Atomic WA Bream Classic Grand Final Results

[Nick Cuccovia]

Sunshine and a bit of wind is what greeted teams on their arrival at the mighty Blackwood River in Augusta, where the Atomic WA Bream Classic Grand Final for Boats kicked off. With four teams still in the running for team of the year the grand final was certainly going to be a hotly contested affair.

Loaded with a packet of Granny’s Muffins on Saturday and bacon and egg sandwiches on Sunday, teams hit the water at 7am before returning for the 2pm weigh in with hopefully a few nice specimen’s that would give the scales a workout.

In first place and not only taking out the Grand Final but also the Team of the Year title were Team Lowrance/Tackle Tactics Alex Greisdorf and Jack Dawson weighing in 8 bream for 5.830kg. Alex and Jack put the pressure on the entire field with their day one bag of 4 bream for 3.230kg which gave them around an 800 gram lead to take into day two. Day two was much the same for team Lowrance/Tackle Tactics weighing in another great bag that dragged the scales down to 2.600kg.

After being handed the $3000 cash, the winning team was asked how the weekend had gone and whether they had a plan or not, Alex replied “I spent a few days pre-fishing the week before the kayak Grand Final, the water was chocolate brown which is certainly a lot different to now. I got a few fish around the place but I knew it would change a heck of lot before the weekend, there was about 4-5m of fresh water on top as compared to very little this weekend. So I sort of figured where some fish were and just decided to target those areas”.

“On day one we started out with the hope of bagging out pretty quickly but after about two hours fishing various banks we only had a couple of keepers to show for our efforts. It was about now that Jack was making the call to quit breaming, so we made the move about 10km up river and quickly found a couple of small keepers fishing down deep with ZMan grubz. There were plenty of boats in the area and the fishing seemed a little slower so we figured we would make a move way down river and fish some structure that I had found earlier using my side scan”.

“We quickly got our first upgrade and over the next hour we fished every bit of structure we could find with shade under it and basically upgraded our entire bag including our kicker of nearly 1.2kgs. Coming in to the weigh in we were quietly confident that we had a good bag but we're not sure as the Blackwood is home to plenty of big ones”.

“Day two and starting with the lead generally makes most people a little nervous but to be honest it's the best feeling in my opinion, and something I try and thrive on. The forecast was for calmer conditions to yesterday so we knew would make fishing tough. Our day really couldn't have started out better as we went to our first spot and within 30 minutes we had our first three keepers including a good one which really took the pressure off us”.

“After a while the bite really slowed so we decided to move spots and take a quick run to one spot that I knew held good numbers of fish. First cast and I dropped a good fish, Jack flicked in with a power hawg and bang he was on, not sure how we landed this fish as it proceeded to wrap Jack around two crusty pylons, but lucky enough the 4lb leader held on long enough to get him out. Fist pumps were in order as we knew that was a good fish on a tough day. For the rest of the day we plugged away trying to find some upgrades only managing a couple of better fish”.

When asked what worked for them Alex and Jack replied “Our lures of choice for the comp mainly consisted of Zmans grubz in bloodworm and gudgeon colours, Daiwa spikes in various and some old school Berkley bulky hawgs”. We fished with Daiwa Battler rods and Duff rods and matched these with a few Daiwa reels. We stuck with TT Headlockz in 1/16 and 1/12 when the wind got up each day. Our leader of choice was Yamatoyo Harris Fighter in 6lb for day one and 4lb for day two. And my sounder is a Lowrance HDS 3 unit with side and 3D sonar”.

Alex and Jack thanked there 2016 sponsors in Lowrance, Tackle Tactics and Daiwa for all there help over the season, as well as Atomic and the 2016 series sponsors, whilst adding thanks to the organisers claiming “this is certainly the best event we have fished, and can’t wait for the 2017 season to kick off”.

In second place and missing Team of the Year by one point was Gladiator/Tackle HQ Shane and Steve Owens weighing in a healthy four bream for 2.200kg on day one, and backing that up with four bream for 1.985kg on day two for a total of 8 bream for 4.185kg. When asked how the weekend had gone and if their pre-fish had made a difference, Shane replied “We had a reasonable pre-fish, it was a bit slow early but on the last day we picked up a few nice ones, so we had a few spots lined up. It is a little easier to come in with half a plan rather than no plan at all”.

“Day one we headed upstream past the bridge and bagged out pretty early, probably by 9am. It was funny for the first 100m we did not have a touch then we found a nice patch and started picking them up here and there, which included our kicker fish of 1.095. After the bite shut down we decided to head downstream and try our luck down there, but with the wind up it was pretty hard going for us, so we just settled on what we had. So to hold down 3rd spot going into day two was a bonus, but we would need to improve a fair bit to be able to chase down Alex and Jack.”

“Day two we thought we would mix it up a bit and try and get away from where we envisaged the pressure might be, so we headed downstream to work through some of the downriver spots we found in pre-fish. We managed to scrape a bag together but just couldn’t find the four kicker fish we would have needed to catch Alex. But to move into second for the Grand Final makes it a satisfying finish to the season and a big improvement on 2015”.
On day one Gladiator/Tackle HQ fished their 2.8” Rush Craw in the Jelly prawn colour, whilst on day two the included some ZMan 2’ Grubs and ZMan slim swims. Shane and Steve both fished with their range of Gladiator Rods, being the Cyborg 7’2 and also the Elite Industries. Shane matched his rods to Daiwa Certate and Freams reels, these were loaded with Gosen Tournament Braid in 14lb, whilst at the business end was Nitlon leader in 4lb or 6lb. Steve used Sunline and TD Sensor on his reels

When asked if they had anyone to thank, Shane replied “The guys at Gladiator and Tackle HQ are fantastic, Gladiator has a great range of gear that doesn’t kill the bank and Tackle HQ have one of the best lure ranges going. Then of course Atomic and all the 2016 sponsors for making the whole series possible, then of course the WAFM organisers for another fantastic season, and of course Kate for making the effort to cook us breakfast this morning”.

Storming from 14th position on day one into third place overall with the biggest day two bag was Team Two in a Savages Szarn Tink and Graeme Kovacevich weighing in four bream for 1.095kg on day one, then following that up with the cracking day two bag of four bream that dragged the scales down to 2.725kg.

When asked how the weekend had gone, Szarn replied “On day one we headed 6km past Alexander Bridge and threw a mixture of hard bodies, but we didn’t get a touch in two hours. We then decided to push downstream to the ski area, but as we passed Suzie she put us onto a spot about 1km away. Then about 11.15am Graeme hit a hot patch and pulled three fish in quick succession on the ZMan 2.5” grub in watermelon. We then moved and fished our way down to Molloy Island for not much action, so we only had three for the weigh in.”

“Sitting in 14th spot for day two was not ideal but it meant we could go and have fun without any of the pressure, so we headed into town but found nothing but large herring and whiting, so then we thought we would target every flat that had enough water on it to fish. By 10.30am we had four keepers in the well and decided to just continue fishing all the flats between town and Molloy Island. But it wasn’t until 1.45pm, with 15 minutes to go when a lucky cast in some snags near the barge put a great upgrade in our bag. We were fishing ZMan 2.5” grubz in watermelon and bloodworm, and had these rigged on TT jigheads in 1/16th and 1/20th“.

Graeme fished with a Daiwa Battler Rod, matched to Daiwa Luvias 2506 reel, this was loaded with 8lb Sunline braid with 10lb Toray fluorocarbon leader, His second combo was a Nordic Stage Arial Sharpshooter, matched to a Shimano Rarenium 2500, this was loaded with 3lb fluorocarbon.

Szarn fished with 2 Nordic Stage Arial Sharpshooter Rods, both matched with a Shimano Rarenium 2500 reels. One reel was loaded with 6lb Daiwa TD sensor braid with 6lb sunline sniper fluorocarbon leader, whilst the other was loaded 8lb Sunline PE braid, with 8lb Sunline basic fluorocarbon at the business end.
When asked whom they wanted to thank, Szarn replied “We would like to thank the Breammaster crew for a great year running an awesome bream classic series where you get a hearty breakfast at every comp. It just makes a great day even better when the smell of bacon and eggs hits you when you are at the registration trailer. Also a huge thanks to Atomic and Engel and the many other sponsors who support this great series including those behind the scenes and the people who provide the venues we use”.

Engel Big Bream was taken out by Alex Griesdorf on Day one with his kicker fish that dragged the scales down to 1.195kg to nudge Shane Owens from the day one big bream bounty. Day two was the 1.005kg lone fish that helped Team Red Beard Clothing’s Brendon Smith and Chris Twomey grab 10th place, they picked it up in the last hour of the comp no more than 1km from the start.

The title and honours of the “Team of the Year” came down to a solitary point, with three of the four teams that were in the running all finishing in the top 4. But on 297 points was Team Lowrance/Tackle Tactics taking the win by a point from Team Gladiator/Tackle HQ on 296 points. These two teams finished 1st and 2nd in the grand final and had position been reversed then the title would have gone to Gladiator, so congratulations to both teams for the efforts they put in over the season.

The Atomic WA Bream Classic Series would not be possible without the fantastic support of the tackle industry. A huge thank you goes to Atomic/Samurai from Frogleys Offshore for being the 2016 series sponsor, as well as all our various other sponsors such as Engel, CRC Industries, Tackle Tactics, JML Anglers Alliance, Mako Sunglasses, Damiki/Pontoon 21, EJ Todd and Son, Watersnake, Recfishwest, Platypus, Gamakatsu, Shimano, Ecogear, Yamatoyo, Anglers Anonymous, Bluewater Tackle, Halco, Tackle HQ and TheLurePro.com. Without your support our series would not be possible, then last but certainly not least Granny’s Pies for all the goodies you supply at each round (this round each boat took one dozen lamingtons each to keep the worms at bay).

We look forward to seeing you all back for the 2017 WA Bream Classic Series.