From the start, EVERYBODY except Terry Grima and I headed right! 'Hmmm, do they know something we don't,' I thought. Anyway, fingers crossed I'd find a few fish amongst the racks and over the flats.
I'll keep it short and say that I couldn't get a legal bream in there. Neither could Terry. Neither did I see any of the two boats in the same vicinity land anything either. I persevered for probably longer than I should have, but it's always a bit of a guessing game. Do I stick it out and hope that they come on the chew, or do I move off and try to find them?
A few years back I remember fishing a tournament with Gary Brown in Brisbane Waters. We were working this big weed bed and about 100m away was Chris Cleaver. After two hours with only one just legal fish to show for it, we decided to move. Back at the weigh in, Chris weighed in a massive bag. 'Guess what? ' he said. 'About 10 minutes after you left, they went nuts and we bagged out within 15 minutes.' And that's sometimes the way it can go.
Eventually I decided to move into the main river and I set my sights on the drift just south of the punt. There were a few boats there and the tide was just starting to get a bit of pace to it on its way out. I grabbed my Psyborg Rod and Reel outfit with 8lb Gosen Mebarin and 4lb leader. This was finished off with a 1/6th jig head and a 3" Bait Breath SL Remix (colour 787), the lure that had fooled my big bream in the Georges River round earlier this year. All this gear is distributed by Gladiator Tackle and it has been working for me brilliantly since I've been using it.
The technique was to cast upriver while I faced into the current, slowly pulsing the Hobie Mirage Drive to keep me stationary. Then it was a matter of letting the lure hit the bottom and slowly lifting it and bumping it back towards me. The bottom was pretty snaggy here so I was expecting to lose some tackle (and I did, too).
I'd only been there about 5 minutes when I felt a bump on the line. 'Fish?', I wondered. I wound in the slack, lifted the rod and it bucked in my hands as a solid weight took off. This was good and there were a few angry head shakes transmitted up the line. Bugga, it may be a Jewfish and I peered into the depths trying to get a glimpse of it. There were a few more stubborn runs and I was worried it might take me over some boulders and bust me off. Eventually I started to get some line and I sucked in some air over gritted teeth when I saw it emerge from the depths.
Into the net she goes and a passing boat yells out 'Bloody Hell, I hope we can get one like that?' What a beauty! A quick measure and into the live well and back out to try and get it's twin. But, that was the only legal I could get. Eventually the tide was too fast for me to sit in the current with out exhausting myself and it was time to head back anyway. Only one fish, but at least it was a good one.
She went 1.28 kgs and 38 fork. This girl was enough to push me up into 4th and also snare me the Big Bream prize again. This SL Remix is worth its weight in gold! The winner (again!) was Luke Kay (1.65 kgs), 2nd was Glenn Allen (1.440 kgs) and 3rd went to Jon Chen (1.43 kgs). Well done boys on a pretty tough waterway.
Next event for me is the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Bream Series at Forster on the 16th-17th May. This is also a World Qualifier and the top 2 places secure a position on the Hobie Australian Team that will be competing at Shang Lake, China from the 9th-16th November 2015. For further details, visit the Hobie Worlds website. Until the next report, happy yakkin', everyone!
cheers,
Cid
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