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Whitehead Timber Sales Take Victory Again at Nelson

The weekend of the 23rd and 24th of March saw 50 teams head to Nelson on the Glenelg River for the 2013 Hobie Bream Classic. Being the first country rnd of the 2013 Humminbird Bream Classic Series all teams were eager to get off to a good start to ensure their place in the 2013 Humminbird Grand Final at Metung in November. For Dean Truman and Sean Kennedy from Team Whitehead Timber Sales the Glenelg River had been very kind to the boys and this weekend would be no different with everything going to plan to help them claim victory.

Day 1 saw anglers awake to very uncomfortable conditions with light yet constant rain adding to the cold wind. With prefish day not offering anglers a distinct pattern the field was split from the start with many heading to the mouth while the remaining teams pushed up river. Unlike a number of anglers, Team Whitehead Timber Sales had a successful pre-fish and managed to work out a plan of attack for Day 1. "On Friday we fished the estuary for 3 hours for no fish then caught 4 big bream in 5 casts across the river from a spot called the popes nose so we had our spot and lure choice sorted" Dean said. On Saturday Whitehead Timber Sales headed straight to their hot spot, but after leaving a long way down the field found that another boat was working the area so the boys decided to fish a spot nearby that also produced fish. Using a combination of Samurai 101 and Shimano T-Curve rods, matched to Daiwa Luvias and Shimano Twin-Power reels, spooled with 4lb All Bass and Berkley Crystal Braids tied to 4lb All Bass fluorocarbon leaders the boys started working the underwater rocky outcrops and submerged rocks and reef near popes nose. Casting tight to the structure using brown suji and bluegill coloured shallow and deep Jackall Chubbies, Maria shallow lures, Berkley Gulp 3 inch minnows in peppered prawns and turtle back worms in the camo colour rigged on 1/40th and 1/16th TT jigheads. Working this strategy over a six hour period saw the boys fill their bag with 5/5 bream weighing in at 3.46kg securing them a comfortable lead going into day 2 along with the Maria Lures Best Bag Prize for the weekend. The Eco-Gear Big Bream Prize was also secured on Day 1 by Team Hurricane's Peter Nord and Kevin Tormy who landed a cracking bream weighing in at 1.35kg

While Day 2 brought much more settled weather for the field the fishing suffered with the bite really shutting down. "We headed off first to the popes nose but the fishing bite had shut down and we only had one fish in the well at 11.30am. Fortunately we were able to catch 2 more legal fish in the last hour one of which weighed over a kilo to give us some hope of holding our lead" Dean said. Heading back to weigh in with only 3 fish in the well wasn't filling the boys with much confidence that they were going to claim victory however luck was on their side and the majority of the field also experienced the same difficult fishing conditions and very few heavy bags were weighed. With their Day 1 quality bag combined with their 3 bream on Day 2 that weighed in at 2.37kg Team Whitehead Timber Sales managed to hold on and were crowned the 2013 Hobie Bream Classic champions with 8/10 bream for 5.83kg. Coming from 40th position on Day 1 and moving 21 positions to finish 19th and taking out the Aus Tackle Monster Movers Prize was Team Mega Bass Club Marine's Tom Deer and Darryl Kelcey with a bag of 5/5 bream for 2.98kg.

As you read this the next tournament on the Vic Bream Classic Series calendar will be the Cranka East Gippsland Bream Classic on the 15th and 16th of June at the mighty Mallacoota Inlet. There's still time to enter so for more information and to get entry forms please log onto www.vicbreamclassics.com.au or call Bill Hartshorne on 0409 823 070