Heads	1	95			1	95		Killalure Big Barra (95cm)
12	Geoff Newby	GB	1	79			1	79
13	Trent Power	Team Power			1	73	1	73
14	Jamie Bein	Team Nitro	1	65			1	65
15	Shane Clarke	Dam Busters	1	57			1	57
16	Steve Pill	Area 51 Jig Heads					0	0
16	Mat McFarlane	Dam Busters					0	0
16	Phill Lyons	GB					0	0
16	Karim De Ridder	Tin Can					0	0
16	Luke Katsaros	Tin Can					0	0
16	Michael Weick	Tree Huggers					0	0
16	Brendan Barnett	Tree Huggers					0	0
			28	2033	7	461	35	2494
				72.61		65.86		71.26

 

Place	Team	Angler 1	Angler 2	S1	S2	Total
1	Rapala – ACM Rods	Daniel Grech	Jon Millard	438	118	556
2	DDC	Nathan Chapman	Daryl Pead	477		477
3	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	Scott McAuley	Peter Price	300	87	387
4	Barra Fever	Glen Smith	Keith Stanford	367		367
5	Team Nitro	Steven Wright	Jamie Bein	140	116	256
6	Team Power	Trent Power	Donovan Power	80	140	220
7	Area 51 Jig Heads	Craig Griffiths	Steve Pill	95		95
8	GB	Phill Lyons	Geoff Newby	79		79
9	Dam Busters	Mat McFarlane	Shane Clarke	57		57
10	Tree Huggers	Michael Weick	Brendan Barnett			0
11	Tin Can	Karim De Ridder	Luke Katsaros			0
				2033	461	2494

 

The Price is Right at Faust

Peter Price drew first blood at the opening round of the 2012 JM Gilles BARRA Tour with victory in the Classic Lures Peter Faust Evening Event, 28/29th September.

Compiling a 10/10, 882cm limit to secure the win Price relegated Craig Griffths to 2nd place and a strong finishing Jon Millard to 3rd.

Fishing the western side of the lake to catch his fish Price had a selection of locations, each suited to a specific bite window during the session.

“The idea was to hit each spot when it was at its best”, explained Price.

Locking in two standout spots for the event Price’s approach involved anchoring the boat a cast length out from a weed edge them peppering the edge.
“The areas had deep timber (30-40 feet) near by then shallowed up until it hit the weedline. The barra would come up out of the deep creek and feed in the shallows”, explained Price.

With his boat anchored and his bite zone identified Price would cast a Reidy’s Judge hardbody tight to the edge, rip it or drawn it down until it bumped bottom, then stall it so it would float back up.

“It was important to bump the bottom then give the lure a chance to float back up. It was on the pause that most of the hits came”, explained Price.

The approach delivered 5/5, 456cm limit on day one and a 5/5, 426cm limit on day two.

“It was a harder on day two, I didn’t get my fifth fish until the last hour of the session. It was also made harder by the fact that the wind was blowing from a different direction (north east). This meant it took longer to get the boat anchored in just the right position to fish the area properly”, explained Price.

With a two wins from two starts Price will be looking for a solid result at Teemburra to claim the Northern BARRA AOY Title. With the 2011 Southern BARRA Tour AOY trophy already on his mantle piece Price will be one to watch for a hot year on the tour.

The win not only delivered Price back-to-back wins, his other being the final round of the 2011 BARRA Tour, but it was also Price’s first full limit in a BARRA Tour event.

“I’ve been working hard at my barra fishing for many years and fishing the BARRA Tour ever since it began so to finally get my full bag is very satisfying’, explained

Price’s Tackle Selection  
Rod- 7′ Live Fibre Venom
Reel- 3000 Shimano Sustain
Line- 20lb Sunline PE
Leader- 45lb Schneider
Lure- Reidy’s Judge in krypotonite colour. Front treble fitted with a size 1 Owner and the two rear trebles fitted with size 2 Owners.
Note- Worked his lure tight to the bottom because he believed the fish were still tuned in to eating redclaw.

Griffiths Guns for Top Two

Rolleston barra gun Craig Griffiths secured another podium finish on the BARRA Tour with second on a red hot Peter Faust Dam. Compiling a 8/10, 824cm limit during the event, Griffiths found the size but struggled to get the number on a tough day two.

“I got the big fish bites, I just didn’t get enough of them”, explained Griffiths.

With five fish in his eight fish over a metre long it was a catch card that gives testimate to the quality of fishing on offer at Faust.

The approach Griffths used to catch his fish involved fishing a wind blowing edge adjacent to a timber laden flooded creek.

“The fish would come out of the deep and move into the shallow to feed”, explained Griffiths.

While the approach may seem typical, it was the twist that Griffiths gave it that made the world of difference.

“Rather than anchoring the boat in the deep and cast up into the shallows, I anchored the boat in the shallows (10 feet) and cast out into the deep’, explained Griffiths.

Bringing his lure up the slope into the shallows proved the difference with Griffiths catching a 5/5, 522cm limit on day one, and two fish over a metre on day two.

The lure he used for the approach was the ever-popular Squidgy Slick Rig, a 130 in black and gold and modified with some slits in the tail for added vibration.

“The retrieve was full of movement. I’d cast it out, let it sink, then twitch and roll it up of the bottom, then stop and let it sink back down. It didn’t stop there, I’d also twitch it as it sank back down”, explained Griffiths.

It was on the twitchy sink that many of the fish bit the lure.

While the technique was red hot in session one, it was in session two that things got harder.

“On day one you could see a lot of fish on the sounder as they moved through. The wind changed on day two, the fishing got tougher and you couldn’t find a fish with your sounder”, explained Griffiths.

With only five bites and three landed fish for the session it wasn’t enough for him to hold his day one lead, and as a result he slipped to second.

With another solid result chalked up on the BARRA Tour Griffiths is certain to continue his march up the rankings ladder.

Griffths’ Tackle Selection  
Rod- 10-20lb Dobyns Reel- 3000 Shimano Stella
Line- 30lb Sufix 832 PE
Leader- 50lb YGK
Lure- Squidgy Slick Rig 130, black and gold fitted with a 1oz Area 51 jighead. Tail dipped in chautreuse dye and S Factor applied.   Note- Positioned his boat in shallow water, cast into deep water and worked his lure up the slope.

Classic Lures Big Barra

Karim De Ridder from Townsville claimed the Big Barra Prize at Peter Faust with his 115cm fish caught on a Squidgy Slick Rig 130 in session one. Falling to a slow rolled and hoped presentation it came at approximately 9.30pm and was the kicker fish that delivered him 6th place for the event.

Attention now turns to the Mackay area with anglers heading to Teemburra Dam for the Killalure Teemburra Dam Evening Event. Log in to www.australianbarra.com.au to check out all the results and see who claims the BARRA Tour Northern AOY title.

 

Place	Angler	Team	Status	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL	Cash	Prizes
1	Peter Price	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	Standard	5	456	5	426	10	882	$600	Shimano Stradic C14 4000F reel, Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
2	Craig Griffiths	Area 51 Jig Heads	Standard	5	522	3	302	8	824	$400	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
3	Jon Millard	Rapala – ACM Rods	Standard	4	383	3	294	7	677	$300	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
4	Daniel Grech	Rapala – ACM Rods	Standard	5	477	2	197	7	674	$200	Ugly Fish Sunglasses, Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
5	Scott McAuley	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	Standard	2	169	5	459	7	628		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
6	Karim De Ridder	Tin Can	Standard	4	415	2	211	6	626		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack + Classic Lures Big Barra Prize Pack (115cm)
7	Donovan Power	Team Power	Standard	4	375	1	86	5	461		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
8	Luke Katsaros	Tin Can	Standard	3	289	1	95	4	384		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
9	Phill Lyons	GB	Standard	2	185	2	182	4	367		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack
10	Cy Taylor	Hobie Fishing	Pro	1	86	3	271	4	357		Classic Lures, Rapala, Storm and Squidgy lure pack + $200 1st Pro
11	Kerrin Taylor	Hobie Fishing	Pro	2	219	1	109	3	328
12	Stephen Pill	Area 51 Jig Heads	Standard	2	204	1	98	3	302
13	Trent Power	Team Power	Standard	2	165	1	98	3	263
14	Geoff Newby	GB	Standard	1	89	2	169	3	258
15	Steven Wright	Team Nitro	Standard			2	191	2	191
16	Nathan Chapman	DDC	Standard	1	87	1	97	2	184
17	Keith Stanford	Barra Fever	Standard	1	101			1	101
18	Mat McFarlane	Dam Busters	Standard			1	101	1	101
19	Shane Clarke	Dam Busters	Standard	1	99			1	99
20	Glen Smith	Barra Fever	Standard			1	78	1	78
21	Adrian Pegg	DDC	Standard					0	0
21	Jamie Bein	Team Nitro	Standard					0	0
23	Michael Weick	Tree Huggers	Standard					0	0
24	Brendan Barnett	Tree Huggers	Standard					0	0
				45	4321	37	3464	82	7785
					96.02		93.62		94.94

 

Place	Team	Angler 1	Angler 2	S1	S2	Total
1	Team Lowrance/Reidy’s Lures	Scott McAuley	Peter Price	625	885	1510
2	Rapala – ACM Rods	Daniel Grech	Jon Millard	860	491	1351
3	Area 51 Jig Heads	Craig Griffiths	Dan Roth	726	400	1126
4	Tin Can	Karim De Ridder	Luke Katsaros	704	306	1010
5	Power	Trent Power	Donovan Power	540	184	724
6	Hobie Fishing	Kerrin Taylor	Cy Taylor	305	380	685
7	GB	Phill Lyons	Geoff Newby	274	351	625
8	Dam Busters	Mat McFarlane	Shane Clarke	99	101	200
9	Team Nitro	Steven Wright	Jamie Bein		191	191
10	DDC	Adrian Pegg	Nathan Chapman	87	97	184
11	Barra Fever	Glen Smith	Keith Stanford	101	78	179
12	Tree Huggers	Michael Weick	Brendan Barnett			0
				4321	3464	7785

The 2011 Daiwa BARRA Tour is all done for another year and the Angler of the Year Titles have been decided. Read more to see our winners for the year.
Northern Angler of the Year

Place	Angler	R1 Faust	R2 Teemburra	Nth AOY
1	Rob Wood	97	100	197
2	Jon Millard	99	98	197
3	Kerrin Taylor	98	97	195
4	Keith Stanford	90	96	186
5	Cy Taylor	96	88	184
6	Jason Crofts	94	90	184
7	Daniel Grech	92	92	184
8	Nathan Chapman	82	99	181
9	Phil Lyons	89	89	178
10	Craig Griffiths	100	77	177
11	Glen Smith	83	93	176
12	Michael Weick	86	87	173
13	Peter Price	95	77	172
14	Geoff Newby	93	77	170
15	Patrick Morgan	91	77	168
16	Simon Black	71	94	165
17	Elaine Sanderson	87	77	164
18	Craig Jarvis	85	77	162
19	Matt McAthur	71	91	162
20	Katie Sanderson	84	77	161
21	Andrew Black	71	77	148
22	Brendan Barnett	71	77	148
23	Drew Chapman	71	77	148
24	Jarrod Dalton	71	77	148
25	Spencer Troxell	71	77	148
26	Zac McFarlane		95	95
27	Karim De Ridder	88		88
28	Winard Versfeld (Vinnie)	81		81
29	Beau Jarvis		77	77
30	Alan McNamara		77	77
31	Darren Corr		77	77
32	Jason Wilhelm		77	77
33	John Trigg		77	77
34	Paul Stevenson		77	77
35	Tamara Stanhope		77	77
36	Cody Jarvis	71		71
37	John Kay	71		71
38	Quintin Maclean	71		71

Southern Angler of the Year

Place	Angler	R3 Awoonga	R4 Awoonga	R5 Monduran	Sth AOY
1	Peter Price	90	95	100	285
2	Scott McAuley	100	85	99	284
3	Kerrin Taylor	100	97	83	280
4	Cy Taylor	90	85	83	258
5	Jon Millard		100	98	198
6	Craig Griffiths		99	97	196
7	Michael Weick		96	96	192
8	Daniel Grech		98	83	181
9	Matt McAthur		85	95	180
10	Glen Smith		85	94	179
11	Keith Stanford		85	93	178
12	Rob Wood		85	83	168
13	Elaine Sanderson		85	83	168
14	Brendan Barnett		85	83	168
15	Greg Mitchell		85	83	168
16	Brad Purdy		85	83	168
17	Bill Schloss		85	83	168
18	Craig Jarvis	90			90
19	Fred Jacobs	90			90
20	Mick Jones		85		85
21	Nathan Smythe		85		85
22	Jacob Jones		85		85
23	Gary Leather			83	83
24	Shane Anderson			83	83
25	Shane Sanderson			83	83

Overall Angler of the Year

Place	Angler	R1 Faust	R2 Teemburra	R3 Awoonga	R4 Awoonga	R5 Monduran	Nth AOY	Sth AOY	Overall AOY
1	Jon Millard	99	98		100	98			297
2	Craig Griffiths	100	77		99	97			296
3	Kerrin Taylor	98	97	100	97	83			295
4	Peter Price	95	77	90	95	100			290
5	Scott McAuley			100	85	99			284
6	Rob Wood	97	100		85	83			282
7	Daniel Grech	92	92		98	83			282
8	Keith Stanford	90	96		85	93			279
9	Michael Weick	86	87		96	96			279
10	Cy Taylor	96	88	90	85	83			274
11	Glen Smith	83	93		85	94			272
12	Matt McAthur	71	91		85	95			271
13	Elaine Sanderson	87	77		85	83			255
14	Craig Jarvis	85	77	90					252
15	Brendan Barnett	71	77		85	83			245
16	Jason Crofts	94	90						184
17	Nathan Chapman	82	99						181
18	Phil Lyons	89	89						178
19	Geoff Newby	93	77						170
20	Patrick Morgan	91	77						168
21	Greg Mitchell				85	83			168
22	Brad Purdy				85	83			168
23	Bill Schloss				85	83			168
24	Simon Black	71	94						165
25	Katie Sanderson	84	77						161
26	Andrew Black	71	77						148
27	Drew Chapman	71	77						148
28	Jarrod Dalton	71	77						148
29	Spencer Troxell	71	77						148
30	Zac McFarlane		95						95
31	Fred Jacobs			90					90
32	Karim De Ridder	88							88
33	Mick Jones				85				85
34	Nathan Smythe				85				85
35	Jacob Jones				85				85
36	Gary Leather					83			83
37	Shane Anderson					83			83
38	Shane Sanderson					83			83
39	Winard Versfeld (Vinnie)	81							81
40	Beau Jarvis		77						77
41	Alan McNamara		77						77
42	Darren Corr		77						77
43	Jason Wilhelm		77						77
44	John Trigg		77						77
45	Paul Stevenson		77						77
46	Tamara Stanhope		77						77
47	Cody Jarvis	71							71
48	John Kay	71							71
49	Quintin Maclean	71							71

The final round of the 2011 Daiwa BARRA tour at Monduran saw anglers tangle with tough conditions for a final chance at glory. With event victory, southern angler of the year (AOY) and overall AOY still on the line, the anglers had everything to compete for. Click through for full results.
Securing his maiden win was Peter Price with 7/10 for 462 cm. With two fish late in the first session, Price headed off on the second day with the formula to take the win. Price’s tackle consisted of an 8kg Wilson live fibre match with a Shimano Chronarch reel spooled with Fins 20 lb Braid and 45 lb Snyder leader. Showing his understanding of his tackle and what the fish wanted, Price altered his Reidy’s junior B52 in kryptonite, changing the standard trembles to wide gape Decoy trebles and placing sticky weight under the nose of the lure to slow the rise of the lure and ensure a better hook up on tentative bites. Peter fished wind swept banks in the southern arm of Bay B, anchoring the boat just off the weed banks. Price would cast parallel to the weed bed before starting a medium speed roll and twitch retrieve.

“I have been fishing these events for seven years, it’s such a great feeling to finish on top of such a quality field”,explained Price. Such was the dominance of the technique that Team Reidy’s lures/ Lowrance 2 managed to catch 19 of the 26 fish for the event.

Also catching his share of the fish was Scott McAuley (5/10, 271cm) who compiled a quality second day bag to secure second place for both the tournament and southern AOY. “It was great to have super guide on the boat and to be there for his maiden tournament win. To see Peter take out the southern AOY was special”, explained McAuley.

With the win and other angler’s results going in his favour Peter Price was able to take out the 2011 Daiwa Barra tour Southern Angler of the Year (AOY). After starting the season with a new ABT big barra record at Peter Faust(130cm), Price was fishing with confidence. “I really thought I had a good shot at the northern AOY but was unable to stick the bites”. Price changed partners from the northern rounds to the southern rounds. New partner Scott McAuley showed he was on the fish at the Awoonga Pro/Am, sharing the win with Kerrin Taylor. McAuley’s result gave Peter the confidence that he would be on fish for the Awoonga 3 x 3. This proved to be true with Price taking out a respectable 6th place.

Heading into Monduran Price had some local hot tips and knew it would a process of working out what the barra wanted. Showing his knowledge of lures, he tuned in to what the fish wanted. With the lure tuned in Price and partner McAuley went fish for fish during the second session, taking out first and second respectively. “It has been a great barra tour for me. The biggest changes for me as an angler this year have been fishing with self confidence and my Lowrance side scan. Being able to see the fish come through on the side imaging keeps my head in the zone, giving confidence that the next big fish is only one cast away” said a very humble Peter Price, “I would also like to thank my two partners for the tour, my wife and family and the team at Reidy’s Lures who have supported me for a long time now.”

Another angler who had a fantastic barra tour was overall Angler of the Year winner Jon Millard. Jon showed supreme consistency, never finishing out side the top three in each event he competed in. Millard entered each event with the mindset of you can’t beat a fellow angler without catching the fish, keeping his focus on getting bites and letting the competition take care of itself. “This year I have fished harder than I ever think I have before. I have enjoyed fishing with the rest of the Rapala team throughout the year and we just keep learning and growing as anglers. This has been a perfect way to cap off a long tournament season.” Millard adds, “Big thanks go to Rapala, TT Jig heads, ACM Rods, JT reel repairs, Nashies Complete Angler and to my partner throughout the tour Daniel Grech. He goes alright.

” With the 2011 Daiwa Barra tour done and dusted for another year ABT would like to thank all competitors and sponsors for their help, support and assistance. It has been another season to remember and from all the team at ABT we look forward to seeing you on the tournament circuit in 2012.

Place	Angler	Status	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL	Cash	Prizes
1	Peter Price		2	120	5	303	7	423	$800	Daiwa Prize Pack + Big Barra Prize Pack (70cm)
2	Scott McAuley				5	271	5	271	$300	Prize Pack
3	Jon Millard		2	114			2	114		Prize Pack
4	Craig Griffiths				1	50	1	50		Prize Pack
5	Michael Weick				1	50	1	50		Prize Pack
6	Matt McAthur				1	49	1	49		Prize Pack
7	Glen Smith				1	48	1	48		Prize Pack
8	Keith Stanford				1	47	1	47		Prize Pack
9	Rob Wood
9	Greg Mitchell
9	Daniel Grech
9	Cy Taylor	PRO
9	Gary Leather
9	Brendan Barnett
9	Brad Purdy
9	Bill Schloss
9	Kerrin Taylor	PRO
9	Shane Anderson
9	Shane Sanderson
9	Elaine Sanderson
							19	1052
								Ave: 55.36

With the longest tournament hours of any event, the Awoonga three by three, was going to be a true test of angler’s endurance. Jon Millard of Rapala/ ACM rods showed he had what it took to endure the long sessions and tough fishing, by grinding out his first victory of the 2011 Daiwa Barra tour.  
Millard (5/9, 221cm) fished in the New Zealand gully area, targeting the weedy back bays with sunken timber. Millard’s winning tackle was an Extreme Jack ACM rod matched with a Shimano Calais DC reel spooled with 20 lb Suffix 832 and 40 lb Suffix fluorocarbon. The all-important lure of choice was the ever-popular Rapala X-Rap 10 in purple albino. Millard changed the standard trebles opting for the slightly heavier VMC 6X hooks in size 4, “this change would slow the rise of the X-Rap and keep it in the face of the fish for a longer” explained Millard.

With his lure tuned of optimum performance Millard would make long casts into the back of the bays working his lure back to the boat with an erratic twitching retrieve, mixing it up with random pauses. Millard explains, “In the first session we went looking for big fish. Having no success we changed tact and knew it would be a process of just grinding out a limit of small resident barra to take the win”.

In second place was fellow Rapala angler Craig Griffiths (4/9, 199cm). Griffiths targeted fish in the New Zealand gully area. All of his fish came from a wind swept back bays in the broken weed where the water was more discoloured. Griffiths tournament tackle was a G.Loomis Gl2 6′ 6″ baitcaster rod matched with a Shimano Calais reel, spooled with Suffix 832 in 20 lb and 30 lb Suffix soft fluorocarbon.

Griffiths threw the proverbial tackle box at the fish before settling on a Halco shallow scorpion in natural wonder colour. Not happy with its performance of the lure out of the box the clued in and meticulous angler opted to change the hooks to VMC 6X hooks, which got the lure to suspend rather than float.

Casting his lure up the channels in the broken weed Griffiths would employ a fast twitching retrieve with long pauses as it would come past points of the weed. “I would have loved to take out another win, but failing on that it’s a good feeling to have the Rapala team take the top three places,” said Griffiths as he remarked about another good performance by himself and the Rapala team.

  The event big barra (66cm) was caught by team Hobie Fishing angler Kerrin Taylor. Taylor targeted fish near the mouth of New Zealand gully. Using his X-Rap 12 in purple albino, Taylor employed a twitch and pause retrieve to tempt the fish out of their dormant state. Kerrin used his Millerods high roller rod matched with a Shimano Chronarch reel spooled with 20 lb fins and 40 lb Black Magic leader to land his big barra.

With four of the five rounds of the 2011 Daiwa Barra tour now completed attention now turns to the final round at Monduran. With southern and overall angler of the year still in play the anglers have plenty to fish for. Will the Rapala boys continue their dazzling form or will the other competitors mow them down at the final hurdle? Only time will tell.  

Place	Angler	Status	F1	L1	F2	L2	F3	L3	TF	TL
1	Jon Millard				2	101	3	120	5	221
2	Craig Griffiths				3	144	1	55	4	199
3	Daniel Grech				3	130			3	130
4	Kerrin Taylor	PRO	2	109					2	109
5	Michael Weick				1	59			1	59
6	Peter Price				1	46			1	46
7	Glen Smith
8	Rob Wood
9	Matt McAthur
10	Greg Mitchell
11	Cy Taylor	PRO
12	Mick Jones
13	Scott McAuley
14	Elaine Sanderson
15	Keith Stanford
16	Brendan Barnett
17	Brad Purdy
18	Bill Schloss
19	Nathan Smythe
20	Jacob Jones
									16	764
										Ave: 48cm

Awoonga greeted all anglers with an extremely tough bite. The Awoonga Pro-Am was the first ever barra event using a random pairing and shared length format designed to enable the sharing of skill and knowledge between both anglers. In the end only one fish hit the brag mat of joint event winners, Kerrin Taylor and Scott McAuley. Click through for full results.
Kerrin Taylor and Scott McAuley took to the new format like ducks to water, using the shared length format to work together and work out what presentation the barra wanted. With only one fish for 101 cm, the pair shared the winnings. In the end it was Taylor who managed to latch on to the winning fish. The tackle used to land his quality Awoonga barra was a Millerods high roller rod teamed with a Shimano Chronarch reel spooled with 20 lb fins braid and 80 lb Black Magic leader.

The pair targeted a back bay in the New Zealand gully area, casting their lures into the broken weed. The team noted they rotated through 20 – 30 lures before catching the winning barra on a Rapala X-rap 12 in purple albino colour. Taylor fished this lure with an aggressive twitch and pause retrieve, tempting the barra out of its slumbering mood. “We had fish swimming past the side scan all the time which made us confident that we could get a fish. It was a nice feeling to have another angler to work with and ultimately share the spoils”, explained McAuley.

With all anglers walking away with a new range of skills and ideas, the series stays at Awoonga for the upcoming 3 x 3 event. This event will be sure to sort the men from the boys with three sessions over two days and a tough bite on the cards.

Place	Angler	Status	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL	Cash	Prizes
1	Scott McAuley		1	101			1	101	$275	Prize Pack
1	Kerrin Taylor	Pro	1	101			1	101	$275 + $400 1st PRO	Prize Pack + Big Barra prize pack
3	Peter Price									Prize Pack
3	Fred Jacobs	Pro								Prize Pack
3	Cy Taylor	Pro								Prize Pack
3	Craig Jarvis	Pro								Prize Pack

With a tough bite greeting anglers at the second round of the 2011 Daiwa Barra Tour, the word on the street was that it would only take the conversion of a handful of bites to take the win. Click through for full results.
Yet again it was the anglers from the Rapala Street team who secured the win, albeit this time it was Gin Gin Hotel owner Rob Wood who excelled in the difficult conditions with three from ten for 242 cm.

Woods gear consisted of a G.Loomis Spin Rod matched with a Stella 4000 reel rigged with 30lb Suffix 832 and 80 lb Suffix leader. The key lure was the ever-popular black gold Slick rig, rigged on an area 51 jig head. Woods did some minor modifications to both products, using a lighter gage treble for his stinger and thinning out the tail wrist of the lure, enabling it to work at slower speeds.

Wood targeted fish hanging off weed points on the tree line close to the main basin. The technique involved casting past the weed points and retrieving using a painfully slow roll back to the boat. “We had such a short bite period it was really key for us to convert the bites we got and the area 51 jig heads helped me maintain my confidence that I could make the bites stick”, Woods explained.

Taking second place was Townsville local, Nathan Chapman with two from ten fish for 137cm. Chapman constantly moved during the sessions, casting his 4’ Berkley paddle tail in white/green with hand painted stripes onto the lily pads. Once the lure had settled Chapman would pull it off and allow it to fall down the face of the structure before slow rolling it back to the boat. “The trick was to use a weedless Texas rig, to avoid snagging on the lily pads and to get the most out of every cast”. The tournament equipment used to extract his fish was the Abu Garcia Zabui rod matched with a Daiwa Type R Zillion reel spooled with 30 lb fins braid and 60 lb leader.

Taking out big barra and overall third place was Jon Millard, with a quality 91 cm fish. Using his ACM custom rod and Slick rig/Area 51 Jig head combo, the Townsville barra fanatic targeted weed islands in and around the main basin. Millard would cast past the weed island and sink the lure down using a twitch and roll retrieve back to the boat. With two competitive rounds in the northern leg of the tour Millard is looking to continue his good form heading into the southern rounds, and hopes to step up onto the top step of the podium.

Taking the win for the event, secured the 2011 Northern Barra Angler of the Year for Rob Wood, relegating fellow Rapala stable mate Jon Millard to second place on a count back. The AOY title tops of what has been a stellar year of fishing for him and his fellow Rapala teammates. “We have all had such a great year of learning and growth as anglers” explained Woods, “One of the keys to our success has been the use of our Hummingbird side scan, when you pull up on spot and you can see barra moving through it really gives you the confidence that the fish are there and you just need to keep casting.”

The Rapala Street team, has been a force on the northern leg of the tour with the team taking 2 from 2 wins, and with fellow Rapala team mates (Rapala/AMC rods) not far off the pace, the guys have converted the long hours of work spent on the water into consistent tournament results. The 2011 Daiwa BARRA Tour now heads to the first ever Boater/Non-Boater event format on the famed Awoonga Dam. Will the tough barra bite heat up or will it be another challenging event for the anglers. Only time will tell…    

Place	Angler	Status	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL	Cash	Prizes
1	Rob Wood		3	242			3	242	$850	Daiwa Prize Pack
2	Nathan Chapman		1	58	1	79	2	137	$550	Prize Pack
3	Jon Millard				1	91	1	91	$320	Prize Pack & Big Barra (91cm) prize – Spotters sunglasses
4	Kerrin Taylor	PRO	1	88			1	88		Prize Pack
5	Keith Stanford		1	85			1	85		Prize Pack
6	Zac McFarlane		1	85			1	85		Prize Pack
7	Simon Black				1	85	1	85		Prize Pack
8	Glen Smith				1	83	1	83		Prize Pack
9	Daniel Grech		1	82			1	82		Prize Pack
10	Matt McAthur				1	82	1	82		Prize Pack
11	Jason Crofts		1	80			1	80
12	Phil Lyons		1	80			1	80
13	Cy Taylor	PRO			1	80	1	80
14	Michael Weick		1	56			1	56
15	Alan McNamara
16	Andrew Black
17	Beau Jarvis	PRO
18	Brendan Barnett
19	Craig Griffiths
20	Craig Jarvis	PRO
21	Darren Corr
22	Drew Chapman
23	Elaine Sanderson
24	Geoff Newby
25	Jarrod Dalton
26	Jason Wilhelm
27	John Trigg
28	Katie Sanderson
29	Mat McFarlane
30	Patrick Morgan
31	Paul Stevenson
32	Peter Price
33	Spencer Troxell
34	Tamara Stanhope
							17	1356
								Ave: 79.76

 

Place	Team	Angler 1	Angler 2	S1	S2	Total
1	Rapala Street Team	Rob Wood	Craig Griffiths	242		242
2	Rapala-ACM Rods	Daniel Grech	Jon Millard	82	91	173
3	Hobie Fishing	Cy Taylor	Kerrin Taylor	88	80	168
4	Barra Fever	Glen Smith	Keith Stanford	85	83	168
5	DDC	Nathan Chapman	Drew Chapman	58	79	137
6	Mac-A-Tack	Mat McFarlane	Zac McFarlane	85		85
7	I’m On Lures	Simon Black	Andrew Black		85	85
8	McArthur Customs	Matt McAthur	Spencer Troxell		82	82
9	The Likely Lads	Phil Lyons	Geoff Newby	80		80
10	Team Reidy’s Lures/Lowrance	Peter Price	Jason Crofts	80		80
11	Tree Huggers	Michael Weick	Brendan Barnett	56		56
12	Sebile	Jarrod Dalton	Patrick Morgan
13	Sebile 2	Craig Jarvis	Beau Jarvis
14	Shimano / E-Tec	Alan McNamara	Jason Wilhelm
15	J T Reel Repairs	John Trigg	Paul Stevenson
16	Tacklewarehouse Ladies	Elaine Sanderson	Katie Sanderson
17	Blown Income	Darren Corr	Tamara Stanhope

The opening round of the 2011 Daiwa Barra tour at Peter Faust Dam lived up to the pre event hype of strong winds and aggressive barra.In total eighty two Barra hitting the competitors brag-mats.

Taking the victory was Rapala Street team’s Craig Griffiths, with nine from ten fish for 866 cm. Griffiths had a two pronged approached, having both an afternoon and night plan. Click through for full results
With the session starting at three in the afternoon, Craig and team mate Rob Wood headed to the Proserpine River arm of the dam, where in the lager bays they targeted fish holding of the creek beds. Craig’s afternoon tackle consisted of a G.Loomis Pro-Green rod (7′ 4″ 8 – 15 lb) teamed with a Shimano Stella 3000 reel, spooled with the new white Suffix 832 in 20 lb and Suffix braid buddy leader in 80 lb. The lure of choice was the ever popular 130 mm Squigy slick rig in Pilchard colour, rigged on a TT Area 51 jig head. The technique involved casting towards the broken weed and  letting the lure sink down the face of the weed before slow rolling it back to the boat.

Once night set in the team would change its tact and move further up the Proserpine arm of the dam looking for points with broken weed, close to deepwater access. Craig changed his slick rig, opting for a Suspending Rapala X-Rap in White Minnow. Griffiths would make long cast into the channels in the broken weed using a classic twitch and pause technique to keep the lure in the face of the fish for a longer period of time. Griffiths discussing the keys to his success,  “On the pre fish it was hard to get the fish out of the structure, but with the use of the new white Suffix 832, we could see the bites and get an upper hand on the fish early in the fight”.

As an icing on the cake, Craig and team mate Rob Woods both finished inside the top five securing the overall team honours for the round.

In second place was fellow Rapala stable mate Jon Millard, with nine fish for 862 cm. Millard targeted weedy points near deep water. The tackle of choice was his ever-faithful ACM Rods Barra light spin teamed with a Shimano 4000 reel rigged with suffix 832 in 20 lb with 40 lb suffix fluorocarbon leaders. The key lure was a 130mm Squidgy slick rig in black gold rigged on ¾ oz TT Area 51 jig head. Millard would cast his slick rig towards the weed allowing it to fall down the face of the weed before starting a medium paced retrieve, allowing for pauses to keep the lure in the strike zone. Millard stated “the weight of the ACM Rod as well as the length of cast it gave me was an important factor in my performance.”

Big Barra for the event and a setting a new ABT Big Barra record was team Reidy’s Lures/ Lowrance’s Peter Price with a cracking 130 cm Barra. The Tackle that secured Peter the new ABT Barra record was a 7′ G.Loomis IMX rod, teamed  with a Daiwa Zillion rigged with 20 lb fins braid and 45 lb Snyder leader. Fishing a sunken point near the area know as the Horse paddock, Price would cast his Reidy’s Big B52 in gold bleeding mullet across the sunken weed using a rip and pause retrieve. “It was really exciting fishing, we could see the fish come through the Lowrance side imaging unit before they would nail the lures” added Price.

With the first round of the Daiwa Barra tour rapped up the tour now moves to the second round in Teemburra, where the highly sort-after northern angler of the year will be decided. 

Place	Angler	F1	L1	F2	L2	TF	TL
1	Craig Griffiths	5	490	4	376	9	866
2	Jon Millard	5	482	4	380	9	862
3	Kerrin Taylor	3	248	5	425	8	673
4	Rob Wood	2	202	4	366	6	568
5	Cy Taylor	1	100	5	436	6	536
6	Peter Price	2	118	4	399	6	517
7	Jason Crofts	4	374	1	92	5	466
8	Geoff Newby	4	367	1	73	5	440
9	Daniel Grech	2	188	2	202	4	390
10	Patrick Morgan	2	177	2	181	4	358
11	Keith Stanford	3	309			3	309
12	Phil Lyons	1	103	2	177	3	280
13	Karim De Ridder	2	182	1	67	3	249
14	Elaine Sanderson	1	65	2	173	3	238
15	Michael Weick	1	71	1	100	2	171
16	Craig Jarvis			2	168	2	168
17	Katie Sanderson	1	110			1	110
18	Glen Smith	1	84			1	84
19	Nathan Chapman			1	79	1	79
20	Winard Versfeld (Vinnie)	1	74			1	74
21	Andrew Black
22	Brendan Barnett
23	Cody Jarvis
24	Drew Chapman
25	Jarrod Dalton
26	John Kay
27	Matt McAthur
28	Quintin Maclean
29	Simon Black
30	Spencer Troxell

 

Place	Team	Angler 1	Angler 2	D1	D2	Total
1	Rapala Street Team	Rob Wood	Craig Griffiths	692	742	1434
2	Rapala – ACM Rods	Daniel Grech	Jon Millard	670	582	1252
3	Hobie Fishing	Cy Taylor	Kerrin Taylor	348	861	1209
4	Team Reidy’s Lures/Lowrance	Peter Price	Jason Crofts	492	491	983
5	The Likely Lads	Phil Lyons	Geoff Newby	470	250	720
6	Barra Fever	Glen Smith	Keith Stanford	393		393
7	Sebile	Jarrod Dalton	Patrick Morgan	177	181	358
8	Tacklewarehouse Ladies	Elaine Sanderson	Katie Sanderson	175	173	348
9	David & Goliath	Winard Versfeld (Vinnie)	Karim De Ridder	256	67	323
10	Tree Huggers	Michael Weick	Brendan Barnett	71	100	171
11	Sebile 2	Craig Jarvis	Cody Jarvis		168	168
12	DDC	Nathan Chapman	Drew Chapman		79	79
13	McArthur Customs	Matt McAthur	Spencer Troxell
14	Dam Barra	Quintin Maclean	John Kay
15	I’m On Lures	Simon Black	Andrew Black

Team Berkley break through for a win at the Pflueger Mondy Trophy

Tournament stalwart, Trevor Burgess teamed up with Mondy specialist and tournament rookie Brian Rake as Team Berkley for this event, the two made a formidable duo landing their full limit of three fish in the first session and holding on for the win.

The pair pre-fished for several days prior to the comp, and had identified several areas holding fish. They had pulled several fish each day, but left them biting at each spot so they would still be there for the comp.
In the first session they started in first position and headed straight to their best spot. Second cast Brian gets belted on a Richos Extractor and stitched up in the timber by a metre plus fish.

They went in to try and get it off, but eventually had to bust the lure off. They moved to an adjacent bank and Brian soon hooks up and lands a small barra on a Richo’s Extractor.

They worked their way around the bay and Brian hooks up to another good fish that spits the lure on the jump, another small barra jumped out in the commotion and Brian fired another cast into the spot and hooks up immediately on 61cm fish on the Extractor again.

Trevor dropped one barra before landing a 58cm to fill their limit for the session.  Somewhere in the mayhem Brian lost another good fish. This was all in the first two hours of the competition, before a strong South Westerly front tore through the lake and shut the barra down. The pair were unable to add to their tally for the rest of the competition, and managed to grimly hang onto their lead through to the end of the competition, despite having gearbox problems in the last session, which put them out of action.

 The pair used Richo Extractors in Gold/White and Green/White, twitching them down before a 5-6 second pause, then continuing this retrieve back to the boat. All hits came on the pause. Outfit used were ABU Revo and Daiwa Zillion baitcast reels on Loomis and Pflueger rods. Lines were 30lb Bionic and 30lb Berkley Whiplash braid, both used 50lb Schneider leader.

Second placed Pro Team, by a narrow 15cm went to the Gin Gin Hotel Team, father and son duo, Rob and Tommy Woods.

They fished bays within D area to find their fish. Once again the bites came early on Saturday morning. Tommy caught the first barra or the tournament just 15minutes after the start of the event. Both Rob and Tommy had three or four bites early in the session, Rob was unable to stick his , but Tommy went on to catch three barra, including a 61cm fish that gave him the Big Barra Junior Trophy.

The second and third sessions yielded little action, although Rob had a chance on a midsized fish late in the last session, only to have it jump off.

Rob commented that Tommy was on a winning streak, after picking up a swag of prizes at the Rocky Barra Bounty. He certainly cleaned up at Mondy, with big barra Junior, first barra of the comp, and leading the team to second placed Pro Team. Not a bad effort for a twelve year old! The effective lures were a Rapala XR10 retrofitted with Gamakatsu singles, and a Damiki Tremor in Sexy Shad colour. They both used 30lb Suffix braid and downsized to 30lb Suffix leader, with so many smaller fish around.

It was clear the difference was finding fish prior to the comp, getting to them first, and making the most of the early bite before the change came through and shut down the fishing.

Both leading teams spoke of the importance of their Humminbird 1197 Side Imaging sounders that were paramount in them finding barra in prefish, and the comp.

With only two teams catching barra, the remaining places were awarded on their catfish captures.

Champion Catfish Team and Third Pro Team were Reidy’s Lures/Lowrance of Peter Price and Jason Crofts. The team made the long haul south from the Mackay area to check out Mondy for the upcoming ABT Tour. They managed to find five Catties, taken on Transams and Slick rigs.

Fourth Pro Team went to I’m on Lures, another Mackay team, of Simon and Cameron Black. They caught three catties over the tournament on Gulp 5” jerkshads to take away $250. The father and son team were happy with their weekend as they also scored well in the lucky draws with a Pflueger reel each.

Fifth Pro Team – Control Freak Rods of Aaron Mogg and Gene Pyrce were unlucky to jump off two barra early in the first session, but still took home a lure pack for their three catfish that came on Squidqies rigged weedless.

Kayak Trophy In the first ever Barra Kayak Tournament, eleven teams turned up to try their luck on Monduran, and unfortunately the Barra Gods did not smile on them. No barra were landed, and the South Westerly blow that came through on Saturday morning turned the tranquil Mond pond into a dangerous inland sea, without notice. Several kayaks took on water, as waves swamped their craft, making it difficult to make headway.

To their credit, most teams backed up for the second session, where they had to battle directly in the wind at the start. Sunday’s session wasn’t quite as bad, but strong gust still made life difficult, and dropping water temps shut down the barra.

In the trying conditions the Hobie Fishing Team of Stewart Dunn and Carl Gallagher triumphed as Champion Kayak Team with four catfish, totalling 148cm. Stewart travelled all the way from Sutherland, south of Sydney for the event, which is a massive effort! He teamed up with Brisbane based teammate Carl for the event. In the prefish, they found an area holding bait, in bird bay in the prefish, so made the long trip to their spot each session.

Their tactics was for Carl to fish the deepwater using Transams, and Sebile Lures on an EGrell S10/Diawa Certate 3500 combo, while Stewart targeted the weed edges with a Damiki Armour Shad in Skin Blue, rigged weedless on a Gamakasu Work hook. His outfit was a Lox 4-7kg rod, and Shimano Stradic 3000 spooled with Sunline 15lb PE and 14lb leader. All their bites came on the Armour Shad, three in the first session and their fourth fish in the final session. In the trying conditions Stewart and Carl were happy with their result, and donated half of their prizemoney back to MASA for stocking.

Second Kayak team went to the Hobie Pro Angler team of Kerrin and Cy Taylor. Barra Tournament specialists, the brothers went into the event yet to catch a barra from their Hobie Pro Angler Yaks, and I think they came away with new found respect for Yakkers. They commented how difficult it was to prefish, as there was so much distance to cover even before they started fishing. It also limited their fishing locations considerably. The Taylor brothers managed three catfish for the comp totalling 129cm to take out second place.

In third place with the biggest catty of the tournament was Team Pontoon 21 of Denis Metzdorf and Tom Lazlo, Denis caught the 52cm fork lenth catty on a Slick Rig which gave him a Lure Prize pack for biggest catty and $200 cash

The fourth placed Kayak team went to Native Watercraft, consisting of Lawrence Pearce and Douglass Carroll, Lawrence picked up a 40cm Catty on a Soft Vibe lure.

Despite the Barra-less competition and trying conditions, the Yakkers were positive about the event, and are looking forward to the next opportunity. A big contingent from the KFDU forum made the trip together and had a great weekend socialising around camp in between sessions. 

With so few barra caught, many trophies went unclaimed, but there were plenty of prizes handed out in lucky Draws including some great reels from the Pflueger stable;  The Patriach XT http://www.purefishing.com.au/reels/pflueger/spin/patriarch-xt-spin/ The Arbour SW http://www.purefishing.com.au/reels/pflueger/spin/arbor-sw/ And the New Salts http://www.purefishing.com.au/reels/pflueger/spin/salt/  as well as Berkley Tackle Bags, and Lure Prize packs containing; Shimano Stiffy Lures, Berkley Hollowbellys and Mullets, Cultiva Lures, Strike Pro Lures, Jackall Lures, Rapala Lures, Nitro Jigheads, Suffix Line and Leader, Squidgy Lures and Berkley Mullets The MASA crew held BBQs to feed the hords, and over the weekend $1000 dollars was raised for MASA’s sponsor a barra program which equates to 2000 Barra. Several teams donated some of their prize money to MASA. Thank you to all who competed in the Pflueger Barra Trophy events in 2011.

2012 – We look forward to bringing you four exciting Trophy Events in 2012, Faust, Teemburra, Awoonga and Monduran. For the Yakkers, we are looking at running three events at Kinchant, Awoonga (from Boynedale Bush Camp) and Monduran. Keep an eye on australianbarra.com.au or check out our community on facebook – barra trophy series

Thank you, from Matt Fraser and Ian Baker      

Category	Team/Angler/s	Result	Prize
Champion Pro Team	Team Berkley – Trevor Burgess & Brian Rake	3 Barra – 175cm	$800 & Berkley Tackle Bags
2nd Pro Team	Team Gin Gin Hotel – Rob & Tommy Woods	3 Barra – 160cm	$450
3rd Pro Team	Reidy’s Lures/Lowrance – Peter Price & Jason Crofts	5 Catfish – 169cm	$250
4th Pro Team	I’m on Lures – Simon and Cameron Black	3 Catfish – 131cm	$150
5th Pro Team	Control Freak Rods – Aaron Mogg & Gene Prynce	3 Cafish – 127cm	Lure Prize pack
Champion Yak Team	Hobie Fishing Team – Stewart Dunn & Carl Gallagher	4 Catfish – 148cm	$400 & Berkley Tackle Bags
2nd Yak Team	Hobie Pro Angler – Cy & Kerrin Taylor	3 Catfish – 129cm	$300
3rd Yak Team	Team Pontoon 21 – Denis Metzdorf & Tom Lazlo	1 Catfish – 52cm	$200
4th Yak Team	Native Watercraft – Lawrence Pearce & Douglas Carroll	1 Catfish – 40cm	$100
Big Barra Senior	Brian Rake	61cm	Pflueger Patriach 9540
Big Barra Junior	Tommy Woods	61cm	$200 Foxies Voucher/Barra Maddness
Longest Catfish	Denis Metzdorf	52cm	Lure Prize Pack
Champion Catfish Team	Reidy’s Lures/Lowrance – Peter Price & Jason Crofts	5 Catfish – 169cm	Lure Prize Pack
First Barra Caught – Boaters	Tommy Woods	41cm	Lure Prize Pack
First Fish Caught – Yakkers	Stewart Dunn	49cm	Lure Prize Pack
Hard Luck Story	Matt Garner		Lure Prize Pack
Ladies Lucky Draw	Toni Potter		Pflueger Arbor 040
Lucky Draw	Cy Taylor		Lure Prize Pack
Lucky Draw	Peter Sippel		Lure Prize Pack
Lucky Draw	Mark Lockwood		Lure Prize Pack
Lucky Draw	Cameron Black		Pflueger Salt 40
Lucky Draw	Trevor Cassidy		Pflueger Arbor 040
Lucky Draw	Simon Black		Pflueger Patriach 9540
MASA Donations & Funds Raised		$800/1600 Barra

Taylors Triumph at the Pflueger Peter Faust Barra Trophy

The irrepressible ABT and AFC Barra Champs were always going to be hard to beat on their home dam, although they trailed after session one, their consistency shone through and gave them the win. In their own words, here is how they did it;
Saturday – We started out by fishing a couple of deep & shallow locations for no fish. We moved to another area, a weedy tree-lined edge in a large bay full of drowned creek beds. 

After fishing for just 15 minutes, we caught our bag limit. An 80cm size class fish was first caught then several minutes later another around 80cm and a fish just over a metre long were captured in two casts. After that we decided to stop fishing our main areas for the rest of that session as we thought we had a substantial bag limit and wanted to leave the fish for the final session on Sunday.

Sunday – We started fishing and it took about 20 minutes for the first fish to connect which looked about 85cm. However, right at the net the fish escaped. 10 minutes later, another fish was hooked. This one was well over a metre long and ejected the X-Rap during a 2m high leap out of the water. The next hour involved hooking up two more fish and landing one, which was just under a metre in length. The action started to slow down significantly so we moved to another location on the lake, some drowned shrubs in 3.5m of water with mats of lilly pads surrounding them. 

The Lowrance HDS Structure Scan displayed mid-sized barramundi in the general area. We fished in tight to the lilly pads and in the next 30 minutes we caught 2 small fish about 60cm long and lost another 2 about the same size on Squidgy Slick Rigs. These two completed the bag limit of three fish. We used 110mm in the Slick Rigs mainly in Slimey colour and used the Rapala XRap XR10 in the Purple Albino colour. Any colours seemed to work though.

The outfits used were a Shimano Calcutta 100B with a Millerods Salty Barra rod and Shimano Chronarch 100D5 paired to a Shimano T-Curve Barra HVY T-Series rod. These were spooled with 20lb FINS PRT braid connected to 80lb Black Magic leader.    

Second place Pro team went to B&K, the newly engaged couple of Brook Ebzery and Katie Sanderson. They had a great session on Saturday that saw them catch and loose fish in all sorts of ways. Katie caught the first barra by throwing out a Transam, then sitting down with the rod in her lap, to do something else, she noticed a tug on her rod, and thought it was Brook messing with her, but all of a sudden the line took off, and she was connected to a barra, they managed to land the 92cm fish, which gave Katie the prize for first barra of the tournament.

Katie managed another good fish on a Mullet, during the fight the line got wrapped around the tiller arm and lanyard, but they somehow managed to get it off and land the 96cm barra, which eventually won her the “Big Barra – Ladies” Trophy’. Brook also had a debacle while fighting a fish, he got his hat cord wrapped up in his reel, so he ended up with the reel jammed against his chin, they managed to untangle it and still land the fish……it was all happening!

Leading after the first session, they didn’t quite get the bites to match Team Evinrude/Mako in session two, but Brook did manage to land the Biggest Barra of the tournament with a 106cm fish winning him the custom made ACM Big Barra Rod. Katie’s speech at the presentation was very entertaining, as it was a comedy of errors, but they must have been doing something right as they took home the 2nd place cash, and the Big Barra Senior and Ladies Trophies and Prizes.

Relegated to third Pro Team by their daughter and Son-in-law- to- be, was Elaine and Shane Sanderson of Team Big Fin. Shane got a good metre plus fish on a gold Blade on Saturday, and then Elaine bought home the bacon on Sunday with two good fish taken on a Squidgy and XRap . Elaine was heard to mumble something about teaching the kids too well, after being pipped for second team and the ‘Big Barra – Ladies” Trophy, by her daughter. Holding down forth place was Team Rapala, the formidable pairing of Jon Millard and last year’s invitational winner Trent Power. Jon was the one to land all the fish this time though, with one coming on a Berkley Hollowbelly and the other on Leads Shad.

Jarrod Dalton and Brad Purdy of Team Hornet, got themselves on the scoreboard with a 67cm taken by Jarrod on a Richo’s Extractor. Their weekend was extra challenging with an electric motor steering fault, but they battled on with it steering by hand, and managed to get a barra.

Amateur Teams It was great to see seven new teams line up in the amateur category to experience ABT style tournament barra fishing.  The Team of David & Goliath – Vinnie Verfeld and Karim de Ridder made the trip from Townsville to have a go. Karim reigned surpreme catching a 101 in session one, and a 103cm in session two, to put their team in first place within the category. The succesfull lures were Squidgies and Hollowbellys. The guys enjoyed the weekend, and I dare say we will see them back for the ABT Barra Pro events in November.

Second place in the Amateur category went to John Trigg and Paul Stevenson of JT Reel Repairs. These guys are sooty nuts and targeted sooties all weekend on Rapala Fat raps and poppers. John said he was disappointed not to have scored any on Saturday, but they came home strong in the Sunday session with three fish for a total length of 130cm.

Third team was X Country, the Father and Son team of Jeff and Zac Attwood.

In the smallest boat in the field, the lightweight Xcountry 4.2m, powered by a 15 horse Yamaha, Zac managed to catch a solid 49cm Sooty late in the first session on a Rattling spot.

The ten year old was stoked with that fish, as it helped him to a swag of prizes, third in the Amateur teams, as well as the biggest fish for a junior and the longest sooty for the tournament. All three juniors in the event took home a lure prize pack for coming and having a go.

A big thank you to Local Sponsors, Lindsay Dobe from Barramundi Fishing Charters, Aaron from ACM Custom Rods, and John Trigg from JT Reel Repairs. Also thanks to local organisers Daniel Grech and Belinda Winton, who made this event happen. I must also mention Freddy Grech and Trevor Cassidy who also helped out in running the event.

Naming sponsors of the event Pflueger donated several Salt and Arbor reels. Other sponsors included Berkley, Squidgy, Cultiva, Nitro Jigheads, Strike Pro, Jackal, Rapala and Sufix. A great weekend was had by all. It’s great to see Peter Faust Dam in such good shape with plenty of fish biting so early in the season, it looks like it could be one of the most productive barra dams on the tour this year.

The Mondy Barra Trophy is coming up on the 1st and 2nd October, this event has Pro, Amateur and Kayak Divisions to cater for all types of barra anglers. Mondy is starting to fire as well, with lots of good reports of 40 – 70cm barra being caught with the odd metery also being encountered. Matt Fraser    

Overall Results
Total Barra Caught	18 Barra – 9 per Session – 1651cm total length – 91.7 average size
Total Sooty’s Caught	5 Sooty’s – 226cm total length – 45.2cm average size
Pro Team Results:
Champion Pro Team	Evinrude/Mako Eyewear- Kerrin & Cy Taylor – 6 Barra for 481cm
2nd Pro Team	B & K – Brook Ebzery & Katie Sanderson – 4 Barra for 402cm
3rd Pro Team	Big Fin – Shane & Elaine Sanderson – 3 Barra for 292cm
4th Pro Team	Rapala – Jon Millard & Trent Power – 2 Barra for 203cm
5th Pro Team	Team Hornet – Jarrod Dalton & Brad Purdy – 1 Barra for 67cm
Amateur Team Results:
Champion Amateur Team	David and Goliath – Karim De Riddler & Vinner Versfeld – 2 Barra for 203cm
2nd Amateur Team	JT Reel Repairs – John Trigg & Paul Stevenson – 3 Sooty’s for 130cm
3rd Amateur Team	X Country – Jeff & Zac Attwood – 1 Sooty for 49cm
Longest Sooty	Zac Attwood – 49cm
Champion Sooty Team	JT Reel Repairs – John Trigg & Paul Stevension – 3 Sooty’s for 130cm
Biggest Barra Senior	Brook Ebzery 108cm & 106cm Barra
Biggest Barra Junior/Sooty	Zac Attwood with a 49cm Sooty
Biggest Barra Ladies	Katie Sanderson – 96cm Barra
First Barra Caught	Katie Sanderson (17/09/11 1:15pm)