What a turn out! 64 of the top kayak anglers (well, not all of them, but a good percentage) on the Eastern Seaboard had turned out to fish famous Forster and it's infamous Oyster Racks. No other location creates as many stories of 'the one that got away' and today would be no different. When a kilo plus bream takes your lure only a few inches away from a line-shredding oyster rack, its a battle of brute strength and speed to see who wins.
With this large number of yakkers, it means that often your go-to spot may well be already taken or that you'll have to share it with a few others but this is all part of the fun and games. The bonus though is that there are now 6 qualifying spots up for grabs for the Grand Final at the end of the year at the mecca of bream fishing - Marlo!
I'm the 14th off at the start and I'm heading to the same spots I went to last year. Andrew Death was following the same tactic and we started off in exactly the same set of racks. This weekend it's a 4 fish bag limit for each day, so if you can get your bag both days, it' should see you up near the top of the leader board. Andrew was busted up on the 3rd cast and I landed my first bream a few minutes later but he was only 25.5 cms. So close (has to be 26cms tip minimum) but it was good to see that the Hip Baby 40 was working.
The tide was really pushing out still, so we decided to move on further up river. Anglers to the left of us, anglers to the right and bugger, there's someone in my next planned spot. Nothing to do but continue on another couple of hundred meters and pull into a section with no racks but plenty of old rails with growth all over them.
Out goes the Hip Baby again and it's not long before the first fish of the day goes into the well. He's only 28 to the tip but he's well and truly legal. Another guy fishing a couple of rails over from me is dusted over 3 times and ooh, he's not happy. They can be vicious these bream. And expensive, too!
I continue making my way to my next set of old racks. These are loaded with oysters and are in about a meter of water. The technique here for HB's is to run the lure down the length of the racks, directly on top of them. The lure will bump into them every now and then and this can really get the breams attention. I've swapped over to one of the Gladiator Mutants and this lure accounts for bream number 2. Shortly after I get another one but he's only 24 cms so back he goes.
I'm starting a new row of racks and I think it's time I give the Bait Breath Rockin Crab a go. The way to fish racks is to move up and down in between them (see arrows on photo to the right), casting as close as you can to the edges as generally the fish are sheltering or hunting food that is hiding in the shadows or among the oysters. Once I get to the end I move over a row or two and start again. Keep doing this until you've worked the whole section then move off to another set of racks once completed.
I've rigged the Rockin Crab on a 1/20th HWS jig-head tied to 10lb leader and 14lb braid. I put out a nice long cast but instead of landing right next to the rack where it should go, it lands right in the middle between the racks. As I wind in the slack line I notice that the line is moving sideways. I quickly wind in and set the hook and oh boy, this is what we came here for.
The rods bucks violently in my hand and I furiously wind as quickly as I can. The fish quickly comes to the surface and I see it's a good fish. A really good fish, possibly a kilo or more. He dives towards the racks but the drag is cranked right down and there is no give. I throw the rod to the right to angle him away and he shakes his head in fury as I pull him away from cover. I'm still winding fast to stop him from getting his head down. He's coming with me but he makes a final lunge and NOOOOOO! Ping! He just brushes against the edge of the racks and he's gone. Schweppes!
And that is typical for most anglers at Forster. Every now and then you win one, but a lot of times you don't. Nothing to do but re-rig and go again. Two casts later, replay the last two paragraphs and another big fish gets away. Oh man, it's so frustrating but also so exciting and it's what makes us come back year after year.
By the time I'd set up again, the bite had dropped off so I had to mooch around to other areas. It was very quiet every where I went so I took a gamble to travel a bit and go to my secret spot. Well, it's not completely secret but I haven't seen many anglers in the area over the years so I was hoping it'd be untouched. And yes, there's no-one about so it's fingers crossed for a couple of fish to add to the live well.
By now I'd rigged up with another soft plastic, a Bait Breath 2.5" Fishtail Shad loaded onto a 1/40th HWS jig-head. To cut the story short, the racks came up trumps for me and I landed two fish out of them and pulled the hooks on another fairly good fish. That was my full bag and man, was I pleased. I did manage to land another legal fish later on but it wasn't an upgrade, so he didn't get a ride back to the weigh-in with me. His good luck I guess.
As expected there were many tales of big fish that gained their freedom but the top angler for the day was Craig Coughlan that had a crackin' fish of 1.04kgs and a total bag of 2.74kgs. My bag went 1.74kgs and anchored me in 11th spot. That's ok with me as I'm still within striking range of the top 10 and also one of those coveted qualifying spots for the GF. If I can just get my full bag tomorrow, I'll have a good shot. Stay tuned for the day 2 report tomorrow. Happy yakkin', everyone!
cheers,
Cid
Some of the bigger bream are really chunky, so I expect to see some good bags weighed in. My best from last week went just over 34 fork but he had massive shoulders and a big gut on him and would've come close to 900 grams. A few of these in my well would be a welcome addition, that's for sure. Of course, this guy went back so I'm hoping he'll recognise me and know that he'll only have a short ride before eventually being set free. Fingers crossed, eh?
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