National Bream Classic Grand Final 2007

National Bream Classic Grand Final 2007:

This year the Sydney City Toyota NBC Grand Final was held on August 3rd, 4th and 5th on the beautiful Sydney Harbour in conjunction with the Sydney Boat Show.

This year over 40 teams fought it out over four qualifying rounds from Gippsland lakes in Victoria to the Gold Coast in the north to be in the top 20 grand final qualifiers.

Being a team's event the standard of fishing was, as always, extremely high and the points table of the top 20 was crowded and tight.

All anglers were looking forward to the final with the harbour being notorious for big bream and lots of them, matched with the 3 day format, it lent itself to being anyone's game.

The first day greeted the competitors with light rain and cold conditions, both of made for tough fishing and a long day in the elements.

Last years winners Team Woodstock Bourbon came home with a solid 5 fish bag of 4.490kg followed by Team Squidgy with a 5 bag also for 3.756.

The harbours reputation and the usual successful first day fishing was definitely not the case and surprised most anglers and saw some of the top names catch no legal fish at all.

Day two was sunny with light winds and with two more days to go the majority of teams were putting the tough first day behind them.

NBC Grand Final 07

A large crowd gathers for the weigh-in.

The size of the harbour and the small field had the boats spread from the Parramatta River to Manly and Middle Harbour which made the hard to find fish slightly easier to catch.

A large crowd in Darling harbour greeted the fleet upon their return, the stage the tank and the moored boats made for an impressive scene for the anglers and the onlookers.

Team Woodstock Bourbon scratched up 4 fish for 1.844kg and maintained the lead with a total of 6.334 but team Squidgie landed 5 for 2.398 and are closing in fast. Team Anna Bay Sands continued its run of huge fish with only 5 fish in two days they still managed to hold third spot with quality specimens averaging over 1kg per fish.

The ever consistent team Shimano were hovering and the third and final day was shaping up as a cracker and anybodies tournament.

Day three saw sunny conditions but forecasted 30km SW winds were just around the corner and while this suited some, it hindered others.

The top 5 teams were separated by just over a Kilo and if you can find the harbours big residents you can jump the ladder fast.

The traditional last day blues didn't disappoint most anglers and the high winds only made things even harder to catch the less than active Sydney bream.

Sunday's weigh in crowd was huge and the anticipation of who caught what gave the front runners some tense moments prior to weigh in.

Queensland 's fishing identity Paul Burt was the MC and had the crowd's attention for the entire weigh in. Word among the anglers spread and whispers of who had taken out the two Sydney City Toyota's was beginning to be pieced together among the boys.

In the wash up team Woodstock Bourbon failed to weigh a legal fish on the final day getting the anglers buzzing over who had what, as the weights from 2nd to 5th were tight from the previous day.

Chris Cleaver and Joel Tegart of Team Squidgy and Mark Dunphy and Craig Simmons of Team Shimano were eventually rewarded with first and second place respectively. Team Squidgy landed 15 fish for 9.208kg and team Shimano weighed 15 fish for 8.096kg.

Team Sportsfish came a well deserved third with Team Anna Bay Sands bringing in the biggest fish of the comp to finish 4th and jumping 7 places overnight ET's team Club Marine in 5th place.

Team Squidgies

Consistency was the key for the Squidgy and Shimano teams with both teams the only two to bring home the full limit of 15 legal fish, and considering the tough fishing conditions and the level of anglers competing, the first and second result was a massive achievement.

Both these winning teams attribute the new Squidgy Pro Range with S-Factor attractant as a helping hand when the going got tough.

The boys were quoted as saying not only did the S-Factor assist, the new Squidgy Pro Range tails and colours were a standout and the 15 from 15 for both teams spoke volumes at the end of the weekend about the product.

Well done to all who qualified and those who placed well, also a special mention to tournament director Neil Ryan and all the sponsors who had backed the NBC series this year, a very friendly, competitive series that went down to the wire and ended up with deserving place getters.