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 |