BASS SERIES presented by
Reigning champion strikes again at St Clair Our annual NSW Lake St Clair/Glenbawn BASS double header is always a big event and this year we kicked it off with a strong 50 boat field at Lake St Clair for the third round of the 2022 13 Fishing BASS Pro series, sponsored by TT Rods. Scan the QR code to watch Matthew Langfords Winning Tactics
have gone either way. LANGFORD KEEPS THE 2022 AOY BALL ROLLING In a rapidly rising lake where the fish are sitting super shallow and willing to eat just about anything, it can be hard to narrow down a technique to hone-in on the big bites and filter out small fish, unless of course you’re Matt Langford. The reigning 2020 Lake St. Clair Champion and Queensland fishing guide applied the same tactics at St Clair that he uses on his
Reigning Lake St Clair Champion Matthew Langford defended his 2020 title, making it back-to-back victories on this lake.
Second place boater Steve Muldoon knows this waterway like the back of his hand. He went to work with reaction baits to weigh 3kg+ each session. An impoundment that has been kind to Matthew Langford in the past (2020 Champion Boater) rewarded him once more with two stonking, three fish bags to give him a final weight of 6/6 fish for 7.340kg, more than half a kilo clear of second place Steve Muldoon who had 6/6 fish for 6.720kg. If we could split a trophy two ways, be sure that we would! However, there can be only one winner, so in the event of a tie such as in Justin Kermond and Troy Parsons case (identical final weights of 3.565kg), the winner is decided on a count back, which saw Kermond crowned Victor in the non-boater division. A tough way to go down, however an honourable mention to Parsons in an event that could
home lakes when the water level spikes suddenly and the fish can move from their deep summer bite and up onto fresh new ground to feed. Knowing the fish were shallow, Langford spent his pre-fish in both the Carrowbrook and Falbrook arms of the dam throwing a variety of reaction baits looking for a way to target these bigger fish. “I threw a chatterbait and quickly realised I was getting good numbers on chatters but not the fish I needed to win. It wasn’t until about lunch time
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vegetation underwater around the dam, a shallower option was needed, so Langford’s jerkbait of choice was a Rapala X-Rap 6” live roach colour, which only dives about 3-4ft.
Justin Kermond was crowned non-boater champion by a countback after finishing with exactly the same final weight as 2nd place Troy Parsons. It doesn’t get any closer than that!
Fish like these started Mattlew Langford’s week of domination in the Hunter.
BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
that I went up the Falbrook arm to a deeper edge and quickly got a few really good fish on a jerkbait, so that was enough of a clue for me to build on,” said Langford of his pre-fish.
Angler Matthew Langford Steve Muldoon Mick Johnson Dane Pryce Anthony Thorpe Mitchell Cone David Lane Luke Draper Peter Phelps John Noble
Fish 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6
As the comp progressed he found the fish sitting on slightly deeper banks with grass and submerged or partially submerged shrubs were the key to the bigger fish. Due to the amount of
Sticking with the jerkbait, he built on the clues he found in pre-fish and targeted shrubs on slightly steeper banks up the Falbrook Arm. For this technique, Langford chose a custom Millerods
Full results at abt.org.au
Weight(kg) 7.340 6.720 6.375 6.375 6.245 5.795 5.565 5.550 5.325 5.300
Payout $4500 + $250 1st Merc bonus $2000 $1300 + $125 2nd Merc bonus $1000 $900 $800 + $75 3rd Merc bonus $700 $600 $500 Buck n’ Big bass
