Tournaments

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | May 2022

WIRF

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

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 Reigning Lake St Clair Champion Matthew Langford defended his 2020 title, making it back-to-back victories on this lake.

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 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. 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.

Fish like these started Mattlew Langford’s week of domination in the Hunter.

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!

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

Place Angler 1 2

Matthew Langford Steve Muldoon

3

Mick Johnson

4 5 6

Dane Pryce Anthony Thorpe Mitchell Cone

BOATER RESULTS

Full results at abt.org.au

Fish Weight(kg) Payout

6/6 7.340 $4500 + $250 1st Merc bonus

6/6 6.720 $2000

6/6 6.375 $1300 + $125 2nd Merc bonus

6/6 6.375 $1000

6/6 6.245 $900

6/6 5.795 $800 + $75 3rd Merc bonus

ControlFreak Extra Finesse Long Cast paired with a Daiwa TD black spin reel, 10lb Yamatoyo Resin Sheller braid and 10lb Yamatoyo leader. At 7’3”, the extra length this rod offered allowed him to make a long cast parallel with the bank and at 2-5kg had plenty of power to muscle big fish out of thick vegetation.

“I wasn’t getting a lot of bites. I know some guys were getting 20 fish a session and I was only getting 6-8 bites, but they were better quality fish. Each day I’d get 3-4 fish around that 1.2kg mark,” Langford said.

His advice to anyone looking to further improve their fishing is, “Don’t get caught up in thinking about things too long or too hard, as soon as you get an idea go and try it immediately, don’t wait. You’ll find your intuition will help you pick things up much quicker.”

MULDOON LEAPS INTO SECOND

Not far behind Langford and tantalisingly close to victory was 2nd place boater Steve Muldoon who made sure Langford had his work cut out for him. Muldoon had a final weight of 6.720kg giving him an average weight of 1.1kg average, and he was able to do it with a few timeless reaction baits.

Muldoon refined his spots for the weekend to the Carrowbroook Arm and the main basin area of the dam and, like the majority of the field, he was fishing edges. However, it was how he fished them that set him apart from the field. He made a Take off! Anglers wait in anticipation of what lies ahead, where last minute decisions can make or break a day.

key adjustment as the sun got higher, moving out slightly deeper to keep himself on the fish.

“Earlier in the day I got the majority of my fish really shallow but as the sun got higher, I moved a little bit deeper as the fish were moving out deeper with more light around. This kept me on the fish all day, you just had to adjust,” he said about his tactics for the two days.

His fish for the whole weekend fell on a few classic reaction baits from Jackall, a Charablade chatterbait and a Jackall TN60, moving parallel with the edge of the dam and casting along and up onto the flooded edges.

Both fast moving baits, when the fish hit, they hit it hard and headed straight for cover; so a sturdy combo with heavy braid and leader was needed. All our top boaters and non-boaters had a familiar theme, they all love the high-quality rods made by Ian Barra Miller and Muldoon was no exception, throwing his lures on a Millerods FinnesseFreak paired with a 1000 size Shimano Ultegra spooled with 10lb braided line and 8lb leader.

Steve took home a nice cheque of $2,000 to add to his ever-growing collection of prizes. KERMOND

TAKES THE CAKE

Taking out his maiden victory in the non-boater division, Justin Kermond showed he knows how to tame those big Lake St Clair bass from the back of the boat.

Fishing with boaters Luke Draper on day one and Neville Enright on day two, Kermond was very

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Glenbawn Bankside weigh-in with the trees so close behind! grateful for the knowledge and graciousness of both his boaters.

“I can’t thank my boaters stuck with a 1/4oz Noike chatterbait in zebra bug colour all session – throwing it in parallel to the bank over the top of the flooded grass, often in as shallow as 2ft of water. The big single hook facing up allows the bait to move through the water without getting hung up on the flooded vegetation lining the edges where the fish were sitting.

For this he used a stout Millerods VibeFreak paired with a Shimano Vanford 1000 spin reel, 10lb Sunline X plasma braid and 10lb Sunline FC sniper invisible leader.

Day two was spent with Neville Enright and again targeting edges, however this time he opted for one of Steve Chang’s Dressed Jackall’s – a Jackall TN60 in brown dog with a beetle spin arm attached. The

Muldoon’s fish all came on reaction baits.

enough for all their help. Luke got me onto good fish day one and Neville went above and beyond to get me onto fish on day two after he found out I was in second place. I really can’t praise them enough,” he said in thanks.

After getting good fish on topwater in pre-fish, the plan was to fish it all weekend, however come Saturday he quickly realised it was a different day to pre-fish and he had to adjust accordingly. Fishing with local gun Luke Draper on day one, Kermond gave the topwater away and combination of flash, noise vibration is irresistible to fire up Aussie bass.

Throwing larger, faster moving baits on day two, the set up required beefing up. Kermond reached again for the Millerods, choosing a 4-7kg 7’3” Millerods SwitchFreak UL for its extra power and casting ability over a spin outfit.

BUCK N’ BIG BASS

John Noble took home the $500 Big BASS prize from our friends at Buck n’ Bass with a 1.565kg giant. He also netted himself a few goodies from Buck n’ Bass as well!

NON- BOATER RESULTS

Full results at abt.org.au

Place Angler

1 Justin Kermond 2 Troy Parsons 3 Jill Wales 4 Thomas Wood 5 Chris rawlings 6 Timothy Jones 7 Kelvin Hatton

Fish Weight(kg) Payout

4/4 3.565 Rapala prize pack + $250 1st Rapala bonus

4/4 3.565 4/4 3.510 4/4 3.435 Rapala prize pack Maui Jim prize + $125 2nd Rapala bonus Molix prize + $75 3rd Rapala bonus

4/4 3.360 4/4 3.135 Prolure prize pack Keitech prize pack

Langford is the exception, not the rule!

In 2022, we’re witnessing one of the richest veins of form we’ve seen on the BASS circuit since the days of Carl Jocumsen. We like to call it ‘getting on a roll’ when an angler is consistently cashing top 5 cheques, however when a single angler has won 3 out of 4 qualifying rounds for the year, it’s no longer ‘on a roll’, it’s unstoppable!

With his third win for the year at the VMC-sponsored Lake Glenbawn round, Matthew Langford has set a new precedent, cementing the fact that in tournament bass fishing he is the exception, rather than the rule.

Langford filled a limit each day for a final weight of 6.9kg; 900g clear of second placed boater Mark Parriott who also had an impressive final weight of 6kg, averaging right on a kilo for each bass and putting both well ahead of consultation with good friend Mick Johnson, Langford decided to, “Cull some rods, stick to his confident baits, and back himself,” as Mick suggested.

Fishing at the back end of the dam around the 8-knot zone, Langford looked for banks where there were no boats, and with a few other key characteristics.

“Where I was fishing there was a lot of flooded grass, shrubs and thistle, as well as a lot of debris that settled into the bays. I knew if I was going to get a shallow bite it would be early, so I went and targeted these edges and just put my head down and fished. I would have fished 5-6km of bank that morning,” Langford explained.

Langford used a 90mm River2sea Whopper Plopper as well as a culmination of jerkbaits that included a Mr Unstoppable! Matthew Langford has been in white hot form this year, and his most recent win at the VMC-sponsored Lake Glenbawn round makes it his third win out of four events for the year.

Victorian angler Nelson Rouw took his first victory from the back of the boat and earned himself a $250 cash bonus.

the rest of the field.

In the non-boaters, Victorian angler Nelson Rouw had his first win from the back of the boat with a 4/4 fish limit for 4.345kg.

LANGFORD GOES

BACK-TO-BACK

A self-confessed ‘Junk fisherman’, Langford pre-fished with 16 rods on the deck and a whole variety of baits for less-thanideal results. After some 61mm Jackall Squirrel, a 75mm Pontoon 21 Cablista, a RAPALA Ripstop and his winning bait from a few days prior, a Rapala X-Rap 6.

What he threw and where depended entirely on what was in front of him at the time. For shallow bays with floating debris, he fished a Whopper Plopper on a Millerods SwitchFreak UL and 13 Fishing Concept C2 reel spooled with 22lb Yamatoyo braid and 16lb Yamatoyo leader. This accounted for his 1.6kg kicker fish on day one, which would bring his bag to nearly 4.5kg after day one.

On deeper banks he chose a deeper running jerkbait, such as the Jackall Squirrel and on shallower banks he chose shallower iterations such as the Cablista or the X-Rap 6, all fished on the Millerods XFLC with very on pre-fish. This was a 1/4oz Evergreen Little Max Blade with the trebles removed and replaced with a single set of ZX assist hooks on the back hook point, thrown on a Millerods FinnesseFreak LC and Daiwa TD black MQ reel combo.

Adding ZX hooks and removing the trebles allowed him to cast the blade amongst

Scan the QR code to watch Matthew Langfords Glenbawn Wrap-up

sharp, fast twitches.

Day two, as the fish shut down, Langford found he had to go back to a blade bite around the trees that he found

It was quality bass such as this that put 1st place Boater Matt Langford almost 1kg ahead of the rest of the competition. He caught his fish on a combination of jerkbaits and topwater.