Recently, Steven Johnson and Craig Baird fished head-to-head with the help of two pro-anglers from the Australian Fishing Championships – team Ford Courier’s Jason Ehrlich and Team Berkley’s Adam Royter.

The Australian Fishing Championships (AFC) is aired on Channel Ten over Summer on Sunday afternoons (www.fishnet.com.au/afc). Pro anglers, including Jason and Adam, travel around the country in their customised team rigs and aim to catch the biggest fish they can for the TV cameras.

In a way, fishing is a lot like car racing – there’s plenty of skill involved, but also an element of luck. The most skilful of any group seem to create their own luck... time after time.

And there’s the trophy at the end. Anglers, drivers – they’re all deep-down competitors. Whether it’s the race to a good fishing spot or to the finish line, none of these guys likes losing. Ever.

So, with high spirits and low ability, Steve and Craig shot off onto Somerset dam to land Australian bass. Each team was to weigh its biggest two, and the winner to take away the inaugural V8 Drivers' Fishing Cup.

And the fishing started as slowly as the customised Stratos boats were quick. The teams pulled up on a previously productive flat about three kilometres from the start. Craig’s team used the on-board fish finder to try and locate schools of bass before fishing for them, while Steve was straight into the fishing.

Fish finders are sonar units that send pulses of sound into the depths. Echos return from the bottom and everything in between it – including bass – shows up. It’s a way for anglers to ‘see’ under the water to make sure that they’re fishing in the rights spot.

But neither of them got a bite in 20 minutes.

On the gas again and another three kays upstream another flat looked promising, but yielded nothing.

An hour in and the ribbings were travelling between the boats thick and fast. Unlike the fish.

As often happens in fishing, the boys finally located fish – within sight of the start line. If they’d stayed at the start instead of racing off against each other, they’d have probably caught bass on their first casts. As if that would ever happen.

Ford Pro Jason Ehrlich dropped a big fish and then landed a cracking four-and-a-half pounder on a soft plastic lure. Adam and Craig were quick to imitate their tactics and boated a couple of reasonable two to two-and-a-half pounders.

The kicker fish, though, was taken by Steven Johnson with some surprisingly sweet rod-work and smooth style. It weighed near four pounds and gave the Ford team a near-unbeatable lead.

Unbeatable after watching Baird’s casting style. Johnson reckoned that he could have the thrown the lure further with his bare hands.

So, after the official weigh-in and presentation in the drivers’ fishing uniforms – thongs and shorts – chalk up a victory for Johnson. At least on the water.

V8 DRIVERS’ CUP Instigated for a bit of fun, the V8 Drivers’ Cup promises to turn into an annual event. The drivers enjoy some ‘low pressure’ time on the water and the AFC anglers get a kick out of showing these guys their own need for speed. The AUSTRALIAN FISHING CHAMPIONSHIPS Broadcast on Channel 10 over the summer, the Australian Fishing Championships features four sponsored teams that fish against each other in eight different arenas. Four events are on the freshwater for bass and the other four are in the salt chasing bream. Each year the lowest placed angler for each species is dropped and replaced with the winner of the Grand Final event in the open-to-the-public, ground-level tournament series events. You can get all the information you need to get started in tournament fishing at www.bream.com.au or www.australianbass.com.au Stratos Boats The Stratos 285 Pro XL is built and designed to deliver performance, quality and value for bream, bass and barramundi anglers. They have proven very popular with the NASCAR fans on the American scene for many years and the Stratos has a sister boat called the Ranger that even comes with a NASCAR option pack. The 2.27-metre beam and radial V hull delivers a fantastic ride at speed – even in the chop – and delivers great stability at rest while fishing. Together with clear and open decks, these boats have loads of room for rods, tackle and all the necessary fishing equipment for a successful days tournament fishing. STRATOS PROXL285 STATS Overall Length: 5.6m Beam: 2.27m Max power: 150hp Fuel Capacity: 136 litres (approx) Cost: Packages from $49,000