The most northern stop of the 2008 Daiwa BARRA Tour produced tough and frustrating fishing for the 28 gathered teams at the Shimano Peter Faust 2-Day Morning Event, 18/19th November.
While hot conditions and light winds provided seemingly ideal conditions, inactive and a hard to define bite pattern saw only 53 fish grace the competitors’ Shimano Brag Mats for the 14 hours of angling.
Leading the charge and adding another 1-2 finish to their growing tournament resume was Kerrin (7/10, 461cm) and Cy Taylor (5/10, 346cm) who saved their best to last, delivering a full five fish limit catch card to the score tent on the second and final morning of competition.
The only anglers to catch their limit for the tournament the pair fished a previously undiscovered location, unearthing a weed lined point that extended out into one of Faust’s many hidden timber laden bays.
“It was a new spot that we found, and it had all the ingredients for success, weed, timber, bait and most importantly active fish”, explained Kerrin.
With about three metres of water covering the point the pair bunkered down for the session, tieing off on a series of trees and working the area over with Squidgy Slick Rigs.
“We down sized from a 110 to a 100 Slick Rigs and alternated between retrieves before we cracked the pattern and found the one that worked”, explained Cy.
The gun approach proved to be one of the simplest and easiest to apply, casting the Slick Rig tight to the weed edge and slow rolling it back to the boat. The lure itself wasn’t as clear cut, with the True Blue coloured soft plastic modified with the addition of a single treble-armed stinger hook.
When quizzed post victory on their choice and use of the lure the boys were forthcoming with their train of thought.
“We fished a 110 Slick Rig on day one and while we got a lot of hits we couldn’t managed to get the fish to take the lure well enough to get the hook-ups and the fish in the boat”, explained Kerrin.
“So we down sized to the smaller 100 on day two and started catching fish”, added Cy.
The tackle used by the AFC angling pair included a 6’4″ Millerods Hi Roller rod, Shimano Calais DC reel, spooled with 20lb Fins line, and 80lb Black Magic leader.
With the northern leg of the Daiwa BARRA Tour now complete the pair are on a high and feeling confident heading into the three southern events, especially following a successful AFC campaign on the two southern waterways only a month prior.
“We spent quite a bit of time fishing Awoonga and Monduran and feel we have good insight into what might be in store for us when we hit the two dams. So hopefully we can hit the ground running and continue the good form we had at Faust”, explained the barra brothers.
The Daiwa Big Barra title as expected when the tour travels to Faust eclipse the magic metre mark, with Bowen angler Michael Myers claiming the prize with his 120cm specimen.
“I picked up the fish just after 7am when it ate a Squidgy 110 Slick Rig in about 90 feet of water”, explained Myers.
The capture was text book, with Myers sounding the fish in deep water then dropping the plastic down to it, where it surprisingly ate it.
“There were plenty of suspended fish near the dam wall, all of them, bar this one showed no interest in what we had to offer”, added Myers.
The prize winning fish took the lure about six feet from the surface, intercepting the lure as it free fell towards the bottom.
“The fish were suspended about 20 feet down and this guy must have followed the lure to the surface on a previous retrieve and had been sitting their waiting for it to come by again”, explained Myers.
The next round of the Daiwa BARRA Tour sees the series travel south to Lake Awoonga for the Squidgies Awoonga Night Championship, 22/23rd November.
For more information or to enter, contact Marcel from ABT on 0427 32 64 64, or attended the 2.30pm tournament briefing on the Awoonga foreshore near the ranger’s hut Saturday 22nd November.
| Place | Angler | F1 | L1 | F2 | L2 | TF | TL | Payout |
| 1 | Kerrin Taylor | 2 | 122 | 5 | 339 | 7 | 461 | $1,200, Blue Acres Lamiglass rod, Shimano Curado reel, & Prize Pack |
| 2 | Cy Taylor | 5 | 346 | 5 | 346 | $650, Shimano Fireblood rod, Shimano Saragosa reel, & Prize Pack | ||
| 3 | Jason Crofts | 2 | 107 | 4 | 201 | 6 | 308 | $450, G.Loomis rod, Shimano Saragosa reel, & Prize Pack |
| 4 | Jon Millard | 2 | 112 | 3 | 195 | 5 | 307 | $350, Shimano T Curve Rod, Berkley Tec Tools Set, & Prize Pack |
| 5 | Len Schneider | 1 | 43 | 3 | 181 | 4 | 224 | $250, Ugly Fish Eyewear, Prize Pack |
| 6 | Daniel Grech | 4 | 203 | 4 | 203 | $250, Ugly Fish Eyewear, Prize Pack | ||
| 7 | Brad Lovern | 2 | 107 | 2 | 80 | 4 | 187 | $150, Ugly Fish Eyewear, Prize Pack |
| 8 | Trent Power | 1 | 64 | 1 | 67 | 2 | 131 | Ugly Fish Eyewear, Prize Pack |
| 9 | Elaine Sanderson | 2 | 126 | 2 | 126 | Prize Pack | ||
| 10 | Michael Myers | 1 | 120 | 1 | 120 | Prize Pack + Daiwa Big Barra Prize | ||
| 11 | Arthur Lovern | 2 | 116 | 2 | 116 | Prize Pack | ||
| 12 | Katie Sanderson | 1 | 58 | 1 | 58 | 2 | 116 | Prize Pack |
| 13 | Trevor Cassidy | 1 | 116 | 1 | 116 | Prize Pack | ||
| 14 | Alan McNamara | 1 | 102 | 1 | 102 | |||
| 15 | Wes Blanch | 1 | 64 | 1 | 64 | |||
| 16 | Simon Barkhuizen | 1 | 63 | 1 | 63 | |||
| 17 | Paul Anderson | 1 | 61 | 1 | 61 | |||
| 18 | Danny Anderson | 1 | 58 | 1 | 58 | |||
| 19 | Colin Slade | 1 | 44 | 1 | 44 | |||
| 20 | Michael Schneider | 1 | 41 | 1 | 41 | |||
| 21 | Aaron Gilmore | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 22 | Aaron Mogg | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 23 | Chris Anderson | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 24 | Chris Gipps | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 25 | Chris Nagiello | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 26 | Craig Birkett | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 27 | Dale Mullins | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 28 | Dave Robinson | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 29 | Gary Boyd (USA) | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 30 | Glyn Barkhuizen | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 31 | Hayden Kelly | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 32 | Isaac Toivanen | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 33 | Jason Cameron | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 34 | Jason Wilhelm | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 35 | Les Reibelt | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 36 | Mark Thompson | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 37 | Matt Coleman | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 38 | Matt McArthur | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 39 | Matthew Wallace | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 40 | Mick Campbell | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 41 | Mick Lumby | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 42 | Mike Connolly | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 43 | Mike North (USA) | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 44 | Peter May | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 45 | Peter Morgan | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 46 | Peter Price | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 47 | Philip Bevan | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 48 | Robert Swanston | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 49 | Roderick Walmsley | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 50 | Ryan Tully | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 51 | Scott McAuley | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 52 | Spencer Troxell | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 53 | Steven Bechly | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 54 | Tim Warren | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 55 | Trent Short | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 56 | Trevor Burgess | 0 | 0 | |||||
| F1 | L1 | F2 | L2 | TF | TL | |||
| 17 | 1032 | 35 | 2162 | 52 | 3194 | |||
| 60.7 | 61.8 | 61.42 |