Top Gun Flathead Comp Fires +Results
The new concept and the lure of having another Flathead comp on the calendar saw 25 teams line up for the Top Gun Flathead Comp on Sunday 17th June. A great days weather was on show and after the last few wet weekends it certainly was a welcome change and a good chance to get on the water. Those lucky anglers who bid and won a top gun for the day met up with their hosts and the rest of the field gathered keen to take them on. Once again we were lucky enough to use the facilities at the Volunteer Marine Rescue Base on Seaworld Drive and we thank them for having us.
The teams headed off keen looking to find their best 5 Flatties 40cm +. This time of year the Flatties are quite spread out and more likely to be found over the flats or shallows.Many of the teams managed of find their ‘bag’ of 5 however there were a large number of 40-50cm fish amongst them. That’s not to say the larger fish werent about. Team Austackle Black snared a beauty 92cm Speciman which came on the troll to a Austackle Bonehead Lure. The team thought at first they had hooked up to a Jewie but once they got site of the fish the message to the angler was to take his time and only being on 12lb Leader take his time he did! The big girl came to the boat several times only to take off again and again and the fight was well over half an hour long! The cheers could be heard far and wide when the fish was in the net. The second largest fish for the day was caught by Team 16 fishing with Top Gun Anlger David Green a solid 83cm fish. A good assortment of 60-70 size fish were also caught by the top teams.
Finishing on top in the inaugural comp was Team Whyte Sands with Flathead Classic regular David Whyte and Top Gun Angler Danny Sands. David paid $200 for the honor to fish alongside Danny and the gamble paid off with the win paying $610 . David praised Danny’s open approach to the day and thanked him for sharing his tips and spots so that they fished as a team. This feeling was common amongst those anglers who fished with the top guns finding that they were more than happy to share tips, techniques and the odd secret. Many anglers came away having learnt a lot from the days experience. Closely behind and only being pipped by 1cm was Pig Lures, Top Gun Shane Gartner showed his angler how to troll lures the ‘Piggy way’ and the pairing certainly found their share of good size flathead using this technique with a 74cm and two 65cm fish in their 5 putting them in the money with $435. Following up in third place Fox+2 with a total of 291cm didnt have a fish under 51cm in their 5 and this consistency paid off to take home $350.
1st Place Whyte Sands
2nd Pig Lures
3rd Fox + 2
4th Place old Farts
5th Place Team 16
| Place | Team | Angler1 | Angler2 | Angler3 | Score cm | Biggest Flathead | Payout |
| 1 | Whyte Sands | Danny Sands (TG | David Whyte | 312 | 73 | $610 | |
| 2 | Pig Lures | Shane Gartner (TG) | Jeff robinson | 311 | 74 | $435 | |
| 3 | Fox+2 | Peter Jung | Steven Booth | Michael Fox | 291 | 70 | $350 |
| 4 | Old Farts | Peter Denaro | Glen Croft | Tony LeMasurier | 288 | 78 | $175 |
| 5 | Team 16 | David Green (TG) | Rob See | 280 | 83 | $85 | |
| 6 | Austackle Black | Nathan Brown | Aaron | 274 | 92 | Tackle Box Big Flathead $80 | |
| 7 | Team Shag | Paul Neilsen | Kim Jones | Jake Neilsen | 273 | 58 | |
| 8 | Liive Vision | Dan Hickey | Josh Pagura | John Goodwin | 270 | 63 | |
| 9 | Bozos | Phil Alder | Kevin Lappin | 256 | 58 | ||
| 10 | Keith Sratford | Keith Sratford (TG) | Christine Hunt | George Sands | 253 | 60 | |
| 11 | Shop a Docket | Geoff Carey | Scott Blair | Brad Job | 253 | 53 | |
| 12 | Doug Burts Tackleworld | Doug Burt | Glenn Crawford | 249 | |||
| 13 | Plastics Paranoia | Christian Pulverinti | Matt | Bernie | 245 | 63 | |
| 14 | Team On Strike | Christian Cross (TG) | Mick ? | 244 | |||
| 15 | Gold Coast Fishing Tackle | Kevin Ballantine (TG) | Grant | 237 | 49 | ||
| 16 | Cuddles | Shane McKee (TG) | Anjie | 235 | |||
| 17 | Team Kitchen Addiction | Stuart Dowie-Bridges | Jamie Douglas | Chris Jordan | 234 | 50 | |
| 18 | Team 1 HiSeas | Ben Job (TG) | Evan | 234 | 49 | ||
| 19 | Anglers Connection Palm Beach | Brett Rainer | Chad Patterson | 233 | 50 | ||
| 20 | Mates Rates | Scott Gregory | Tamara Anderson | Nathan Anderson | 229 | 54 | |
| 21 | Team Jam | Marty Zietsch | Don Thwaites | 228 | 51 | ||
| 22 | Aykut/Nick | Nick Whyte (TG) | Aykut Ahmet | 110 | |||
| 23 | Ray Kibble | Guy McConnell (TG) | Ray Kibble | Jason Crotty | 91 | 48 | |
| 24 | Gobblers | Matt Long | Adam Long | 43 | |||
| 25 | Not Submitted |