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With the Maria Lures biggest bag of the weekend coming in Sundays session, Team Minn-Kota's Warren Carter and Cameron Whittam have come from 4th position to take out the 2017 Atomic Vic Bream Classic Grand Final with 10/10 Bream for 7.81kg.

In 2nd postion was Team Fishin.com.au's Mike Reber and Stuart Curruthers with 10/10 Bream for 7.10kg

In 3rd postion was Team Spot On Mt Gambier's Bodhi Pannenburg and Kobi Rothallwith 10/10 Bream for 6.92kg

The Maria Lures Best Bag went to Team Minn-Kota's Warren Carter and Cameron Whittam with 5/5 Bream for 4.40kg

The Jml Anglers Alliance Big Bream went to Team Prostrikes Peter Stephen and Bradley Baade with a 1.19kg bream

The Hurricane Monster Mover Prize also went to Team Prostrikes Peter Stephen and Bradley Baade who weighed in 5/5 Bream for 4.18kg to move 22 postions from 30th to finish 8th

Team Min-Kota prove to be the best of the best at Coota GF

The end of November in Victoria for Bream Tournament anglers means warmer weather, feeding bream, surface action and the 2017 Atomic Vic Bream Classic Series Grand Final. The top 50 teams that had qualified from the 5 qualifying Rnd throughout the year across Victoria converged on Mallacoota Inlet to experience one of the best bream bites in recent memory and it all happened for the big one. For Team Minn-Kota it was business as usual for Cameron Whittam and Warren Carter as no matter the conditions, locations, or time of year they have a plan and successfully execute it and this weekend was no different.

In one of the hottest November weekends on record anglers awake on the Saturday to clear skies, zero wind and a temp of about 25 degrees by 6am. With these conditions and 50 of the best bream teams entered for the Grand Final it was going to be a tough and very competitive tournament for all. For Team Minn-Kota's Cameron Whittam and Warren Carter it was time to execute their shallow water plan that they discovered on prefish day. "On prefish we checked out many of our old haunts both deep and shallow but given our preference for shallow water, we spent more time looking there. We found more fish than we had seen on the edges for years, only problem was that we didn't see many fish over a kilo. Our thoughts were that two bags around 3.5kg would be very competitive" Cam said. With Cam using a quality combination of custom Duffrods rods, Daiwa Certate and Luvias reels spooled with 12lb Sunlines Castaway braid and a 3lb Sunline FC Rock bream special fluorocarbon leader and Warren using Edges Rods with Shimano Stella reels spooled with 14lb Varivas braid and 3lb Varivas Absolute fluorocarbon leader they set about filling their well very early on both days of the tournament. This is Cam's detailed account of how they took out the 2017 Atomic Bream Classic Grand Final.

The lead up to the event had seen abnormally warm weather which combined with the natural closure of the entrance to the system seen water temps between 23.5 and 25 degrees. Our thoughts were that the combination of these two factors had seen a huge influx of fish on to the lake margins with literally thousands of fish hiding under bank side tea trees. We would drive along an edge and anywhere between 10 and 100 fish would pile out from under the trees as we passed.

The problem with these fish is that given they are under the trees, presenting a lure to them is very difficult. Being fairly experienced on the system we were able to put a plan together to fish the bottom lake edges where we saw the largest fish on pre fish day.

We fished the shallow margins of the bottom lake and had 3kg in the well by 7.30 each day. This enabled us to cycle through one of about 5 banks that we had pencilled in after pre fish. Both days were fairly prolific with approximately 35 legal fish on day 1 and around 40-50 on day two, the fishing was just red hot. Double hook ups and many fish intent on suicide presented themselves on both days but particularly day 2. We caught quite a few fish within 4-5 metres of the electric motor and the bonus was that we caught most fish by sight fishing them.

We used many lures for the weekend but the standouts were Smith Jade hard bodies and lightly weighted grub style lures pitched to either cruising or feeding fish.

On Day 1 of competition Team Minn-Kota weighed in 5/5 Bream for 3.41kg which had them sitting in 4th place with some quality competition above them, however with only 600 grams separating 2nd to 20th place after Day 1 it had created an incredible setting for a final day clash of the top 20 with all places still up for grabs.

Day 2 brought about better weather conditions for targeting black bream with extra cloud cover and a stronger breeze. With these conditions and a tight competition the feeling that a big bag could overtake the field for the victory was a huge possibility. For Team Minn-Kota they executed the same strategy as Day 1 however we able to find a better quality of fish. As they placed their bag on the scales it showed 5/5 bream for 4.40kg which was the Maria Lures Best Bag for the weekend and it also rocketed them to the top spot and handed them the 2017 Atomic Vic Bream Classic Series Grand Final. Coming from 7th Place to take 2nd Place was Team Fishin.com.au's Mike Reber and Stuart Curruthers with 10/10 Bream for 7.10kg. Coming from 5th Place to take 3rd was Team Spot On Mt Gambier's Bodhi Pannenburg and Kobi Rothallwith 10/10 Bream for 6.92kg. The JML Anglers Alliance Big Bream went to Team Prostrikes Peter Stephen and Bradley Baade with a 1.19kg bream and with a bag of 5/5 bream of 4.18kg they moved 22 positions up the leader board to also take out the Hurricane Monster Movers Prize.

So there you have it another year over and now we turn to the newly sponsored 2018 NS Rods Sunline Bream Classic Series with Rnd 1 at Metung on the 2nd and 3rd of February 2018, but before we go it's only fitting to give the final words to our 2017 Champions Team Minn-Kota. Cam would like to thank Duffrods, EJ Todd and Cranka lures for their support. Warren would like to thank Brick Pig Business Coaching, Edge Rods and Australian Angling for Smith lures and Varivas product. The boys would both like to thank BLA for their support with Humminbird and Minn Kota products, in their opinion the best depth sounders and electric motors on the market. Last but not least, Doug Phillips at Tonic eyewear who assists us with our polaroid fishing glasses.