Month: October 2011

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