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Heath Masters Reef to win Clarence BASS Pro

Southgate local Taigan Heath showed that you don’t need a big, fancy boat to win an ABT BASS Pro Qualifier when he set up shop at Maclean reef to win the Maui Jim round of the 13 Fishing BASS Pro series on the Clarence River.

Fishing in his modest 4.5m aluminium centre console powered by a 70hp outboard, Heath made his way down 38km of river each day to a single rockpile on the seaward side of the structure and peppered it with a variety of presentations to keep a steady stream of bass coming into the boat.

With the event run on the ABT app, these fish are released back into the water at point of capture, allowing spectators to keep a close eye on the live scoreboards. Lengths are converted into weights by a length-weight curve.

Heath narrowly outdistanced a fast-finishing Aaron Swanson to take the $3,500 payout and an instant qualification in the BASS Grand Final to be held on Lake St Clair later in the year. The winner of that event takes home a $50,000+ Alloycraft/Mercury boat package.

Here’s how he did it.

“I had the good oil from one of my mates that the bass were holding on the reef at Maclean after the recent influx of fresh water,” Taigan explained. It was the opposite plan to the previous iteration of the event, where Heath travelled as far as he could up the Orara River to land his limits.

Spot Locking on a single rock, Heath made repeated casts with a variety of plastics, blades and crankbaits to get bites, but his main weapon was a Daiwa BaitJunkie Minnow fished on a TT Rev Head, 6lb Sunline braid and 6lb Sunline FC leader on a custom made Gen Tek rod.

“I tried to throw everything in that chartreuse colour in the dirty water and it seemed to work,” Heath continued.

“Both of my non-boaters caught fish there, too and it was pretty continuous action until the tide slowed down,” he concluded.

SWANSON PLUNDERS DRAIN FOR SECOND

Evans Head’s Aaron Swanson missed the top spot by less than 200 grams and caught the majority of his fish from a single drain on his bream fishing gear.

“I had the outfit left over in the boat from the last time I was bream fishing - it is a Samurai Infinite 2-6lb 6’9” with a Daiwa Luvias DA and straight through 3lb Sunline FC,” Aaron explained.

“I did catch a couple of fish early upstream of Grafton, but after that, every single bass I caught came from that drain,” he continued.

The drain was near Ulmarra and he certainly didn’t have it to himself.

“I noticed that the bass were feeding on small gudgeons and the 2” Z Man bloodworm coloured grub I had on was a pretty close imitation of what they were eating,” he said.

Swanson would fish the drain, catch a fish, and then rest the area for around 40 minutes before he’d return to bag another single fish.

This plan yielded 6 bass on Day 1 and 7 bass on Day 2.

“I really think that my bait choice made the difference,” Swanson continued.

Aaron saw on the scoreboard that he was one upgrade away from victory, but he just couldn’t find that bigger fish he needed to take the title.

“If I was going to lose to anyone, Taigan’s the one, he’s a deserving winner,” he concluded.

SCHOFIELD BEST FROM THE BACK

Brisbane’s Harry Schofield won his first BASS Pro event he fished as a non-boater. He was also the only non-boater to assemble a full bag of 6/6 over the two days of competition. Sitting in second place after Day One, a bigger bag on Day 2 ensured his victory by 375g over Bobby Hart.

He fished with Tim Price on Day 1 and Tom Slater on Day 2 - both days up the Coldstream River.

“The water was cleaner the further we went up the Coldstream - like it hadn’t been raining at all,” Harry said.

He mainly cast a beetle spin (1/4oz TT jighead with a #2 TT beetle spin blade) that he’d custom painted orange and loaded with a 3” prototype Crush City paddle tailed grub. He cast it on a 13 Fishing Omen 6’6” L that he usually uses for bream, paired with a Daiwa 2500 TD Black, Sufix 0.4 Egi braid and a Sufix 12lb fluorocarbon leader.

Harry would slow roll the bait as soon as it hit the water and most fish came early in the retrieve,” he said.

Working for Rapala, Harry opted to donate his prizes for the win to fellow non-boaters.

“I distributed it to all of the nonnies I could find wearing a Rapala jersey. Thank you for supporting the brand,” Schofield said.

He also said, “ I crushed it.”