I turn right from the beach and proceeded to the jetty in Hen and Chicked Bay but the SP's I flicked into the shadows didn't even get a bump. No problem, I'll slowly make my way over to the mangroves (ah crap, I can already see half a dozen yaks over there) and pick up a few on blades on approach. Or so I thought but it was another zero.
Over on the other side, the others were all working the shallow water and I followed suit with a couple of shallow divers. I kept my eyes peeled and after ten minutes of MORE fruitless casting, I'd realised that none of the others were having any luck either. Time for a change of tactics, me thinks.
On with a Squidgy Lobby (Dusk) and I start heading out into deeper water, slowly increasing the
depth, hoping I'll eventually find the depth that the fish will be in. At 1.5m depth, I hook-up. Ooh, it's a bream. I think he'll go legal, too. This year, the tournament legal length has been changed from last years 25cm fork length to 26cm total length (or one cm more than the fisheries legal length, so it'll change from state to state). This guy goes on the ruler and NOOOOOOOOOOO! He's 25.8 cms, so he back into the drink. Just once I'd like to get a good start in one of these ABT/Hobie events and today looked like it may be a typical crappy start for me.I re-rigged and thought I'd stay in the 1.5m zone. A few minutes later the line jumps and I set the hook again. This feels better and yes, it's 27 cms so I'm on the board! Woo hoo! With the donut monkey off my back, I change to a Gulp Camo sandworm and blow me down, I hook another one. Another good tussle and this one stretches out to 29 cms total length. Two in the yak and I'm aware that I haven't seen anyone in the shallows land one yet. I'm hoping they haven't seen me and I quietly slip this fish in the well with his mate.
Back to the Lobby and it's not long before the rod bends and I'm thinking 'Please, please please
be a bream.' I'm peering into the water and there's a silver flash. Ooh, it's not a flatty! Good, good. Then another flash and it's not thin. So it's not a whiting either. Gooder, gooder. Only one more thing it may be... then up she comes and yes, it's not a trevally! Into the net and I grab the camera and take a photo. Not of the fish, but of my watch. It's only 8:17am and I already have my bag. Un-bloody-believable! This one is 28 cms, so no monsters but three in the well by this time is great.Nonchalantly whistling to myself while furtively looking around, I sneak this one into the well, too. Back to casting and looking for upgrades because those two smallest fish, although legal, are pretty thin. Try as I might though, the bite has finished and I move off to new pastures. I pass Paff on the way and he has two good fish in the well (a 29 and a 33 from what I recall) and while saying "Well done, fellow Hobie Team Member" with a big grin on my face I'm really cursing him until the cows come home. ; )
Into Exile Bay and I bump into Squidder (Squidgy GF winner). He only has a 26'er in the well. That's a big surprise for me and I leave him to his side of the bay and move to the other. I switch to blades and land a small flathead. There's little activity and I decide to give the shallows one more try even though the sun is high in the sky now and I figure the edges wouldv'e already been worked over by others before me.
I approach a section where there is a big Rubber Tree casting a shadow over the water and I shoot a Gulp 2"Shrimp (banana) towards it's edge. The line immediatly goes tight and the drag buzzes under the pull of a good fish. This thing wasn't stopping so just short of the shoreline I have to clamp down on the spool. I turn the fish and ease him out into the open but he's not finished yet. He runs again, but this time into the open so I let him have his head and follow him.
I back off the drag now as I don't want to risk loosing him in these final stages and I can see he's a good size. He keeps darting away from the net but the drag is faultless and eventually he's in the net and all mine. YES! That's what I needed. He's 35 to the tip and one more like this will see me up there amongst the leaders. I get him in the well and set the 27cm fish free. I just need one more to upgrade the 28cm one and I'll be happy. Well, I was happy now, but you know what I mean.
The wind was starting to pick up now and I move into France Bay and catch up with Scotty Lovig (the 2009 champ). He has two in the well and he hooks up but it's a massive whiting (phew, I say). Then my blade gets munched and the drag sings again but it's the twin brother of Scotty's whiting. Bugga! He had me going for a minute there.I leave and land a few more whiting and flatties but that was it for me on the breaming stakes so I head back for the weigh in. I pass Steve Fields and Greg Lewis (AOY for the last two years) and they both only have one. Hmmm, could it be that everyone has done it tough? I still haven't seen Stewart or Andrew yet and those bloody Mexicans (Scott, Matty, etc) are too good to write off. Then there is the central coast gang (Dave, Ronnie, Jason, etc) so although I feel I'm in with a chance, there's too many good breamers that I haven't seen to start counting my chickens yet. Plus there's the Woods brothers and Gary Cook and WayneR so I'll just keep my fingers crossed for now.
At the beach there's plenty of tales of woe but also a few success stories that have me wondering
about whether I'll make that podium and snare one of the GF qualification spots. Paff bagged out, as did Scotty and also Andrew. Stewart turned up right at cut-off time and shock, he only had one. I was guesstimating my bag to be about 1.4 to 1.5 kgs. Daniel Holder shot to the lead with a 1.445 kg bag which was quickly followed by Paff with a 1.435 kg bag. Only 10 grams in it and one of Paffs fish had a huge chunk (healled) missing out of it from a bite or net that if intact, would have put him in the lead. My turn next and I'm fearing that skinny fish will cost me. onto the scales and....1.390 kg! Ah, 45 grams short but at least I'm in third.And then it comes down to Andrews turn. As he lifts his fish out of the live well, I know that my
goose is cooked. He smashes us with a 1.815 kg bag and pushes me out of the qualifiers into fourth. Ooh, so close but there's more chances yet so I'll just have to get some bigger ones next time. Andrew also won the Squidgy round that was held on Sydney Harbour so we'll all be watching him the next time there is a comp on here. Here's a photo of the 'Rooster of Hen and Chicken Bay' surrounded by photographers. So well done to Andrew, Daniel and Paff for making it to the GF that will be held in Port Macquarie in October next year.So another successful tournament has been run and won and here is a photo (Courtesy of
ABT/Hobie) of the entire group that competed. So the next round is on the Tweed River this weekend. Full details can be found here: http://www.bream.com.au/abt/2010/Tweed10.pdf
and as per all of these events, you can rock up on the day and enter so if you suddnely wake up and decide to give it a go, do it. Good luck to all the competitors and I know the usual contingent of travelling fishos will be there and good on them for supporting this great series. Work keeps me stuck in Sydney but I'll be checking the web regularly and making the obligatory phone calls at about 3pm to see what the shaledown is. Happy yakkin, everyone!cheers,
Cid
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