Jason Ehrlich claims Yamaha BASS Pro crown

JASON Ehrlich, a 27-year-old Toowoomba meat worker, was the fifth angler to claim a BASS Pro title in the season’s ultimate event. He bagged an impressive tournament limit of 8.44kg, easily outclassing the rest of the field fishing at Bjelke-Petersen Dam, which was at only 25% of its capacity.

Jason jumped from 16th place in the first session to 2nd place in the second session and first place in the final session, win his pattern remained strong while other competitors struggled to consistently find quality bass as the weekend progressed. In fact, Jason’s last session limit was selected from nine legal bass that he caught amongst some of Australia’s top bassers.

Ehrlich easily relegated Tewantin’s Darryl Dimmick (6/6, 6.96kg) to 2nd place, followed by Trent Butler from Brisbane (5/6 6.54kg), 2003 BASS Angler of the Year Steve Kanowski (6/6 6.20kg), and Toowoomba’s Carl Jocumsen (6/6 6.12kg).

Ehrlich used an AusSpin spinnerbait of his own design – the ‘Guppy’ – a 5/8oz tandem-bladed lure with purple/clear/gold skirt and pearl head.

“I’ve worked with the guys at AusSpin to design this lure, which is part of their new Baitfish series,” Jason explained, “and I’m sure the Guppy will be a popular model in the range.”

Fishing 10ft to 12ft of water, Ehrlich lobbed the lure in longs casts across the flats and slow rolled the spinnerbait just off the bottom, pausing occasionally to ensure the lure hadn’t risen too far.

“It’s a pretty boring pattern,” Jason said, “but some of the fish really slammed the spinnerbait when they wanted it. I noticed that a lot of other anglers who were using the same pattern were retrieving the spinnerbait too fast. Nowadays it’s small differences like these that can make all the difference.”

Ehrlich’s tournament-winning tackle consisted of a Strudwick TPS 7ft 6kg baitcast rod, Abu 3006 Tournament reel , 20lb Spiderwire Stealth line and 20lb Vanish leader.

“My most productive flats would only show a fish on the sounder every three or four minutes, but this was OK because in the shallow water the scope of the beam is greatly reduced,” Jason explained. “Importantly, I spent a lot of the second session, when I already had over 4kg of bass in the livewell, finding new spots. I didn’t want to sting any more on my good spots and reckoned I’d need some fish up the sleeve for the tough last session.”

Jason’s tactic was spot on, as his last session results showed. Ehrlich was the last angler accept the Grand Final invitation, as he was trying to decide whether to attend a mate’s wedding instead. The $22,000 package of a Stessl boat, Yamaha motor, MotorGuide electric showed that he made the right decision! And to cap off his win, Ehrlich also took out the Big Bass category with a 2.12kg bass in the second session.

Second-placed Darryl Dimmick had nine bites in the BASS Pro Grand Final and caught nine fish. Alternating between a 3” Baby Bass Slider on a 5/8oz Nitro Bass Bullet jighead with a 1/2oz Bassman spinnerbait designed by Ehrlich’s brother Kerry, Darryl preferred shallower water, from 6ft to 10ft.

“I used the same retrieve for both lures – a dead slow roll, just like Jason,” Darryl explained. “Each session I caught three fish in five hours doing just that.”

Darryl delivered the plastic on a Loomis 820 Drop Shot rod with 6lb Fireline, while the spinnerbait he rigged on a Loomis CB843 and an SF Chronarch spooled with 30lb Scientific Angler UltraThin braid.

“I did really well here in the pre-fish,” Darryl explained, “So even though tournaments are always tougher than practice I felt confident that I could pull two fish a session if I kept the lure in the zone for long enough.

“Luckily, I was right.”

Information about the 2004 BASS Pro series will be available in the 2004 Tournament Angler Guide, mailed to all ABT members in coming months. Call Steve Booth during business hours on (07) 3268 3992 for more information. – ABT

Naming sponsors: Yamaha, Stessl
Series sponsors: MotorGuide, Suncorp, Shimano, Squidgy, Mako, Halco, Bassman, Slider.

Associatge sponsors: KeepAlive Aerators, Elegant Tackle live well timers, VMC, Fireline, Storm, Pacific Composites.