ABT/Hobie Forster Tournament - 13th-14th March 2010

So this report has taken a couple of weeks but better late than never, I suppose. Forster was the location for this years State Titles and reports from guys that had pre-fished were pretty promising. One of the guys landed a 1.47 kg horse on the friday, so fingers crossed for action like that over the weekend.

The weather was pretty gnarly and pouring rain saw us all huddled under the tent during the briefing. Luckily, by launch time it had finished and by 6:20am we were on our way.

I had contemplated moving over towards the Tuncurry side but chose to fish the waters that I knew from last year and headed straight to a set of flats which had been fairly productive. On the way, I stopped for a quick flick at a few moored boats while the other guys continued on.

'No way,' I think. First cast and I'm on. This feels like a good fish and I'm stoked...UNTIL it turns into a 50cm flathead! Bugga. Onto the next boat and I'm on again. This time it's silver AND a bream but on the measure it only goes 24.5 cm fork. Shizer! Next boat and hello Mr Pike! Crapola... Off to the flats for me.

I'm using one of Mick Munns surface lures and land a few smaller guys until I finally get a good take. This is better and he goes 28 cms fork but he's a skinny fish. Still, it's one on the board. I get a few more under size ones until my surface lure is monstered by a big (70 cm+) flattie who decides she wants to keep it as a souvenir. Swine...

Now I head into the racks where I got most of my fish last year and I'm quickly rewarded with about half a dozen undersize fish but no legals (how is that rewarded???). I now target some weedbeds but don't even get a touch but I do get absolutely soaked by some torrential rain which cooled me down a bit.

I move about trying to find some fish and eventually find an old rack with abgout a foot of water under it. I skip in a Gulp 2" shrimp and it's pounced on. 24 cm fork. Come on! Another cast and I'm on again. This ones number two for the well with a 26cm forker. One more to go and I'll have a full bag. Next cast I'm on again but it's the first guy again with 24 cms fork. Three fish in three casts is pretty good though.

I have an hour left to fish and decided on some risky tactics to get some fish. I'm moving up along the old posts and railings and putting in long casts with my shrimps, landing them on the exposed sand. The problem is, the fish only have to move two feet either way to find line shredding barnacles and oysters, so I'll have to be on my toes to get them up and out of the danger zone.

The first stretch I fish I get absolutely smoked by a big fish that didn't pull drag but pulled the kayak a good 10 feet before busting me up. A few casts later it happens again. The third fish I hook I crank up and get him 6 feet from the yak before he dives and shreds me on the rail. I lose two more before having to head for home with a two fish bag. Not good enough I'm afraid and I only manage 800 grams which leaves me in 14th place. The good news though is Stewie smacked 'em good and proper and is in the lead. Tomorrow is another day though and I'll hit some flats further upstream in hopes of finding some big fish.

I'll keep day 2 short and sweet because the upshot is I didn't land a legal bream all day. I did hook a nice one off the surface first thing in the morning but I pulled the hooks which saw me cursing a missed chance. And that was it for me. Nothing over the flats, nothing in the racks, nothing over the weedbeds.

Back at the weigh in, Stewie was already at the bump tubs and he had a massive bag and an absolute corker that went 39 cms fork and weighed in at 1.19 kgs. Stewie ended up the well deserved winner and the State Champion with a two day bag of 4.09 kgs, beating his closest rival by over a kilo. Sensational stuff and about bloody time he took one out, too. : )

So unfortunately, that's it for me for the ABT for the year. I couldn't get down to Marlo last weekend (where the fishing was simply superb from all reports) and Camden Haven is out as it's my sons 6th birthday that weekend. It's a bummer missing out on the GF which will be back in Forster in May but I'm hoping all who made it have a great time and get onto some massive bluenoses. Stewart has to be one of the favourites now and I'm sure he'll put in another sterling effort. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Squidgy Southern series - Rnd 3 - Port Hacking - 7-3-10

17 kayaks and 62 boats lined up for this round and we were all away fairly quickly just after 7 am. The boats would obviously get to any spots before us yakkers and the kayak field split, half going upstream and half back out towards Gymea bay. I shoot into Mansion Bay but only landed a few small guys until getting to a small rockwall where I got my first for the day. Bang on 25cm fork and I was hoping he wouldn't be in the live well too long. Down towards south west arm and there are a few boats and a couple of kayaks. I move down into Gymea bay and there are a couple of more boats working the pontoons I had in mind.

'Bugger this', I thought, 'I'm off to Yowie Bay.' I made a beeline and passed another 3 boats and two more yaks. My god, there everywhere! Thankfully, when I rounded the corner into Yowie, there wasn't anyone else in sight. I was flicking about a squidgy 100mm wriggler (bloodworm) and the first pontoon I hook up and land a 26 fork. Great, that's two. Onto the next pontoon and what? I'm on again. Woohoo! Another 26 fork and that's my limit. Now for upgrades.

I check my watch and it's 8:45 am. My wriggler is a bit beat up, so I change to a Gulp 2" shrimp (banana). I get a few more tentative touches until I skip the lure up into the shadows under a jetty. Slowly I see the line move sideways so I lift and set the hook. This definitely feels better and some quick rod work gets him away from the pontoon and pylons and ouit into the open. As calmly as I can, I take my time and ease the net under him. YES!!! That's what I want.

A quick measure and he's about 34 fork and a good kicker fish. The 25 fork goes back into the water and I'm feeling pretty confident now. I just want to get those two 26 fork lengths out and I'll be chuffed. It's now 9:05 am.

The wind is starting to pick up and I stick in close to the shore. Another skipped cast and I'm on again. Unbelievable! This one is 26.5 cms so another upgrade. Funny this fishing game. I remember back to Redcliffe in Qld where I could even raise a bream scale over two days fishing and here I am upgrading within 2.5 hours of the start. It just goes to show that luck can play a big part and being in the right place at the right time makes all the difference.

Uh oh! There is a boat coming towards me working the pontoons and another one about 50 meters behind him. One more pontoon will do me. The line shoots off again and blow me down, I get another one that's 26.5 cms. Not huge but they're in excellent condition so the weight will be good. I figure I've got about 1.6 kgs in the well which may be enough if this wind keeps up.

I decide to make my way down towards the flats near the Ballast Heap and on the way the wind really kicks in. All I pick up down there is a few Pike and after a fruitless hour or so, I head back towards Yowie and Gymea Bay. I battle the chop and the Jet Skis and the Wakeboarders and decide that any decent bream will have scarpered off from all this racket. I slowly make my way back to the weigh in and get back right at 2 pm.

There is the usual banter amongst us all and I quickly find out that Stewie is the only other yakker with a full bag. Three good fish but no kicker, so I'm in with a chance. He weighs in first and goes 1.51 kgs. I'm next and my big fish (775 grams) stretches the weight out to 1.66 kgs. You beauty. I just made it again and ended up with the winners cheque of $330 which will pay for next weekends journey up to Forster for the ABT/Hobie State Championships.

I traced out the path I took on Google earth and worked out that I travelled 17.8 kms for the day. No wonder I was knackered! The yellow dots are where I picked up my six legal fish.

Once again it was another fantastically run comp and well done to the organisers for making it such a fun day for everyone. Stewie has qualified for the Grand Final now which is great and I'll have to pick his brains about St Georges Basin where it'll be held. I don't think he'll be to helpful though. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Deadmans - Alive and Kicking

I haven't spent a lot of time in the Yak recently, a couple of bass trips and some land based, but nothing in the salt in the kayak.

I'd been doing a lot of work around the house lately and finally this weekend there was almost nothing left to do. I spent some time with my son and then after lunch today my lovely wife said "Why don't you go for a fish". I offered the young bloke a go, but he refused and I was off to fish my local creek on my own.

I've fished Deadmans before, but had only ever landed 1 or 2 legal fish, today was to be different, armed with some advice on lure choice by my good mate Carl, I headed down the creek, drifting with the wind and tide and casting to likely snags and under the bankside vegetation. It wasn't long before I was on and a lovely specimen around 38cm rose to the side but I managed to bump it off when trying to untangle the net and land the fish at the same time. "Fordy, what are you doing" I cried.

I started casting again and soon had 2 nice 26cm bream in the Yak, I was cheering, "Ciddy is supposed to be the bream champ not me" I thought as my line went tight again, this time it was a nice flathead at 44cm. It went on like this for the next hour and 45 mins until I was blown off the water.

So the final tally was: 11 fish, 9 bream and 2 flathead. 1 bream on fly, 1 flathead on fly, 1 flathead on 100mm squidgy wriggler in blood worm, 5 bream on 100mm squidgy wriggler in blood worm and 3 bream on Squidgy pro lobby 75mmm Dusk colour.

And I've realised that I need a can holder somewhere on my Yak, have you ever tried landing a flathead with a full coke can squeezed between your legs. Not much fun, especially when it spills.

Cheers,

Fordy

Breamin' - Squidgy Rnd 3 pre-fish

This coming sunday is the 3rd round of the Squidgy Southern Bream Series which will be held on Port Hacking, so I needed some practice. First off, Lachlan and I set off to the Georges River (yeah, I know, it's not the Hacking) and trolled a couple of HB's for one just legal fish and three undersize ones.

Before heading back in, we scooted over to some boats and flicked out a SP. Boy, was I glad we did! This fish grabbed it on the drop and bolted. Lots of drag singing before we could control him and when it came up, Lachlan says "It's a monster, Dad!" and he wasn't far off, either.

This bruiser went 43 cms total length and was easily over a kilo. The fish even makes Lachlan look small! Of course, this guy went back into the water after the photo and Lachlan now knows that the big ones deserve another run and he quickly sets them on their way.

Earlier this week, Gary and I did hit the Port Hacking in his tinnie and we had a brilliant day. The bream were out in force and I hope they are there for this weekend, too. We moved around a lot to get our fish though and they fell for a range of HB's and SP's, with neither one standing out from the crowd.

As a bonus, on one retrieve, Gary noticed some squid in pursuit. We quickly rigged up some squid jigs and proceeded to pull eight of these super tasty cephallopods into the boat. Oh man, I can't wait for the salt and pepper squid later on. The colours on these things are amazing. Check out the electric blue dashed lines on the guy in the photo above.

So all up, Gary and I landed a dozen comp legal (25cm fork) bream, with the biggest being 36cm fork. Our five bag weighed in at 3.6 kgs, which we'd be happy with in any competition. Plus we both dropped some big fish, and I'm confident if we hadn't chased the squid for an hour that we would've eclipsed the 4 kg mark.

I'm sure there'll be some cracker bags brought back this weekend and hopefully, one of them will be mine. I guess there'll be about fifty boats and maybe twenty kayaks or more, so if you can make it to the weigh-in at 2 pm at Swallow Rock Reserve, Greys Point, you'll see some excellent fish.

And lets hope a yakker gets the Big Bream award, too. : )

Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid