ABT BASS PRO SERIES Somerset Dam 10th 11th August 2019

2019.08.17

Well ABT bass pro round at Lake Somerset turned out to be real challenge as we got a cold change and 30knot plus winds from the west which made for tough conditions. I managed a 6th placing out of 52 anglers.

Pre fish day: Friday was Pre fish day and the plan was to check the main area which I had found good numbers 2 weeks prior. The bass seemed to be stacking a bit better then 2 weeks ago so stayed to see how I could catch them and be confident and see the size of bass that are here. I caught 1 reasible quick are it was a 2kg bass not too bad of a size. I moved on to check a few other areas in the lake then came back to check my main area again in the afternoon to catch another bass around the same size as the first one, so this is where I’m going to start in season one

DAY 1: I took of in 13th as this was the way of entry to the event, I got to my spot on kirkleigh flats very fast as it is close to the start line. I pulled up on my first mark to be sitting on bass straight away. With a few casts made me and the co-angler seemed to work out that casting into the sun is where the active bass where striking the lure best. The co-angler got busted off and then I catch a big bass which bricked me up on a stump on the edge of the over bed, so I retired other of the same lure to find the co-angler was on , so I grabbed the net , then made a cast where the co-angler had hooked up. The co-angler dropped his fish and I started my retrieve to then “whack” I’m onto a good bass now, I managed to get this one into the boat which it was a cracking bass at 2.53kg. Was so happy to get it in the well. We managed to catch another one each which took us to mid morning. I made a move to look at another area to see if we could find some schools of bass. I didn’t spend too much time as they where very spread out and patchy. So I returned to my first spot and started grinding out against those crazy strong winds for the remainder of the session and got the 4th bass for a full bag. After the weigh in I was sitting in 9th place.

DAY 2: I took off in 9th place and headed straight to where I left the bass the day before, the wind was already strong and knew it was going to be a tough day. I got my first fish in the first hour which was the golden hour to catch as many as possible. With only one bass in the well and boat slowly leaving the area it gave be heaps on room to roam around casting and moving on the bow mount electric. With fish coming through on the sounder it could only be a matter of time before one would bite, and one did which gave me 2 bass in the well. My co-angler and I continued give the general area and good working over as boats would return to the area to try there luck. Not a lot of bass where caught in this area on day 2. I headed into the weight in thinking that I would not have enough to stay in 9th but was happy with my efforts across the 2 days. I was shocked on how hard it was for a big percentage of the field as there all great anglers. My 2 bass bumped me up to 6th place, I was so happy and supervised on my placing of 6th on a cold and wind swept lake somerset (lake misery).

A big thanks to my wife and kids for the support of my passion, Thanks to my co-anglers over the 2 days, a big thanks to Simon for lending me his pride and joy stratos boat for the event. Thanks to my sponsor of VALLEYHILL Japan, I use their rods all day every day, shout out to JA-DO Japan as the REZAN metal jig aka spoon was the catcher of majority of my bass over the 2 days. Thanks to Tackle Lane, where these products are available online.