ON THE weekend of May 24-25, 18-year-old Carl Jocumsen became the youngest angler to win a BASS Pro qualifying event. Carl took out the Stessl Somerset BASS Challenge with a sensational string of Somerset bass on spinnerbaits, fishing from his Stessl Bass Boss.

Bringing in his maximum limit of 6/6 bass over the weekend for a total of 10.84kg, Jocumsen edged ahead of Day One leader Col Singleton, who finished as the best placed non-boater.

Completing the top five angler list, on a weekend where 2kg-plus fish weren’t exceptional, were Esk’s Greg Walton (6/6, 9.78kg), Kalbar’s Peter Keidge (5/6, 9.58) and Brisbane’s Steve Kanowski (6/6, 9.26).

Somerset also smashed the all-time BASS Big Bass record, with three fish toppling Steve Kanowski’s old mark of 2.74kg. A couple of 2.98kg bass came close to winning the Somerset Big Bass, but David Green’s 3.08kg monster took the $500 cheque and a new place in the record books.

Fishing shallow water upstream of Kirkleagh, Jocumsen used a Bassman 1/2oz spinnerbait with gold and silver tandem blades and a ‘bony bream’ coloured skirt with blue strands and a stinger hook. He fished it off his favourite 7ft G.Loomis IMX Mag Bass rod, Shimano Calais, 20lb Spiderwire Stealth braided line and a 16kg Water King fluorocarbon leader.

Carl's winning Bass

“The main point I fished was covered with sunken [land] weeds, and after casting into two to three feet of water I’d hold my rod tip high and slow roll the spinnerbait over the top of the brush,” Carl explained. “As the retrieve neared the boat and the water deepened, I’d drop the rod tip and slow my retrieve slightly to follow the bottom contour. Most bass hit the lure in between three and six feet of water.

“The most productive retrieve for me was the slow rolling retrieve with no stops or jerks,” Carl continued. “I’d make sure that the lure spent the most possible time just ticking across the top of the weed. It was amazing to see the bass boil on the surface as they smashed the lure in this shallow water – I was just shaking after some of those 2kg-plus fish struck. I’ve had to pinch myself because it still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve actually won a BASS Pro event!”

Carl’s secondary spot was a small breakline in around 6ft of water off a featureless bank further up the dam.

“The fish were sitting on that small drop-off and it was pretty easy to work out the pattern once we’d caught a few during practice,” Carl said. “Nearly all of my fish came from those two spots.” The $3000 first prize cheque in Carl’s back pocket certainly backed up his theory.

Day One leader Col Singleton managed only a single fish in the final session to slip into second place. Col also fished a Bassman spinnerbait, but his custom pattern used a 5/8oz head, clear/holographic gold/black skirt with gold and silver double willow blades and a stinger hook. His rod of choice was a Strudwick TPS 6’6” 6kg baitcaster teamed with a Shimano Calais reel and Penn 20lb braided line tied straight to the lure.

“I fished a near-locked up drag for the entire tournament,” Col said, “because sometimes I hooked bass in some fairly snaggy country and I didn’t want them to hang me up.”

New BIG Bass record

All but one of Colin’s fish were landed upstream of Kirkleagh and came from flats that were next to deeper water.

“The boat was sitting in 15 to 20 feet of water but we were casting up into three feet and retrieving the lure from there. All of my fish ate the lure in five feet of water or less, but my Day One boater, Steve Kanowski, pulled several fish from the drop-off between the deep and shallow water.” Colin’s other fish – a 2kg-plus specimen – he caught from a typical Somerset 20ft flat on his deep fly tackle.

This was the second Champion Non-boater title Singleton has scored at Somerset. The other win yielded him a Stessl boat two years prior.

With two of the three legs now complete in the Yamaha BASS Pro series, the field now looks forward to the penultimate Boondooma event, to be held in August. This event will decide the 2003 BASS Pro Angler of the Year and finalise the BASS Pro Grand Final invitation list.

Event enquiries to Stephen Booth during office hours on (07) 3268 3992.

Naming Sponsors: Stessl Boats, Yamaha.

Series Sponsors: Belco trailers, Motor Guide electrics, Halco lures, Bassman spinnerbaits, Squidgie plastics, Slider plastics, Mako sunglasses, Suncorp Insurance

Associate Sponsors: Berkley, VMC, Angler Rods, Compleat Angler.