Georges and Parramatta Report – 17-3 and 18-3-07

Last Sunday I was in the final round of the Berkley Summer Series bream tournaments, teamed up with Gary Brown. 46 boats were registered and we figured a lot would head down towards the Lane Cove River for the last of the run in. But Ah-ha! We thought we’d be clever and avoid the crowds and fish the shores of Hen and Chicken Bay, bag out (5 fish) and then search for upgrades for the next 4 or 5 hours.

Well the first part of our plan fell into place…that is the part about starting in Hen and Chicken Bay! It was an hour before I landed our first legal bream. We were pretty surprised at the lack of fish, as the day was overcast, the tide was nice and high…conditions seemed perfect. We finally gave up and worked a few boats but they were also lacking in the bream department.

In one of the small bays on the Parramatta River, Gary put a long cast with a Gulp Sandworm way up alongside a jetty. ‘Twitch…twitch…BOOF!’ This fish was much better and Gary skilfully led it out into the open water. It was down deep and I stood by with the net, peering into the water. We still hadn’t seen the fish when with one last determined run it muscled its way towards the last pylon 5 meters away. Gary clamped up as tight as he could on the spool but it wasn’t enough. The rod flicked back and the fish was gone…followed closely by a few choice words from Gary.

Not long after, Gary brings in the twin of my fish and that’s two for the weigh-in, so far. Time to hit the boats in Five Dock. As Gary’s SP wafts down next to the keel of one of the boats, the line suddenly darts and another cracker of a fish is hooked. ZZzzzzzz…ZZzzzzzzzz…..tink! Not even a chance of stopping this one as it raced to the anchor rope and Gary is about to throw his rod in the water in disgust.

We then moved over to fish the edge of the flats and my first cast is chomped immediately. I allow the fish to run as there are no anchor ropes or pylons near here and I’m thinking this will be a beauty, too. And yes it was a beauty too, a beauty of a whiting: all 36cm’s of it! Over the next 10 minutes we took turns in landing them but there wasn’t a bream anywhere amongst them.

With 10 minutes to go, Gary hooks the triplet of our bream and we finally weigh-in and end up waaaaaay down the ranks in 37th spot. It turned out that a lot of fish were caught in the Lane Cove River…Sheesh!

What made it especially frustrating was that the morning before I’d visited my beloved Oyster Bay and bagged 4 bream in two hours. It just goes to show that local knowledge can definitely give you the edge sometimes. If only I’d kept those 4 bream. Happy yakkin’, everyone.

Cheers,
Cid