Sunday, November 19, 2017
Mandurah, Western Australia
In ideal conditions this morning, the 45 anglers competing in the 2017 Hobie Kayak Bream Series 9 Australian Championship headed off for the last time in the tournament from the Power-Pole Starting Line, at Mandurah Quay Resort.
Local WA angler Alex Griesdorf who was leading the championship after day 2 was amongst the leaders of the pack that headed straight to the Murray River, third-placed Simon Morley, NSW was also amongst the group and so to was fifth, placed WA angler, Shane Owens. Second-placed WA angler Paul Burton was difficult to locate, but it was reported that he was also in the group taking a pedal of up to a 15km to reach their chosen fishing locations. However, this proved to be incorrect and Burton had let the River Riskers takers go their own way and he headed in his, straight up to the canal system that he had fished the previous two days. A decision that would ultimately pay huge benefits.
Fourth-placed Sean Higgins from WA chose to continue his assault on the title from the same area he had fished on the previous two days, in the much closer canal system where he had caught the heaviest fish weighed at the tournament (1.29Kg) over the first two competitions days.
Weather conditions were perfect at the start and held up throughout the day with partly cloudy skies and light to moderate breeze.
Tournament Director commenced the live weigh-in at 2 pm (AWST) time in front of a large crowd of interested onlookers.
The Getaway Outdoors Group, who were such an integral part of the organisation of the event and Mandurah Quay Resort were both presented with trophies and jerseys signed by all of the competing anglers.
As on each of the two previous days, a $100 Donut Dough consolation prize was presented to raise the spirits of an unlucky angler; trophies were awarded to the competitors who caught the heaviest fish on each day of the tournament and then tenth to fourth-placed finishers received their sponsor prize packs and souvenir placards.
Finally, the top three anglers, all Western Australians, were invited up on stage, third-placed Sean Higgins, second-placed Alex Griesdorf and the 2017 Australian Champion Paul Burton, to rousing applause from the enthusiastic crowd of onlookers and their fellow competitors.
Check out more about the new Australian Champion Mr Paul Burton from WA, and the full list of results at "hobiefishing.com.au(The Best Are From The West)":http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/day-3-australian-championship-results/
