Oyster Bay - 25/4/08

With all the comp's out of the way I could return to the ever-more-so relaxing style that is kayak fishing and my local launch site was seriously overdue for a visit. We had a few guests coming over for a BBQ to celebrate my birthday (yay!) and I boldly told the wife I'd catch dinner. At the ramp I met up with Andrew (9 Ball) who was waiting for Buj to arrive so they could play havoc with the local flathead population.

The tide was low so I headed to the mouth of the bay where the water is a bit deeper and I started by flicking around a River 2 Sea Baby Vibe 43. It didn't take long before I had my first 'guest' for the BBQ that night - a nice flathead of 44cm's. I landed 2 more that were just under legal size and by then I'd reached my first set of pontoons.

I changed to soft plastics and rigged up a Gulp 3" Minnow in LimeTiger. It didn't take longer to realise that there were a few bream about as I was getting a hook-up or at least a hit off every pontoon or jetty. There were no big bluenoses amongst them but they were still great fun. I had 3 in the livewell by the time 9 Ball and Buj caught up and I landed another 2 before it was time to head for home.

On the way back I targetted some of the jetties further up in the bay that now had a bit more water under them and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a couple more legal flatties were willing to join me onboard the Hobie. 9 Ball also had a few and his best so far was 50cm's. The boys were going to put in a few more hours and I think they'd have done pretty well for themselves as the tide rose even higher. I hope you got into a few real croc's, guys and it was great to catch up again.

Oh, and those flattie fillets quickly seared on the BBQ and finished off with garlic butter and fresh lime were just bee-yoot-i-ful! What a great way to celebrate a birthday. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,
Cid

Parramatta River - 19/4/08

Squidgie Bream Challenge Grand Final

20 teams all chasing 1 species. The boats that set off from Bayview in Hen & Chicken Bay at 7am for 7 hours of exciting fishing ranged from humble tinnies to $50,000 fibreglass imports. Up for grabs was a $1,000 entry fee into the Forster Megabucks Tournament plus $3,000 dollars worth of tackle for each angler. Some well known names were amongst the teams and Gary and I were out to upset them. The first thing I had to do was catch a bream! The Lake Macquarie round was a thing of the past and I was sooooooo relieved (not as much as Gary though) when I landed our 1st bream for the day that just made the 25cm fork minimum length. We landed a few more just under size and ventured into Exile Bay to fish the flats. Gary tied on one of Ecogears VX40's (a metal blade lure) and hooked up within the first few casts. Next cast he's on again and I switch from the SP's to a VX40 as well.

And that's when the fun started. The bream were climbing all over these things and after two drifts we had our 5 bag limit. Only 8:20am and we were ready to start upgrading. Gary gets a good hit but it's a lousy, rotten flathead of 58cm's. Normally a great catch but not today! : ) More upgrades come over the side when I get our first kicker fish, a 35cm fork beauty that weighs 900 grams. We couldn't believe how good these lures were working. To the right is a close-up of the one Gary was using. All we'd do is cast them out as far as we could, then double-hop them back to the boat. Often the fish would come back 2 or 3 times if they didn't hook-up the first time.

Once the bite shut down we moved off to a few other bays. We'd take turns swapping between SP's and HB's but the VX's were snaring all the fish. At one stage Gary and I had a double hook-up and it took us a few minutes to decide which fish in the well had to be returned to the river. I only wish we had choices like that every tournament we fished in!

With 90 minutes to go, we figured we had a bag of about 3 kg's. We still needed a couple of kicker fish as we knew you'd need a bag over 4 kg's to win. Gary suggested Gladesville Marina where there was some deeper water and a chance to hook some thumpers. As we were fishing, Gary noticed a lot of water in the boat, and I mean a lot. We quickly discovered that one of the fish in the live well had it's tail over the water outlet and the water was just running over the top. Gary said, "I'll sort this out, you catch a horse."

On one of my retrieves I felt a nudge and then 'whoompf', there was some serious weight on the end of my line. "Gary," I said as this thing swam under the marina. I dipped the rod to keep the line free of the barnacle-encrusted pontoon and called out again, "Gary...net!" But Gary, who had his head down near the bilge pump, didn't hear me. Very quickly the fish swam to the surface and when he came out from under the pontoon I yelled out "GARY! GET THE NET!!!" This thing was a monster. He had huge blue lips, looked about 3 inches across the back and I guesstimated he would've been at least 45cm's. He took one look at me and with a few big tail beats he shredded me on the pontoon before I could dip the rod again. Oh, the agony! So close but not close enough.

With no time to lose, we quickly got back to the fishing. Then, it's Gary's turn and his rod bends until the tip is in the water. This time we're ready and we move away from the marina into open water. Gary backs off the drag now that we're clear and we know this is another big bream. Then woe is us again, the line goes limp and we've dropped him. Oh, double the agony. We check our watches and still have 20 minutes to fish, so cursing under our breath, we return to the edge of the marina.

5 minutes later I'm on again and this feels like another bruiser. Come on, 3rd time lucky we think and yes, Gary expertly slides the net under our biggest fish that stretches to 37cm's fork and 1.1 kg's. With 5 minutes to go, Gary lands another upgrade and we think we may have a chance. We hope we have about 4kg's and as we carry the fish to the weigh in there are a few 'Ooh, big fish' from the spectators. As they go on the scales we see that the leaders have 4.2kg's and we're shattered to only go 3.724 kg's. The old adage of the one that got away really bit on us the bum today but in reality nearly every team drops a few good fish. Justcrusin32 (Dave) from AKFF had a tough tourny and also lost some real horses, which if you get them into the boat, can really make a difference.

In the final wash-up we came in at 6th place, with the winners, taking it out with 4.3kg's, being Team Shimano, so a big congratulations to Bill and Mark on a good win. I had one of the best days fishing ever and the biggest thanks go to Gary Brown who let me join his team for the series. Thanks Gary! So back to the yak for me and I may have to chase a few more bream seeing I was bitten by the Bream Bug big time last weekend. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 12/4/08

4 weeks! 4 long, long weeks since I'd been out in the yak. Pray that THAT doesn't happen again. In the last report I stated how Gary and I were competing in the final rounds of the Squidgy Bream Challenge at Lake Macquarie. Power boats only unfortunately...the organisers are scared of yaks! : ) To make a long story short, I was crap and thank God that Gary was there to land a few bream because all I could land were Long Tom and trumpeters. The only stand-out fish was the whiting Gary is pictured with that snaffled his popper and raced off over the weedbeds, fooling us for a few seconds into thinking it was a cracker bream. But we placed well enough to qualify for the Grand Final on the 19th April on Sydney Harbour, so at least I have another chance to redeem myself on the breaming stakes.

But Joy of Joys! Last weekend I quietly slipped into the tranquil waters off Foreshore Rd aboard my beloved Hobie. Ah, the serenity! Terry was already on the water and we quickly set off for the 3rd runway and what I call 'Terry's Corner', as he always seems to score a few fish here. We flicked SP's over the flats and were rewarded with a few nice trevally that always fight way above their size. Terry stayed with the treva's while I moved into the 'corner' proper.

First cast and the lure is hit while dropping but there is no hook-up. Next cast I give it two sharp flicks as soon as it hits the water, there's a boil and the drag starts singing. There's no real weight in this fish though and when he jumps I realise I'm connected to a small salmon. But not for very long though, as the next jump he throws the hooks back at me.

Terry has caught up by this stage and we see some bait skittering across the surface 50 meters away. We close in and fire off casts to the edges of them. I'm still using my 3" Gulp minnow in Lime Tiger and Terry is flicking an East Coast Popper. We zip them across the surface and have the lures hit 2 or 3 times buy a few fish but fail to hook up. The next cast it's hoots all around though as both our lines come tight to nice fish. The fight is decidedly different this time though and we call them for tailor. And two nice ones they are, too. But strangely enough, that was it. By the time we'd gone back, the baitfish had gone and so had the tailor.

So back to slow flicking of the SP's and we are rewarded with a few more trevally and a single bream for me. Oh, so that's what they look like, eh? I do a dance around him, chant a few 'Haya haya's', hold him up to the Gods, kiss him, and set him free hoping it'll bring me good luck for this coming saturday. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,

Cid