With over $11000 in cash and prizes on offer, 29 teams took on the challenge of the 2014 Austackle Easter Bream Classic on Good Friday. The weather was absolutely perfect, with conditions bright and sunny, with very little wind. The teams spread right throughout the arena, with quite a few teams heading to the canal systems in the Nerang River, whilst a few others ventured north to the Jumpinpin area to see if the big fish were on the chew.
A quality field lined up and it was going to be a battle to see who would prevail. In the end it was team TT Lures/Cranka, Nabeel Issa and Kendall Soo that took out the victory with a 5 fish limit of 2.68kg. Fishing the Nerang River, the guys fished Cranka Crabs in sand and olive colours early to put a bag together and then started throwing Cranka shads to upgrade their bag. Towards the end of the session the fish were aggressive and we were getting hits and follows on most casts with 2 vital upgrades right at the end making the difference, Nabeel explained. For their efforts, Nabeel and Kendall walked away with just under $3000 in cash and prizes. The dynamic duo used Nordic Stage Sharpshooters, matched with 2000 size Daiwa reels. The addition of pro cure scent seemed to make a big difference and converted the lookers into taking the lures. The guys also wanted to acknowledge their sponsors, Cranka, TT Lures and Nordic Stage Rods, which proved to be a winning combination.
In second place was Triton Boats/Simrad/Zipbaits which saw Scott Butler pair up with his nephew Jordan for the day. Fishing the canals Scott found the day extremely tough with only getting his upgrades late in the day also. The Big Bream of 685grams was the anchor to Scotts bag which also landed him a swag of sponsor products to the value of $300. Rounding out the podium was team Attack boats Scott Corby and Scott Orbs who headed to the Pin. They caught their fish early on surface then switching to crank baits before the fish went deep and finally changing to plastics, having a great session.
A huge shout out to the sponsors, Austackle, Lowrance, Berkley and Engel for their continued support of this event. VMR once again played host to the event proving it is a fantastic venue to run events from. Finally a huge thankyou to all the committee and club members from the Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club for their assistance in organising the event.