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Cunningham's Marine
Archived Tournament Results

SIMMONS STREAKS TO ST CLAIR VICTORY
(4 & 5/5/2002)

BRISBANE tradesman Craig Simmons completed his first season fishing Humminbird BASS Pro events by winning the 2001/02 Grand Final, held at Lake St Clair in the Hunter Valley. Weighing six out of a possible six fish with a massive two kilogram average, Simmons¹ 12.00kg total easily topped the talented field and left most competitors in awe of the quality of fish available in the little-known impoundment.
Fishing a spinnerbait in the weedy shallows of the dam, Craig's total relegated Colin Singleton¹s 6/6, 9.76kg bag to second. Carl Jocumsen (6/6, 8.82kg), Kerry Ehrlich (6/6, 8.80kg) and Tim Morgan (4/6, 7.84kg) completed the top five.

Craig's favourite lure for the weekend was a Fina 1/2oz tandem spinnerbait that he fished in two colours off two different outfits. A bronze model was cast from a 6'6" Black Shadow 2-3kg rod teamed with a Shimano Chronarch that was spooled with 14lb Berkley Fireline and 20lb Vanish leader while a blue/silver bait was fished off the 3-4kg Black Shadow and 20lb Fireline.

Simmons fished a spot locally called Redhead Corner in the Fal Brook reach of the dam to take five of his six fish - the other came from Eurella Point, slightly upstream. His pattern was reasonably simple - fishing in and around the weedy margins.

"I'd cast as far as I could along the edges of the weed and into the weedy pockets," Simmons said, "and the fish could hit it at any time."

"The last upgrade was really special. I saw the bass rise behind a stand of weed so I fired a cast into the pocket of clear water and started a fast retrieve. The fish smashed the spinnerbait as it ripped just under the surface and nearly buried me in the weeds. I landed it and it weighed 2.1kg."

Craig observed the best fish always came from a little further back in the structure.

Colin Singleton agreed.

"All three of my really big fish came from open pockets further back in the weed than most other anglers would cast," Colin said, "and even though I fished the Carrow Brook Reach of the dam, the pattern sounded the same."

Colin¹s weapon, that he fished mainly between Adam Point and Bird Point, was a new release Bassman Titanium spinnerbait, 5/8oz with a clear/purple skirt. Using a 7' Daiwa Heartland rod and a Shimano Calais reel spooled with 20lb Bionic Braid and a 20lb Vanish leader, he'd slow-roll the lure out from and around the weeds.

Adding to Simmons' booty for the weekend - which consisted of a trip to the USA to fish a bass event there and $1000 spending money - was a $500 cheque for Big Bass. His 2.62kg fish that he weighed in the first session was not beaten for the rest of the tournament.

As the fourth Grand Final Champion, Craig's name now joins previous champions such as Harry Watson, John Schofield and George Voysey in the record books.

BASS Pro anglers will now be looking forward to the next Humminbird BASS Pro series, which will start in early 2003. Others will turn their focus to the Humminbird BREAM series, which continues in Forster on the 11-12 May.

Event enquiries to Steve Booth on (07) 3268 3992. - ABT.

ANGLER F S/1 W S/1 F S/2 W S/2 F S/3 W S/3 Total Fish Total Weight
SIMMONS Craig 2 4.44 2 4.12 2 3.44 6 12
SINGLETON Colin 2 2.04 2 3.64 2 4.08 6 9.76
JOCUMSEN Carl 2 2.78 2 1.98 2 4.06 6 8.82
EHRLICH Kerry 2 3.5 2 3.18 2 2.12 6 8.8
MORGAN Tim 2 3.66 2 4.18 0 0 4 7.84
OXFORD Barry 2 3.9 1 0.66 2 2.98 5 7.54
STEAD Trevor 2 2.4 2 3.12 2 1.86 6 7.38
EHRLICH Jason 2 1.94 2 3.14 2 2.02 6 7.1
KANOWSKI Steve 2 3.18 2 3.08 1 0.72 5 6.98
BUTLER Trent 2 3.46 2 2.48 1 0.7 5 6.64
JOHNSON Tracy 2 2.42 2 2.68 1 1.3 5 6.4
SYMES Kerry 2 3.68 2 1.9 1 0.68 5 6.26
SCHOFIELD John 2 2.04 1 1.32 2 2.8 5 6.16
BATTERSON Josh 2 2.02 1 1.8 2 2.28 5 6.1
KEIDGE Peter 2 1.88 2 1.66 2 2.54 6 6.08
WALTON Greg 2 2.5 2 2.48 1 0.98 5 5.96
THOMSON Brett 2 2.92 2 1.86 1 1.12 5 5.9
DUNNE Gavin 2 1.8 2 1.54 2 1.34 6 4.68
SMITH Les 0 0 2 3.42 1 0.72 3 4.14
deFORREST-H'. Jason 2 1.98 0 0 2 2.1 4 4.08
PERTOT Mark 2 2 1 2.12 0 -0.15 3 3.97
ROBINSON Dave 0 0 2 1.6 2 2.26 4 3.86
DANIEL Dave 2 2.12 0 0 2 1.52 4 3.64
JOHNSON Bob 0 0 2 1.64 2 1.44 4 3.08
COWLING Andrew 2 2.8 0 0 0 0 2 2.8
ELDRED Chris 1 1.04 1 0.68 0 0 2 1.72
BARNES Chris 0 0 1 0.78 1 0.58 2 1.36
STURDY Gary 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
SMITH Brad 0 0 1 0.82 0 0 1 0.82
CONNOLLY Mike 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0