Botany Bay - 12/2/12 and the next SSBS/Hobie Tournament

No chance of getting out for me but Tezza hit the bay last weekend hoping to get stuck into the schools of surface fish - Bonito, Tailor and Salmon - that have been doing the rounds. He moved about a bit and had a couple of hits but the fish just weren't busting up.

He decided to change tactics and threw on a Mick Munns Lexan blade (the cool ones with the silicon legs) in the hopes of picking up some bream and trevally. Poor bugga didn't have any luck with those fish but he did manage some ok by-catch. FOUR JEWFISH!

Bloody hell, I'd love to get some by-catch like that. None of them were huge but on the light gear

that Terry uses, they are pretty good results. A simple lift and drop technique is what tempted these guys and I reckon Terry will be hitting this spot for more action over the next few weeks. I think I'll have to follow him just to see where it is! Well done, Tezza and thanks for the photos and not rubbing it in too much.

This weekend sees the next round of the Squidgy Southern Bream Series kick off at St. Georges Basin. This is a two day event and for us lucky yakkers, it's also a qualifier for the World Championships that will be held in the US of A later this year. The top two spots qualify, so I'm expecting that this drawcard, as well as the excellent payouts from these comps will see a field of over 50 yakkers competing at this beautiful fishing location.

The weather is looking good too, so I'm hoping to finally get my full bag at this spot. This is yet to be acheived by me so I reckon I'm well and truly overdue! For all the details, please visit http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/ or http://www.ssbs.basinlureandfly.org.au/. See you all down there. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Hobie Squidgy Southern Bream - Georges River - 29/1/12

Wow! 41 kayaks turned up for this years round, that's 15 more than last year. Great to see some good numbers turning up for these events. Hopefully it'll just get biggger and better each year. The conditions were great at kick off and with the 86 boats on hand, the beach was a crowded spot.

Most of the yaks set off into Woolooware Bay but 4 of us headed out towards Towra Point. This area consistently holds some big fish and I was hoping for a similar fish or two as I landed last week. But, on arrival at Towra Point, 'SNAP' and there goes my idler cable. Not a big problem though as it's mainly for keeping the turbo fins in time, but I still decided to go fairly easy on it for the rest of the day. Pretty good lifetime really, as it's 3 years old and gets plenty of workouts.

Andrew cut in towards the shallows while I remained out in the 1.8 to 2.5 meter zone. I started with HB's but soon changed to a HWS jighead with a Squidgy 100mm Bloodworm Wriggler attached. First a small flattie and then nothing for the next hour. I moved around further towards Quibray Bay and at 9:33am I landed my first bream (29 fork) that absolutely wolfed the plastic down. That's the donut monkey off my back and I decided to keep drifting the weedbeds for the morning.

The wind was howling now, probably 20 to 25 knots and conditions were considerably lumpy. I changed to a Gulp 3" Grub in camo colour (on a HWS again) and this resulted in number 2 for the well but slightly smaller this time at 28 cms fork length. I bumped into Andrew who hadn't even encountered a small one yet. Good for me, bad for him. A few of the boats I'd spoken to were doing it tough also.

The wind just wouldn't ease up and at about 11:45am I decided to start slowly heading back towards the weigh-in. As I rounded Towra Point, I decided to let the wind push me along this potentially nice drift along the shore. The ledge dropped from a meter into 2 meters and as the tide was running out, I was hoping a bream or two might be lurking there waiting for a feed. I'd changed lures again; this time it was an Atomic 2" paddle tail in translucent pink, rigged on a 1/32nd jighead, just to help it get down that little bit quicker and tied to 3lb fluoro straight through.

First cast I let is sink and give it two hops when it's hit like a freight train. This thing races off and does a wide arc around me, heading back out into Botany Bay. With 3lb silly string (and a light drag), I have to give chase and I take my time, giving a return thumbs up to two boats that are cruising around the corner and who saw me hook up. As it comes up, I can see it's a good fish (not a kilo though) and I'm wrapped to get him in the net. 35 fork length and probably 650 to 700 grams, so that's a good full bag for me. I'm guessing I have about 1.5 kgs which should get me top 10 but I douvbt it'd be enough to make the podium.

No more joy for me over the next two hours apart from one more undersize bream and at the weigh-in it's many a tale of woe but there are also some good bags thrown in, too. My main goal is to qualify for the Grand Final and with 4 spots up for grabs, I may be in with a chance. My 3 fish pull the scales down to 1.59 kg and I'm sitting in 5th place. But Luke Kay has already qualified, so I'm holding on, but only just. but then Jonathan Chen steps up and Aaarrrghh, he weighs in 1.64 kgs, bumping me out of contention. Well done to him though and it's a case of Deja Vu' for me as I came 6th here last year, too!

The winner was Ian Seeto with 1.935 kgs and 2nd was shire local Jason Reid with 1.91 kgs. 3rd was taken out by the ever consistent Jason Meech with 1.73 kgs. Overall I racked up just over 13 kms and the photo shows the path I took and where I landed my three fish.

The next comp is on the 18th & 19th February, down at St Georges Basin. This is a location that turns on some great fishing, but unfortunately, not for me. I'm due to have a good round down there though and this would be a good one to take out as it's also a qualifying round for the Hobie World Series (http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/). we should get 50+ yaks there for this one, depending on the weather but either way, it'll be a hoot of a weekend. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid