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 |