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The weekend of the 30th and 31st of January saw a solid field of 48 teams make the first trip for 2016 to Marlo for Rnd 1 of the 2016 Atomic Bream Classic Series. The Maria Lures Sunline Bream Classic has become a much anticipated tournament on the calendar as anglers get to potentially tangle with some of the biggest bream in Australia and then get to present those bream to the crowd at the awesome drive by weigh in at the Marlo Hotel a very popular venue. For Team Colac Tackle Samurai Rods Dan Mackrell and Steve Parker it was back to business as usual showing the other competitors no matter the venue or conditions they are always a threat.

With the Friday prefish day being interrupted by some serious electrical storms and torrential rain that had anglers ducking for cover to ensure they didn't get fried, anglers weren't sure where the fish would be on Day 1 with the amount of fresh water entering the system overnight. For Team Colac Tackle Samurai Rods it was a very short trip down the front of the system where they had found fish on prefish. "With an abundance of baitfish and prawns in the area there were lots of bream down the front of the system chasing an easy meal. We caught lots of fish on Day 1 and it was just a matter of changing lures and working through the fish to get the important upgrades needed to build a solid bag" Dan said. Building a solid bag was exactly what the boys did as they led the field on day 1 with a great bag of 5/5 bream for 4.43kg which also set a high benchmark for the rest of the field to chase to take out the Maria Lures Best Bag prize. The chase for the JML Anglers Alliance Big Bream was made very tough by Team Tornado's Charlie Saykoa and Tom McIntosh who weigh in a cracking 1.47kg bream on Day 1 which definitely laid down the challenge to the rest of the field to try and surpass.

Day 2 almost didn't happen with one of the largest storms hitting Marlo at midnight and dropping lots of rain and lightning. Luckily for the anglers the storm subsided and moved offshore by 6am and Day 2 was a go. With Team Colac Tackle Samurai Rods fishing down the front on Day 1 and headed to that spot on Day 2 it was no surprise that they had a little more company on Day 2 with many boats targeting that area. With so much more pressure down the front on Day 2 it was important for the guys to work hard locating and enticing the bigger fish to bike. "We used a combination of Samurai Reaction 181, Infinite FIN10 M69 and G-Loomis SR 842- 2 rods matched to Daiwa Ignis and Steez reels spooled with 10lb Unitika Aorika II and 10lb Sunline Castaway Braid with 4lb Unitika Aiger fluorocarbon leaders. The lures that got us the quality fish were Atomic Seekerz jigheads, 1/16th & 1/11thoz matched to Atomic minnows, Prongs and Zman grubs and hardbodies such as the Atomic Shiners and Bassday Kangoku Shads. All the lures we fished on the weekend were in natural bait fish colours to match the bait the bream were eating" Dan said. By mixing up the lures the boys were able to continually motivate the bream to keep biting right throughout the Day 2 session along with a variety of other species including salmon, tailor, flathead and pinky snapper. After numerous upgrades and with time running out the boys felt that they had done enough to push for the victory and proceeded to head to the way in.

The Day 2 weigh in was filled with excitement as some quality bags and fish hit the scales. The Maria Lures Best Bag was smashed on Day 2 by Team Humminbird's Shaun Clancy and Jarrod Healy who weighed in a cracking bag of 5/5 bream for 4.77kg. Their bag also moved them 18 places up the leader board to finish 11th and also take out the Hurricane Monster Movers Prize. The Jml Anglers Alliance Big Bream was held by Team Tornado until the very last team to weigh in with Team Club Marine's Greg Crellin and Michael Bressan weighing in a cracking 1.67kg bream to take out the big bream prize. All eyes then turned to Team Colac Tackle Samurai Rods bag and whether they could hold onto the lead. There 5/5 bream bag was very solid weighing in at 4.12kg giving them a total of 10/10 bream for 8.55kg and handing them the Maria Lures Sunline Bream Classic victory.

Rnd 2 of the 2016 Atomic Bream Classic Series will see us head to Warrnambool on the Hopkins River on March 19th and 20th for the 2016 Shimano BCF Bream Classic. For all entry details log onto www.vicbreamclassics.com.au or call Bill Hartshorne on 0409 823 070.