One of only eight anglers to weigh fish in the 30 angler field Oxford comprehensively won the event, weigh-in the only full limit and winning by 2.16kg over his nearest rival Ricky Simmons.
Compiling a 2/2, 4.85kg bag to win the event Oxford followed the pattern he cracked during a prefish leading up to the event, fishing a 40 to 35 feet deep flat west of McGraths Bay with a combination of blades.
"I found the location and fish on the Wednesday, went straight back there on tournament day and started catching fish within five minutes," explained Barry.
Using a ½ oz TT Switchblade in gold noggin colour and a ½ oz Evergreen Little Max in blue gill colour, Oxford would make long casts before sinking the lure to the bottom and using a methodical lift and drop retrieve back to the boat.
"The bass would grab the lure on the drop, you'd lift the rod to give the lure another hop and the fish would be there," explained Barry.
The technique was just what they wanted early, but it was later in the session when things changed that Barry struck pay dirt.
"It went quiet in the middle of the session then the big ones came out to play towards the end. They went from 41s and 42s to high 40s and 50s and they wanted the blade slow rolled past their noses so they could eat it as it swam past," explained Oxford.
The end result was 22 fish for the session, a 46 ½ and 47 cm in the well, lost lures to big fish, 50s dropped at the boat, and 4.85kg of tournament winning bass in the well.
"It was one of those Wivenhoe days that we all long for, big hungry fish and lots of them. It's a shame I didn't get the limit I caught on the Wednesday prefish though when I had 51 and 52 in the well. I very happy though and glad to have qualified for the Convention," explained Barry.
For event runner up Ricky Simmons it was a combination of joy and disappoint, with the Nerang basser happy to finish second and claim the big bass prize but miffed he couldn't quite catch his second fish to complete his limit.
"I could find the fish with sounder, just not enough active ones to catch one more fish," explained Ricky.
Fishing the flats near Platypus Cliffs Ricky targeted the 20 feet depth range and it was a sounded fish sitting mid water early in the session that got him on the scoreboard.
"I was slow rolling the small Berkley Big Eye back through the school of fish when it bit," explained Ricky.
Taking the lure just as he pause the roll the fish powered off giving Ricky an insight to its size.
"I knew it was a good fish, I didn't think it would be enough to go big bass though, especially considering the fish that Barry had got into," explained Ricky.
Pulling the scales down to 2.67kg it eclipsed Barry's biggest fish by a mere 40 grams and delivered Ricky his second prize pack for the day.
With one more Wivenhoe round to go and scheduled for the 8th of August anglers have one more chance to tangle with lakes legendary XOS bass. Make sure you're there to be part of it.
| Place | Angler | Fish | Weight | Big Bass |
| 1 | Barry Oxford | 2 | 4.85 | 2.63 |
| 2 | Ricky Simmons | 1 | 2.67 | 2.67 |
| 3 | Jonathon Ward | 1 | 1.86 | |
| 4 | Ian Galloway | 1 | 1.6 | |
| 5 | Daniel Molloy | 1 | 1.53 | |
| 6 | Jonathon Box | 1 | 1.21 | |
| 7 | Tom Reynolds | 1 | 1.13 | |
| 8 | Jeff Herse | 1 | 1.12 | |
| 9 | Jason Lyons | |||
| 9 | Josh Wall | |||
| 9 | Jack Gold | |||
| 9 | Alberto Fernandez | |||
| 9 | Kerry Symes | |||
| 9 | Simon Barkhuizen | |||
| 9 | Glyn Barkhuizen | |||
| 9 | Brett Kleinschmidt | |||
| 9 | Spiro Zantiotis | |||
| 9 | Glenn White | |||
| 9 | Cameron Baker | |||
| 9 | Jason Lowe | |||
| 9 | James Letzow | |||
| 9 | David West | |||
| 9 | Charles West | |||
| 9 | Tom Burton | |||
| 9 | Shaun Falkenhagen | |||
| 9 | Rod Shorten | |||
| 9 | Jamie Bradshaw | |||
| 9 | Patrick Conduit | |||
| 9 | Mike Weger | |||
| 9 | Adrian Wilson |
