{"id":69153,"date":"2014-05-27T23:36:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T13:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=69153"},"modified":"2020-11-30T15:12:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T05:12:17","slug":"addicted-to-bass-at-boondooma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/05\/27\/addicted-to-bass-at-boondooma\/","title":{"rendered":"Addicted To Bass At Boondooma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bass<\/a>
Winner Brad Clark, from Toowoomba, with his trophy and prize cheque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 27, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kingaroy fisherman Trevor Stead was the pick of the South Burnett professionals competing at the weekend’s\u00a0Atomic B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Tournament at Boondooma Dam.<\/p>\n

Stead, competing in the Pro division, came in 6th, followed by Jaimen Tunstall (15th), Greg Mitchell (24th) and Matthew Mott (26th).<\/p>\n

In the Amateur division, local knowledge obviously paid off for Corey Goldie who came second; Goldie is the manager of the Lake Boondooma Tourist Park.<\/p>\n

Other South Burnett competitors in the amateur ranks were Dylan Mott (11th) and Mark Bleys (23rd).<\/p>\n

Boondooma Dam played host to 70 of Australia’s best professional and amateur bass fishermen for the second round of the competition.<\/p>\n

After a Friday set aside for practice, competitors took to the lake at 7:00am on Saturday and Sunday, bringing their best catches back at 2:00pm each afternoon for weigh-ins.<\/p>\n

Organisers stress the competition is a live “catch and release” event.<\/p>\n

“We’re a low ecological impact sport,” organiser Drew McGrath said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve even produced a special brochure to show all competitors the best ways to keep their catches in tip-top condition before they’re released after the weigh-ins.”<\/p>\n

Nearly all competitors agreed that Saturday’s fishing was “hard” but on Sunday, the tide turned for many and both catch numbers and weights went up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the weigh-ins, there were laughs at the smallness of some catches – all within legal minimums – and applause for the size of others.<\/p>\n

In the end, Toowoomba fisherman Brad Clark was announced the Round 2 winner, presenting a 2.88kg bag at the final weigh-in for a total catch weight of 6.09kg over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Organisers were also full of praise for Boondooma Dam.<\/p>\n

“This is a really wonderful dam and we’d be very happy to come back here next year,” Drew said.<\/p>\n

Based on a survey of competitors, they also estimated the weekend’s competition brought in close to $100,000 for the region in accommodation, food, fuel and supplies sales.<\/p>\n

Another bass fishing event will be coming to Boondooma soon. Round 4 of the Basstasstic<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0fishing competition will be held on June 21\u201322.<\/p>\n