Rod Collings, a 33 year old Truck Driver, outclassed the field with a 5/5, 482cm limit, which included four fish over 90cms, plus the event’s Daiwa Big Barra, a fantastic 110cm specimen.
40 anglers set out at Teemburra Dam for the first of the ABT BARRA Tour’s Night Championship events. 20 teams in all gathered together at the Pinnacle Hotel to have their boats checked out, before hitting the water at 4pm, and fishing through until 8am the next morning.
The Champion Team category proved a hotly contested title, with eventual winners Team Pig Scuttlers, comprised of Rod Collings and Andy Thomsen claiming the title with their combined limit length of 864cm. Followed by Team Evakool/ Bass to Barra in second place and Team Ecogear 1 in third. The Champion Anger title though belonged to Rod Collings, a 33 year old Truck Driver, who outclassed the field with a 5/5, 482cm limit, which included four fish over 90cms, plus the event’s Daiwa Big Barra, a fantastic 110cm specimen.
Second place was secured by Andy Thomsen, 5/5, 382cm, while one centimetre separated the third (Steve Morgan, 5/5, 366cm), fourth (Graham Vallance, 5/5, 365cm), and fifth (Gavin Dunne, 5/5, 364cm) places.
Having fished a few times over the last couple of years with Peter Faust guide Andy Thomsen, Rod commented that his partner really encouraged him throughout the night. Heading out 2nd last off the line, they watch the other boats all head off into the distance, and they simply putted around into the first bay to begin flicking a combination of topwater lures and Storm plastics in front of the weed beds.
Rod’s choice of gear included a Live Fibre Blade, 5’6, rod matched to a Shimano Chronarch baitcaster reel, spooled with Fins PRT 30 pound braid, and Black Magic 60 pound leader. Andy used a similar combo in a Strudwick 5’6, 5-6kg rod, plus a Shimano Chronarch reel, spooled with 30 pound Tuff line and the same 60 pound leader.
Fishing consistently was the key to this team’s large total. Andy had two fish before sunset, and then Rod caught his first barra of 98cm right on sunset, working a Cultiva Tango Dancer across the surface in one of the many weedy bays.
Once dark, they concentrated their efforts in the timber, working 4-5†Storm plastics, green in colour beside the trees. At 1.00am Rod scored his 4th fish, the 110cm Big Barra. Luckily for him it was in the clearer section of the timber and it made a dash for the weed beds. The first of several runs saw the barra take approximately 50 metres of line.
“It was going fairly hard at one stage†Collings commented.
“I’m sure you had about 80 metres of line out at one stage†Thomsen followed.
Spending the rest of the night amongst the timber and rarely sitting down to rest, Team Pig Scuttlers compiled the remainder of their in the area. In the early morning, on the way back to the ramp, they boys decided to throw some flies at the points. Collings using an 8 weight Scott fly rod matched to a Fenwick reel with Fins braid and Scientific Angler intermediate line, while Thomsen choosing a slightly heavier 10 wt Pro Angler Mastery Series 3 piece travel rod and a Pro Angler reel with floating line. This scored them several smaller fish but each could feel confident that their efforts throughout the night would put them in the placings.
“The weather was beautiful last night! It was awesome to have the barra boofing all around you. It seemed they would go crazy every 20 minutes or soâ€, the anglers concluded.
Keith Day from the Mackay Stocking Group was presented with a $400 donation to go towards future stocking of Teemburra Dam.
“It is one of Australia’s premier fisheriesâ€, Day explained.
“It’s great to have tournaments of this ilk on the dam, and we can’t wait until the ABT returns next yearâ€, Day told the crowd.
After a well earned sleep, the third leg of the ABT BARRA Tour sees the tour travel to Peter Faust Dam, for the second of the two-day events, and the final round of the Night Championship events. With plenty of metre plus caught in the lead-up to the event the location is set to be popular with those on the tour, and is shaping up to be two of the potential highlights of the Daiwa BARRA Tour.
If you would like to join in the fun for either the remainder of the 2005 Daiwa BARRA Tour or want to start planning for next year, check out all the info at www.australianbarra.com.au.
| Place | Angler | F1 | L1 | TF | TL |
| 1 | Rodney Collings | 5 | 482 | 5 | 482 |
| 2 | Andy Thomson | 5 | 382 | 5 | 382 |
| 3 | Steve Morgan | 5 | 366 | 5 | 366 |
| 4 | Graham Vallance | 5 | 365 | 5 | 365 |
| 5 | Gavin Dunne | 5 | 364 | 5 | 364 |
| 6 | Kerry Symes | 5 | 344 | 5 | 344 |
| 7 | Matthew Mott | 5 | 316 | 5 | 316 |
| 8 | Barry Cotter | 4 | 283 | 4 | 283 |
| 9 | John Schofield | 4 | 269 | 4 | 269 |
| 10 | Peter Price | 3 | 266 | 3 | 266 |
| 11 | Stephen Palmer | 4 | 253 | 4 | 253 |
| 12 | Peter Morgan | 2 | 161 | 2 | 161 |
| 13 | Les Reibelt | 2 | 152 | 2 | 152 |
| 14 | Alan Macnamara | 2 | 148 | 2 | 148 |
| 15 | Trevor Burgess | 2 | 141 | 2 | 141 |
| 16 | Cathy McNaught | 2 | 129 | 2 | 129 |
| 17 | Dennis Schwerin | 2 | 86 | 2 | 86 |
| 18 | James Coate | 1 | 81 | 1 | 81 |
| 19 | David Lang | 1 | 74 | 1 | 74 |
| 20 | John Oakes | 1 | 73 | 1 | 73 |
| 21 | Peter May | 1 | 73 | 1 | 73 |
| 22 | Peter Roberts | 1 | 72 | 1 | 72 |
| 23 | Leon Coate | 1 | 71 | 1 | 71 |
| 24 | Robert Williams | 1 | 70 | 1 | 70 |
| 25 | Philip Lyons | 1 | 70 | 1 | 70 |
| 26 | John Schwerin | 1 | 69 | 1 | 69 |
| 27 | Scott McAuley | 1 | 69 | 1 | 69 |
| 28 | Trevor Cassidy | 1 | 68 | 1 | 68 |
| 29 | Dean Coghill | 1 | 68 | 1 | 68 |
| 30 | Brian Hampton | 1 | 44 | 1 | 44 |
| 31 | David Pack | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Steve Tracey | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Darren Lewis | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Peter McAuley | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Keith Day | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Tim Galletly | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Jason Cameron | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Geoff Busbridge | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Arthur Lovern | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Gary Boyd | 0 | 0 |