BATTERSON BRAINS THEM ON SPINNERBAITS

First time Stessl competitor, Josh Batterson traveled all the way from NSW to take out Round three of the Stessl Series on Spinnerbaits and plastic techniques. In a tight contest, Josh narrowly edged out his fishing partner Greg Walton for first place.

Both Josh and Greg fished spinnerbaits in the timber exclusively on Saturday. Josh’s success came on a Terminator _ Oz Tandem Spinnerbait in white/purple/black colours, while Greg fished a homemade _ Oz Tandem spinnerbait in gold. Sunday morning saw them back in the timber early utilising the same techniques with success. However, later in the session the bite in the timber shut down and they headed back out to the flats. Using deep fly techniques, Greg was able upgraded on several times. At the other end of the boat, Josh was fishing pumpkin Sliders and managed to upgrade as well. In the end Josh secured a 57mm advantage on Greg to win the round and take home a 3.4m Stessl boat.

Third placed competitor Tony Perkins once again put in a solid performance on Somerset, landing all his fish on Auspin spinnerbaits. Tony was leading on Saturday night, but only managed a single fish on Sunday morning. It was however a 501mm fish, which placed him only 11 points short of second place.

Other notable performances for the weekend were Mark Pertot (4th), Les Smith (5th) and Darryl Dimmick (6th). The point score between the top six was very tight, and surprisingly most of these fish were caught on spinnerbaits in the timber. However, several other techniques did account for quality fish over the weekend including rattle traps and suspending jerkbaits. For the guys who stuck to the flats, things were very tough on Saturday morning, but it did improve in the afternoon. Sunday morning’s session proved much more productive for many people on both fly and plastics.

SARGENT TAKES SOMERSET BY STORM

In the junior category, Lauren Sargent had a blinder using Storm 2 inch rattle grubs in pumpkin seed colour. Fishing the flats in 8-9 feet of water Lauren landed good numbers of bass, particularly in Sunday’s session. Lauren’s efforts placed her first for the round and also helped her to secure a solid series win in the junior category. Lauren’s double win placed her in an enviable situation of trying to work out how to get two boats home. Well done Lozza!

Hot on Lauren’s heels, Casey Blundell utilised both Venom spinnerbaits and Storm rattle grubs to secure second place by a clear margin. Casey was also runner up for the series, which is a great effort. After a slow start to the comp, Brendon O’Rielly finished fast into third position picking up his fish on a Rattling Spot and a Rebel Jointed minnow in the timber. Another consistent performer was Nathan Payne who finished forth for the round and third for the series.

In the battle for the Senior Series Winner it was a tight contest between Tony Perkins, Darryl Dimmick and Brad Turner. These guys all fished consistently well throughout the series and it came right down to the last session to decide the winner. Top honours went to Tony Perkins who narrowly held off both Darryl and Brad to take home the 3.7m Stessl Vagabond and 8hp Yamaha motor.

Well done to Gordon and his team for the smooth running of this popular series. The second series of the Stessl Family Bass Challenge 2003 gets underway with Round one on the 12th & 13th of July. For any enquiries call Gordon on 0418 877 525

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