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Team You Never Know Lead from Start to Finish to Claim Victory at Coota

The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of March 2014 saw 60 teams head to the mighty Mallacoota inlet for the 2014 Engel East Gippsland Bream Classic. Being the first regional leg of the 2014 Vic Bream Classic Series all teams were keen to get away to a good start and put some all important Club Marine Team of the Year points on the board to help secure them a spot in the Grand Final to be held back at Mallacoota in November this year. With such a talented field assembling for the tournament it was anyone's guess which of the top teams would be crowned champions, however this weekend would prove different as a new team would emerge to claim their first Vic Bream Classic victory and send a strong message to the rest of the field to watch up for them in November. As the named suggests Team You Never Know would prove that anyone has a chance to put in a dominant performance if they do their homework and have the ability and that exactly what they did leading from start to finish and taking victory in fine fashion.

Day 1 saw teams awake to calm overcast conditions with the slightest drizzle just perfect to fill their bags early. For Team You Never Know it was a blast off the start line but a very short trip as they focussed their morning session in the bottom lake and wasn't long before the decision paid off. " We spent the first 2 hrs of the day fishing shallow flats in the bottom lake in search of some quality bream using the Eco-Gear MX48's all in the natural colours as these seemed to get the most attention. To get the fish to bite we found that a shaking retrieve worked the best for us and was the main method that would finally entice the bream to smash the lure" Dwayne said. Using a combination of Shimano T-Curve Tournament rods, Shimano 2500 Stella and Twin Power reels, spooled with 8lb PE Braid or 4lb Fireline Exceed Braid attached to 3 to 5 lb fluorocarbon leaders the boys set about filling their bag relatively quickly off the flats in the bottom late in the first 2 hours of competition on Day 1. While getting 5 bream in the bag early was a great start anyone that fishes a tournament in Mallacoota knows that getting 5 bream isn't a huge achievement and its always size that sets the men from the boys in a Mallacoota tournament. The boys knew exactly this and after a good 2 hours session on the flats had dies off they knew they needed to change take to upgrade the bream they already had in the well if that had any chance of completing with the other quality teams in the field. " We decided to head up into the top lake and focus our attention on fishing edges and deeper drop offs to try and land some of the bigger kilo plus bream needed to be competitive. We used Berkley Gulp pumpkinseed turtle back worms and Juro 3inch minnows on super light 1/40th TT hidden weight jigheads to flick the plastic tight into heavy cover on the edge to temp some of the bigger bream and also fished Cyber Vibes in the deeper water which worked really well" Dwayne said.

After a solid but challenging session to find the bigger fish the You Never Know boys approached the scales and weighed in 5/5 bream for 4.60kg just giving them the lead on day one above Team Berkley's Brad and Mike Hodges who weighed in 5/5 bream for 4.58kg. Also hitting the scales on Day 1 was the Eco-Gear Big Bream which was a cracking 1.44kg Black Bream weighed in by Kyle Pettie from Team Tanglefoot. Team awoke on Day2 to beautiful conditions ready to hunt down the leaders and the Eco-Gear Big Bream. For Team You Never Know they were well awhere that they would have to fish at their best with the ever consistant Team Berkley hot on their heels if they would secure victory. With the cameraman on board filming their charge there were some very tense moments early in the day as they plugged away to land their 5 bream before looking carrying out the same strategy of heading up into the top lake to upgrade their bag after a morning flats session. "We knew we had to keep focussed and keep searching for the bigger fish. It was a really tough tournament for Mallacoota standards as the bigger fish just were very hard to find" Dwayne said. After another solid session the boys managed to weigh another great bag of 5/5 bream for 4.13kg giving them a total of 10/10 bream for 8.73kg and the 2014 Engel East Gippsland Bream Classic victory. The victory didn't come without a small scare as charging from 23rd position was Team Gamakatsu Atomic's Paul Malov and Alex Franchuk who stole the Maria Lures Best Bag away from Team You Never Know with 5/5 bream for 4.65kg but only that could only push them to 4th position safely leaving Team You Never Know securely in the top spot handing them the victory.

Next Rnd of the 2014 Vic Bream Classic Series will see the field travel to the Glenelg River in Nelson for the 2014 Hobie Bream Classic. If you want to be part of the action or come down and spectate log onto www.vicbreamclassics.com.au for all the details or follow us on facebook.