BRAUN Victorian Round
Paynesville - Gippsland lakes 29th-30th April 2006

You couldn't have asked for better fishing conditions over the weekend for the 25 teams competing in the second round of the National Bream Classic brought to you by BRAUN in Paynesville Victoria on the beautiful Gippsland Lakes.

The briefing was held at the local pub on the Friday night ,which also turned on some great steaks for dinner if you where quick - and the mixed grills where pretty awesome as well !

Saturday morning dawned over-cast and calm with a few light showers about, perfect breamin conditions.

The sail past & live well inspection was held in the marina directly in front of the Mariners Cove Resort , where most of the competitors where staying.

It must be said that Dave the resort manager & his team couldn't have been more accommodating all weekend.

The Mariners Cove Resort is a great place to base yourself when ever fishing the Gippsland Lakes :

http://www.marinerscoveresort.com

Team "Forster Beach Caravan Park" Mark "Mango" Mangold and Scott Towner in action on Day one.

After 7 hours of hard fishing it was "Team Forster Beach Caravan Park" - consisting of Mark - Mango - Mangold & Scott Towner who set the bench mark with an amazing first day bag of 5 bream for 7.028 kg's!

This was closely followed by Team "Triton's" Andrew Howard and Ross Lamotte with another limit of 5 bream for 6.855 kg's and in 3 rd place we saw Team "Berkley's" Bill Maguire & Mark Olsen with the only other 5 fish limit for day one at 5.525 kg's.

"Mango" also set the mark for the BIG bream with a beautiful fish of 1.68kgs. Over all there where 6 teams which returned fishless for the day showing how easy it is to come un-stuck on a large waterway.

Sunday dawned much the same with overcast skies and light variable wind, with the teams heading off in similar directions towards the three main rivers, Mitchell,Tambo & Nicholson.

I was lucky enough to sneak out both days with the STC Skeeter SX190 and camera man Ross who was filming the event for Andrew Ettingshausen's popular television show "Escape with ET" .

ET is actually fishing & filming the entire series for channel 10 & FOX8 , so keep an eye out http://www.escapewithet.com for more details.

Quite a crowd of well over several hundred spectators gathered at the Reef Science tank at 2pm for the final drive through, weigh-in.

*Andrew Howard from Team "Triton" with one of his winning fish from their fantastic second day bag

Record Bags!

There had been talk of some amazing bags to come in again and Team Triton's Andrew Howard & Ross Lamotte didn't disappoint with an awesome second day bag of 5 bream for 6.288 kg's setting a new STC total bag record of 13.143kgs...

Taking out first place for the BRAUN Victorian round of the National Bream Classic !

Team "Forster Beach Caravan park" came in second with Mark "Mango" Mangold and Scott Towner weighing in their second day bag at an impressive 5.816 kg's giving them a total bag weight of 12.844 kg's.

Team "Berkley" held third position with a second day bag of 4 fish at 2.760 kg's giving them a total of 8.285 kg's.

Full Team Results can be found here

Winning Techniques

Team "Triton's" Andrew Howard & Ross Lamotte fished Rapala 6cm, suspending Husky jerk minnows on braid with 2kg leaders "ripped" off the banks along the Tambo river. The boys caught well over 40 legal fish over the two days of completion and watched 90% of those eat their lures.

Team "Forster Beach Caravan Parks" Mark "Mango" Mangold and Scott Towner fished straight through 1kg fluorocarbon with 1/8 oz fine wire jig heads and Berkley GULP 6" inch sand worms in the "camo" colour fished in the deeper water out around the mouth of the Tambo river.

Event Sponsors

BRAUN, Evinrude ,Lowrance, Sydney City Toyota, Bing Lee, Shimano, SONY, Blakes marine, Haines Hunter boats ,Gatorz, SKEETER boats,St.Mary's Tackle Centre,Tracker Marine, Squidgies, Keel Shield, Original Environet, Escape with ET, Fishing World, Xfactor signs & graphics.

See ya' All at the Gold Coast - Scotto

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