BARRA Series presented by
Barra Drama took centre stage
The beginning of spring brings with it the beginning of the ABT BARRA season and kicking things off with a bang each year is the inaugural Venom Rods BARRA Australian Open held over three nights on the full moon at Lake Awoonga. 18 teams took to the field in very challenging conditions with the goal of entering their five biggest barra each session into the ABT Tournament Series app, where a weight is allocated to each fish based off its total length. Team Barra Drama (Keegan Hayden and Geoff Newby) took out first place with an 8/10 limit for 82.13kg, while in second place was reigning champions Team Schwerin Concreting/Bass to Barra, Jake Schwerin and Dylan Mott, with 6/10 fish for 52.34kg. BARRA DRAMA Ironically, Geoff Newby and Keegan Hayden of
casts here and there as they quickly figured out that there were no fish being caught in the daylight hours and their time was better spent relaxing! Although the first session was uneventful, the team had caught onto Scan the QR code to see the Winning team interview
a few hints the lake threw them in the first session and decided to work on them in the second. “We were spot-locked in Cormorant Bay casting when the Schwerin Concreting boys pulled up a couple hundred metres away and we watched Dylan catch a metre fish,” Geoff said, adding “that gave us the confidence that we were in the right area, we just had
Awoonga was tough but the Barra Drama boys, Keegan and Geoff, figured them out in the end. Catching more fish for the event than any other team, they took home the $6,000 first place cheque. 21ºC – relatively cold for barramundi – the fish were searching for the warmer water on the edges and, as such, were cruising in
this channel. Noticing the channel, the boys began to target it with instant results, weighing a full five fish for
The victorious team caught all their fish in the night hours of each session and spent the daylight hours watching the footy and relaxing. Team Barra Drama didn’t have a lot of drama with the Awoonga barra once they figured them out. The boys spent the daylight hours of each session watching football and making a few lazy
to adjust the approach”. The decision to return to Cormorant Bay and work the bank instead of spot-lock opened their eyes as to where the barra were sitting and why they weren’t catching.
As the lake has risen recently, a channel approximately 15ft wide has formed between the bank and where the old weed finished, running parallel with the bank. With water temperature at
RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 102
NOVEMBER 2022
Team Barra drama Schwerin concreting/bass to barra Samaki/SCMED Venom Fish with me Imakatsu/Dobyns rods Sporty’s/EJ Todd Hot reels Fishing Monthly Barra whispers
Fish 8/15 6/15 5/15 4/15 3/15 3/15 2/15 2/15 2/15 2/15
One of the very few teams to catch a fish with the sun still out, Schwerin Concreting got the session started right with this cracking barra.
Full results at abt.org.au
Weight(kg) 82.13 52.34 50.58 39.93 30.01 29.44 25.55 20.52 20.35 18.36
Payout $6000 + Big Barra prize $3000 $2500 $2000 $1000 no payout Big Barra prize no payout no payout no payout
