Gamakatsu Hobie Fishing Series (GHFS) - St Georges Basin - 3/3/13

Conditions were great, there were over 40 kayaks and I was primed and ready to go. jason Reid and I quickly reached our 'go to spot' which has served us so well the last few tournaments down here. The fish haven't been huge but we've always managed our bag.

Jason likes fishing surface and I usually throw a lightly weighted SP or a shallow diving HB but this time I thought I'd follow Jasons 'Modus Operandi' and I started tossing about a translucent orange Gladiator Kozami 60. It was only a few minutes before I had a hit and the hooks stuck. It's silver and yes, it's a bream, but it's only 20 cms so back it goes. But at least that's a promising start. More casts ensue but there are no more follows, so I change to the green Chubby that worked last week in Woolooware.

To cut a long 6 hour story short, I got nuthin'!!! I didn't land another bream, not even an under size one. I got flathead, whiting and a few leatherjackets (one of which was a beauty) but when it came to bream, no way Jose.

I scoured the flats and weed beds changing lures every few minutes hoping to find something that would work for me. I moved out to the cockle beds and tried blades, vibes and SP's.

The wind picked up and I moved back onto the flats. Jason was still there and had been having just as much luck as me. We gave it another hour or so and decided to move out to deep water and see if we could pin a few with blades.

We caught up with Stewie that was having a blinder. Jason and I were true gentlemen and immediately pushed our way onto his drift. I don't even a bump, Jason lands two snapper and Stewart upgrades twice. We hate him and curse him and tell him to get stuffed and leave him to have his photo taken as he lands a 1 kilo bream for the Hobie photographers. Ooh, if only I had a sniper rifle with me...

And thus it ends and I quickly pack up and eat one of the Paddle Pedal Sail BBQ'd snags that are again a major highlight of the day. So thanks again to David O'Toole. In the wash up, Stewart smashed it and finished up with a fantastic bag that went 2.72 kgs. 2nd was Lachlan Gubb with 2.28 kgs and 3rd went to Steven Cefai with 2.17 kgs. Andrew Death had great delight in telling me he smashed me with his one fish of 310 grams. Another swine.

But of course, the Basin always provides at least one beast of a fish and this time it excelled itself with a 2.17 kg bream that one of the boaters that picked it up of the flats WHERE I HAD BEEN FISHING MOST OF THE DAY! Gaaarrrggghhh, if only.

So well done to Stewart, who really is a quality angler who knows his stuff. thankfully he has to work this weekend so he wont be at the Narrabeen round that is a double header (saturday and sunday). Remember, you can just roll up on the morning if you want to compete and the weather is looking absolutely perfect. For full details, visit: www.hobiefishing.com.au. Hopefully we'll get 40 plus yakkers again and I think there are a few 'Mexicans' coming up to try and take the trophy off the current holder, Jason Meech. But we're not gonna let 'em have it. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid