ABT/Hobie Kayak Grand Final at Forster- 15th-16th May 2010

Day 1

Here we were! Forty nine finalists and at 7am we are off in the Hobie supplied PA's. First off I feel like I'm sitting in a lounge chair, the seats are that good. Last year I went up the Breckenridge Channel but this year I'd decided to do something different and fish the Tuncurry side of the system. Yesterday in the pre-fish I'd managed a few ok fish (the biggest at 29 cm's) and had a couple of spots in my plan and figured it may be quieter (on the competitors front) over that side.

Slowly the field dispersed and I soon found myself at spot number one. On with a Gulp 2" shrimp to work the edge of a channel that branched off the main river. Yesterday I pulled a 26 cm fork from here but today all I could manage was a 23 cm forker. Not good enough. I moved off and started to fish some racks out of the wind. Nothing here either, so I'm off to some weedbeds where yesterday I landed the 29 cm guy.

Zippo here too, except for a mass of Long Toms (they were all over the place). One of the bigger ones I got (see the photo) was after me big time once I landed him. These are the only fish (not including sharks) I've landed that WILL TRY TO BITE YOU. Vicious prehistoric things they are, but amazing looking. And their acrobatics over the water is quite fun, especially on light gear, but not when you're in a tournament chasing bream. If fishing a surface lure, you'll normally know when a Long Tom is after it as you'll see their long beak-like mouths coming out of the water trying to eat it.

Eventually I get a legal bream but he's bang on 25 cms. It's 10 am and I'm struggling a bit, so I move off and find a set of racks I hadn't fished before. Here I find Dave (Just Crusin) who's feeling a bit crook and says he may head back if he doesn't improve. He has two in the well, so he gonna keep plugging away. He moves off and I start fishing the edges of the racks with an 80mm Squidgy Wriggler in bloodworm. First cast and whump, I'm on. I skull-drag him in and this one is 26 cms. That's two!

I continue on and five minutes later I get another that is 25 cms and 2mms! Whew! That's my bag but I really want to upgrade that smallest one. Sometimes they can shrink in the live wells (they must tense up or something) and I'll be nervous until he's outta there. There are another set of racks nearby and thank the lord, I pull one more out, and he's 26 cms too, so I can put the smallest one back in the drink. Time to head back and although I have a bag, it's nowhere near big enough to be near the top and with 1.210 kgs I'm sitting in 23rd place.

Day 2

The wind has dropped a bit this morning but is expected to pick up again soon, so we're in for another breezy day. I venture up to the Tuncurry side again and land three bream quickly, but the biggest is only 24 cms fork. Shizer! No more bites from this area, so I move up to the racks where I got my bream yesterday. Today there is nothing about and by the time it's 10 am, I'm starting to twitch nervously.

Another move to some racks that looked good yesterday and where Dave had done pretty well. He was fishing not far off so I left him to his set of racks and started a drift over my own. I'd swapped to a HB and was using an Atomic Crank (green) shallow diver. The idea was to put in long casts over the top of the racks that had 30-40cms water over them and slowly roll it back, hoping to entice the bream that should be feeding on the oysters.

The PA was perfect for this as I could easily stand and scope the area. First cast and I twitch the lure a few times to hopefully draw a lurking breams attention and then I slowly crank it back to me. From out of nowhere, a shape races in and grabs the lure. I'm just as quick to react though, and I'm on the board with a 28 cm fish. Yahoo!

That's the donut monkey off my back and what a relief! Back to the same technique and half a dozen casts later I have a massive swirl behind the lure that had me cursing it had missed. I fire the lure back to the same spot and quickly a bow wave appears behind it. The lure is tapped but there's no hook up. "Come on," I pray. I twitch the lure once, twice and the water erupts and the rod loads up.

Ooh, this is what I need. I wind quickly trying to keep the breams head up and he slices sideways towards the next rack. I angle my rod to get him out and dip the tip in the water to keep the line clear of the rails. Out he comes and he zips back to his original rack. I swing the rod back to the other side and finally get his head up. The wind has pushed the yak right over another set of racks and I quickly grab the net and scoop him up before he can dive again. Oh, what a buzz! He's 36 to the fork and that's a nice kicker fish. Trembling, I get the hooks out and put him in the well. One more like that will see me in with a chance of making the top 5, I reckon.

A few casts later and I get another hit but it fails to stay on. I've reached the end of the racks so I move back to the start and begin the drift again. The wind has picked up a bit and I'm drifting across the racks rather than along them, so basically I'm getting one, maybe two casts on each rack. The little Atomic is swimming enticingly just below the surface when it's smashed again and it's another cracker.

This fish dives immediately and I feel the braid rub against the racks. Into the water goes the rod again and I'm waiting for the line to break but amazingly I get the fish out. I wind furiously to keep it coming towards me and as it comes in I can see it's a similar size to my 36'er. The wind has swung me about and I'm fighting facing backwards and just as I almost clear the fish from the racks, it dives and ping, he's gone! Nooooooooooooooooooooo.......

Oh, so close. That hurt. He would've pushed my bag way over 2 kgs which is what I need to have any chance of getting near the top. And even worse, that was my last Atomic! There's no time to cry about it though, so I tie on a Lucky Craft NW Pencil and go for a 'Walk-the-Dog' presentation. I'm still getting a few follows and it's not too long before I get another 28 fork to join his mates.

The bite continues and I land a couple of 26'ers before it shuts down. Time to change to the SP's and the wriggler comes out again. Twice I get busted up by some bruisers and before I know it, I have to head back. Man, that was an amazing session in the racks. This close quarters combat really gets the adrenaline flowing and I was chuffed to get all my fish from here today.

Dave also managed some good fish and a few times I heard him and Steve Fields from Hobie
swearing and cursing lost fish. Thems the racks , for ya!

Back at the weigh-in I was hoping for a top 10 finish. If I'd landed that other biggun, I'd be hoping for a top 5, but I'd need for the guys above me to miss out on their bag limit, which is pretty rare for these top anglers.

My bag weighed in at 1.83 kgs, which was the fourth heaviest bag for the day and at one stage I was in 2nd! LOL. The top 5 were weighing in last and I knew that they all managed three fish each, so I didn't hold out any hope for being up with them.

It was quite a spectacle with all the anglers in their tournament shirts and a big crowd watching the bags being presented to Simon from ABT. My bet had been placed on Stewie taking it out, but he couldn't get any kickers and he eventually came in at a very respectable 5th place (3.58 kg), with Dave (3.57 kg) just being edged out into 6th by 10 grams.

Top honours went to a very deserving Daniel Brown with a 4.62 kg bag. Runner up went to Andrew Krushka with 4.22 kg, 3rd was taken by Jordan Trusty with 3.78 kg and 4th was the ever consistent, nearly always in the top 10, Greg Lewis (AOY as well) with 3.61 kg.

As these guys weighed in and kept bumping me down, I was still hoping for 10th place until Adrian Ryan knocked me off by 110 grams. So I have to settle for 11th with 3.04 kg but I'm pleased with having jumped 12 places up the board.

Well done to Adrian though and all up it was an amazing weekend. The prizes on offer were fantastic, and everyone received something from lure packs to shirts, hats, line and PFD's plus the top 6 guys all took home a Daiwa Steez Reel and matched rod with a combined value of $1300! Oh, was I jealous! Don't forget the cash payouts of course and Dan also took home the Hobie Pro Angler he fished out of.

Absolutely brilliant so a big thank you has to go out to all the sponsors. Hobie, as without them, this series wouldn't have even eventuated. And how great was it to rock up to Forster, from all corners of Australia and to have a top of the range PA ready to go for you.

Then ABT who run the show so professionaly, followed by the major supporters of the comp: Daiwa Fishing Australia , Pure Fishing – Berkley, JML – Ecogear, Frogleys Offshore – Atomic Lures & Hogs Breath Cafe.

So let's sign off the tournament year for ABT/Hobie with a shot of the top 10 anglers. Any of them could have taken it out and I'm sure they'll all feature prominently in next years series as well. Thanks to all the guys who shared tips with me throughout the year and a big thanks go out to all the dealers that make us all welcome when we visit their neck of the woods.

Next year will be bigger and better still and I can't wait. It won't be long until the calendar is released and I'll be locking down some of the events immediately. especially in Victoria where some massive bags were brought in. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

ps If you buy the latest copy of Sport Fishing Australia incorporating Yak Fisher, you'll be able to read an article of mine with tips on gear and techniques for these Kayak Bream Tournaments. Read it and jump in to next years events. They're a hoot!