In only his fourth ABT BREAM event, Wade Stenhouse notched up his first tournament victory in the Shimano Albany Qualifier. Setting the bench mark on day one with the event’s heaviest limit of 2.715kg and the 1.31kg big bream, Stenhouse never looked back. His day two bag going 2.5kg enough to see off a fighting comeback from WA heavyweights Szarn Tink, Dror Pietsch and Don Johnston.

Stenhouse’s victory not only earned him a pat on his back from fellow competitors, it netted him a $2000 first place cheque, $500 big bream cheque, $250 Mercury Bonus cheque and two Angler Stealth Elite rods donated by Albany Rods & Tackle.

Heading to the King River on day one, Stenhouse targeted snags with a 100mm Squidgy Wriggler in bloodworm rigged on a TT 1/16th jighead. Here he scored a few bream finding the fish preferred to take the lure on the drop.

Heading back out at 11am at the top of the tide, he threw his Squidgy Wriggler at the King River pylon and landed his 1.31kg kicker fish.

“I was surprised because anglers had been hitting the bridge all morning and when I arrived it was slack water and no one was fishing it,” he said.

Moving out to the flats between the King and Kalgan Rivers Stenhouse continued to upgrade his limit using a variety of hard body lures including the Ecogear SX40 colour 301, Atomic Hardz Crank 38 mid in ghost green shad and silver Strike Pro Cyber Vibe blades.

“All these lures I basically used long wind assisted casts with a twitch retrieve including the blade which I made sure stayed off the bottom,” explained Stenhouse.

His tournament tackle consisted of a 6’6” 2-4kg Silstar Evograph rod matched to a Daiwa Excelor 2000 reel spooled with 4lb Berkley Crystal Fireline and 6lb Nitlon leader.

Heading out in pole position on Sunday Stenhouse headed up the Kalgan River, once again looking for snags to throw his favourite 100mm Squidgy bloodworm Wriggler. With a few fish in the live well, he headed out to the flats to fill his bag as he had done the previous day.

He then moved to the town boat ramp and fished the pylons and jetties around the marina scoring a few upgrades and throwing out the 25cm bream in his bag.

Back at the Albany Sportsfishing Club while the positions on the scoreboard shuffled, Stenhouse remained clear on top to claim victory and an invite to the Daiwa BREAM Grand Final in Mallacoota later in the year.

Runner up Szarn Tink backed up his Walpole win with another strong finish earning him the 2010 Lowrance WA AOY Trophy. Tink’s 10/10, 5.025kg limit falling some 200 grams short of Stenhouse.

Tink used a Berkley Dropshot 2-4kg rod matched to a Daiwa Luvias 1003 reel with 6lb Sunline PE and 3lb Sunline fluorocarbon. His arsenal was a mixture of soft plastics and hard bodies. With the white, brown and green eyeball tails, Berkley 3” Gulp Fry in watermelon and lime tiger his choice of plastics. His sole crankbait was the Zipbait Khamsin tiny in ghost ayu.

“I would really have to cut down the plastics and rig them on a TT 1/16th no 1 hook jighead to try and prevent the short strikes,” Tink explained.

Fishing various flats over the weekend between the King River Bridge and the Kalgan River, Tink looked for the salmon and herring schools.

“I targeted the baitfish in the warmer water looking for actively feeding bream,” he said.

His retrieve for the soft plastics was to keep the rod tip high and keep the lure three hard jerks, finding the bream hitting on the drop, whilst the hard body was a slow retrieve maintaining the bib hitting the sandy bottom.

Champion non boater Oliver Seear was excited to claim his first victory in his short two year stint fishing ABT tournaments. Fishing day one with Don Johnston and day two with Steve Morrison, Seear targeted the bream at the King River Bridge and adjacent flats.

Seear used two outfits, a 2-4kg Shimano T-Curve with a Shimano Twin Power 1000 spooled with 3lb Stren Microfuse and a 6ft 1-3kg Pflueger rod with a Shimano Stradic 1000 spooled with 3lb Fireline. He used 6lb Yamatoyo fluorocarbon leader for the weekend.

His lures of choice were the Ecogear MX48F in colour 301, TT 1/8 Switchblade in purple glimmer and an 80mm Squidgy Wriggler in bloodworm on a 1/24 TT jighead.

“I used a slow retrieve and found the fish to take the lure on the pause. There was no real aggression shown and it was basically a matter of filtering through the little fish,” Seear said.

With fine weather all weekend the tournament held at the Albany Sportsfishing Club with off without a hitch. A big thanks to the members who cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for the anglers, and we look forward to returning in 2011.

For further information visit www.bream.com.au or ph 07 3387 0888.

Daiwa BREAM Series: Shimano Albany BREAM Qualifier Boater Results
Place	Angler	State	F1	W1	F2	W2	TF	TW	Payout
1	Wade STENHOUSE	WA	5	2.715	5	2.5	10	5.215	$2000, $500 BB, $250 MB, 2 x Angler Stealth Elite rod
2	Szarn TINK	WA	5	2.36	5	2.665	10	5.025	$1000, Angler Stealth Elite rod
3	Dror PIETSCH	WA	4	2.16	5	2.645	9	4.805	$700
4	Don JOHNSTON	WA	5	2.525	5	1.98	10	4.505	$500
5	Shane OWENS	WA	5	1.97	5	2.2	10	4.17	$300
6	Tom DEER	SA	5	2.115	5	2	10	4.115	$150
7	Murray JEFFERY	WA	5	2.285	5	1.79	10	4.075	Prize Pack
8	George MCCARTHY	WA	5	1.61	5	2.175	10	3.785	Prize Pack
9	Shea WILLIAMS	WA	5	1.965	4	1.81	9	3.775
10	Ian SMITH	WA	4	1.805	5	1.745	9	3.55
11	Graham GREEN	WA	3	1.005	5	2.12	8	3.125
12	Steve YARWOOD	WA	4	1.41	4	1.625	8	3.035
13	David BEER	WA	5	1.915	3	1.115	8	3.03	$382 1st Pro
14	Peter DEGROOT	WA	4	1.57	4	1.44	8	3.01
15	Steven MORRISON	WA	2	0.945	5	2.06	7	3.005
16	Darryl SCHRODER	WA	2	0.7	5	1.875	7	2.575
17	Alex GREISDORF	WA	3	1.49	3	1.04	6	2.53
18	Callum DOWELL	WA	3	1.325	2	1.05	5	2.375
19	Tim STUART	WA	4	1.94	1	0.385	5	2.325
20	Robert BERBERICK	WA	4	1.575	2	0.61	6	2.185
21	Michael BURMAN	WA	1	0.44	4	1.39	5	1.83
22	Richard WILLIAMS	WA	1	0.345	4	1.48	5	1.825
23	Ellery HATCH	WA	2	1.31			2	1.31
24	Chris ELLIOT	WA	2	0.685	1	0.35	3	1.035
25	Vernon PASCOE	WA	1	0.51	1	0.33	2	0.84
26	Ian SEWELL	WA	2	0.735			2	0.735
27	David O'REILLY	WA	1	0.395		-0.1	1	0.295
28	Nathan GILDERS	WA	1	0.25			1	0.25
29	Craig LEATT-HAYTER	WA
29	Steven GALT	WA
29	Phillip COCKSHUTT	WA
Daiwa BREAM Series: Shimano Albany BREAM Qualifier Non-Boater Results
Place	Angler	State	F1	W1	F2	W2	TF	TW	Payout
1	Oliver SEEAR	WA	5	1.96	3	1.075	8	3.035	Heartland XA 2000 reel, Heartland XA 2500 reel, Heartland XA 701lfs rod, Heartland XA 701mlfs rod, Team Daiwa Columbia Clothing, Daiwa Prize Pack
2	Jack DAWSON	WA	2	0.71	5	2.145	7	2.855	Angler Stealth Elite rod, Shimano Twin Power 1000FC, Prize Pack
3	Colin GUNNING	WA	3	1.07	5	1.71	8	2.78	Shimano Symetre 1000FJ, Prize Pack
4	Craig WHITE	WA	1	0.845	5	1.895	6	2.74	Spotters sunglasses, Prize Pack
5	Jayden WEBB	WA	5	1.86	2	0.77	7	2.63	Ugly Fish sunglasses, Prize Pack
6	Charlie SAYKAO	WA	2	0.68	5	1.88	7	2.56	Squidgies Tackle bag, Prize Pack
7	Suzanne SIRANOVIC	WA	2	0.6	5	1.9	7	2.5	Prize Pack
8	Ross ASHCROFT	WA	5	1.94	1	0.495	6	2.435	Prize Pack
9	Chris HILL	WA	2	0.725	5	1.63	7	2.355
10	Gavin NAGLAN	WA			5	2.185	5	2.185
11	Jarrad STEVENS	WA	2	0.85	3	1.03	5	1.88
12	Max LINE	WA	5	1.96		-0.1	5	1.86
13	Tancredi RUBINICH	WA	4	1.385	1	0.285	5	1.67
14	Hayden O'KEEFE	WA	3	1.05	2	0.62	5	1.67
15	Aaron NUSSEY	WA	1	0.87	2	0.73	3	1.6
16	Greg WEINERT	WA			3	1.465	3	1.465
17	Dion ROBINSON	WA	2	0.72	2	0.645	4	1.365
18	Richard HINDS	WA	3	1.26			3	1.26
19	Alan VISEE	WA	2	0.665	1	0.45	3	1.115
20	Geoff SPADACCINI	WA	3	1.07			3	1.07
21	Paul MCCULLOUGH	WA	1	0.385	1	0.41	2	0.795
22	Mark MORRIS	WA	2	0.72			2	0.72
23	David COMSTIVE	WA	1	0.39	1	0.3	2	0.69
24	Kim MCINTYRE	WA	1	0.27	1	0.375	2	0.645
25	Dominic VASSALLO	WA	1	0.355			1	0.355
26	Jaxson MILLER	WA			1	0.31	1	0.31
27	Lee MATTHEWS	WA	1	0.28			1	0.28
28	Andrew MANSON	WA
28	Paul SIEMASZKO	WA
28	Brad MCDONALD	WA
28	Stuart KLOSE	WA