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Johnson the BASSiest Boater at Glenmaggie

Mick Johnson added his name to the club of anglers who have won at both Victorian ABT venues after taking out the Ecogear Glenmaggie round of the 13 Fishing BASS Pro Series, the second of the two-event BASS Pro road trip to Victoria.

Johnson rode to victory on the back of a strong first day and kept ahead even though his second day limit was only 1/3 of the size of his first.

Here’s how he did it.

The practice day on Glenmaggie was wild and windy. In fact, few anglers were able to fish the rough side of the lake where there’s a slew of good, rocky banks that are populated by bass.

“My plan was always to fish the areas that were protected by the rough weather of the pre-fish day,” Johnson said, “and the bass obliged - I had all of my fish by 8.30am and not a bite after that.”

Mick was throwing a bait that Braden Schuch had given him the day before - a Daiwa Spike 44EXDR in Suji Berry colour. He cast it on a 13 Fishing OMEN 6’10” spin rod with a Shimano reel, 8lb Sufix 131 braid and a Sufix 8lb fluorocarbon leader.

The second day was definitely not as kind to Johnson, with the bass in his limit measuring between 21 and 25cm fork length.

Mick said that on the first day, he’d fish deeper water to get his bites early, but on the second day the fish actually got shallower as the day went on, which was counter intuitive. He landed 7 fish on Day 1 and 8 fish on Day 2.

“There’s something about fishing banks that look pretty plain on the second day at Glenmaggie - the good looking stuff usually gets hammered on the first couple of days,” he concluded.

With automatic qualification for the BASS Pro Grand Final in the can, Mick can now concentrate on winning a BASS Pro Angler of the Year title, although it’s shaping up to be a multi-faceted competition this year - with 196 out of a possible 200 points he’s third in the rankings behind Braden Schuch and Mitchell Cone.

SCHUCH TWO TWOS FROM TWO

As it happens, a pair of second placings in the Victorian BASS events is good enough to be leading the 2024 13 Fishing BASS Pro Series Angler of the Year points table for NSW Basser, Braden Schuch.

Schuch’s ascent up the leaderboard was remarkable after sitting in 14th place after Day One of competition. On the first day he didn’t bag a limit or a kicker fish in his 4/5, 0.778kg catch. These fish ate a prototype Daiwa Spike EXDR in bright colours.

Day Two was a different story, with a 37.5cm bass anchoring his 2.929kg limit and falling around 300g short of the win.

What did he do to turn it all around? He switched from the crankbait to a silent lipless bait - in particular a silent Japanese Trinity’s Custom Reflex Vibe in a black/purple colour.

He fished this bait around bass suspending in timber in the main basin of the lake on a Daiwa Tatula 23 722 MRB rod teamed with a Tatula 100s reel and 10lb straight through Daiwa fluorocarbon.

It was a definitive move.

ONE SHOT, ONE KILL

Noah Crook has had a pretty good start to 2024 fishing tournaments. He won an entry into the ABT by placing highly at a Central Vic Lurecasters Super Series event a week before at Blue Rock. And on his first attempt at fishing an ABT from the back of the boat, he won. By 600 grams over second placed Ben Faro.

Noah’s young enough to have to be driven to the events by his old man, who watched with pride as he accepted his winner’s trophy and prizes and completed his winner’s interview.

He used a Wilson Blade n Tails rod that he also won at the first competition and paired it with a Daiwa TC Black reel and 10lb Sunline leader and braid to box a limit of 6/6, 2.334kg over the two days.

His bass ate a couple of baits - both fished on the Spin Wright jighead - a Rapala Crush City Suspect in Baitfish colour and a black Gulp!.

He fished with Bryce Abbot on Day One and Jesse Rotin on Day Two - and loved the experience of being in a bass boat for the first time. There’s a decent chance that he can talk the old man into taking him to the BASS Pro Grand Final at Lake St Clair in NSW later this year.