BLF SBS Round 2 - Georges River - 9-3-14

After the success of the first round, I was keen for round 2 that was on my home 'turf' so to speak: the Georges River. 27 yakkers today and I was up against two other locals that know this place like the back of their hands - Stewart Dunn and Andrew Death.

My plan was to basically fish the racks most of the day with a quick session fishing boat hulls while heading back to the weigh in. I headed straight to a set of racks that I'd found some fish on a week ago and I was accompanied some of the way with Craig '450' and Andrew who is the sole member of Team Doofus!

Gladiator Bingos are my go-to lure in the racks and this was attached to 8lb fluoro which was connected to 9lb Gosen braid. Things were quiet to start with but eventually I get one into the yak. He's just legal at 26.5 cms but at least it's a start.

I move among the old rails and put a long cast along some posts. Half way through my retrieve the rod loads up and there are some head shakes but little else. I'm thinking that this is gonna be a monster bream that's just shaking his head before all hell breaks loose so I quickly lean back on the rod and crank the reel like crazy.

The nest thing this big spikey football floats up and it's my first spikey puffer fish on a lure. He's absolutely mangled my Bingo and it was amazing that the thing held together for me to land him. I unhooked him and set him free to de-puff himself and swim off.

I changed the lure for another Bingo. I was getting a few just under-size so I knew they were around here somewhere, I just had to keep casting. The next fish I landed was pretty good at 30 fork and a few minutes after that I was smoked by a big brute that pinged me on one of the numerous posts jutting out of the water.

On goes another Bingo and two casts later I get another roasting and that's two big fish I've lost! Aaarrgh. The next guy is just legal for the comp (26 tip) so I really want to upgrade him. Luckily he didn't have to swim about in my live well too long and he's replaced with a 27 fork length specimen.

I stay in the racks and land another few legal bream but none of them are upgrades. The fish eventually went off the bite so I started to head back towards the weigh in and figured I try some SP's under some boat hulls on the way. The only problem is that most of them have probably been worked over by other anglers, but it's still worth a try. As it turned out, it wasn't, but oh well, that's fishing for you.

Back on shore I definitely didn't think I had anywhere enough weight for my three fish to challenge for a podium spot, in fact I'd be lucky to crack the top 10. Sure enough, Stewart and Andrew have done really well and they clinch the number 1 and 2 spots. Third was taken out by Glenn Ross, a fellow Gladiator team member who had ditched the boat for the day and decided to fish out of a kayak.  The winning weights were 2.045 kgs, 1.92 kgs and 1.815 kgs. I ended up in 7th with 1.325 kgs, so all up I was pretty happy with my final result.

The next event for me is the ABT Hobie round up at Forster on the 5th-6th April. This year we are launching into Pipers Bay instead of from the marina, so this area is completely new to me. Should be lots of fun and hopefully they'll still be taking lures off the surface. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

BLF Southern Bream Series - Round 1 - St Georges Basin - 8th-9th Feb 2014

Basin Lure and Fly have again picked up this great series and the first tournament of the year saw me standing on the shores of St George's Basin. Those that know me also know it's been a bit of a nemesis for me but lately I've been working her out and I was hoping for a better result this time. I lined up ready for the start along with 24 other keen yakkers and just after 7am we spread out to our various destinations.

I headed off to the weed beds around in Erowal Bay near the boat ramp and tried surface lures for about 10 minutes but without even a swirl I decided on a new tactic. I rigged up a Bait Breath SL Remix on a worm hook tied to 3lb Fluoro straight through. 

Using the slowly increasing wind, I'd punch out long casts and count to 3, figuring my SP would be just above the weeds. I'd retrieve with a slight lift and wind, pausing to let the lure flutter down again. This did the trick and within 20 minutes I had two 26 forkers in my well.

I persevered for another 30 minutes and dropped two fish before the bite slowed so I took off to the Cockle Beds. There were lots of boats around so I was hoping there'd be fish too. 

I started with a Gladiator Blade Runner and after two drifts I only had 4 Flathead come aboard. Starting another drift I went back to the SL remix (now rigged on a 1/12th jig head) and 2nd cast I pinned a 30 fork. Great, that's my bag and I still had time for upgrades. But it wasn't to be and after day one I stood in 7th place with 1.19 kgs, only 610 grams behind leader Simon Morley who had 1.8 kgs for 2 fish. If I could get a kicker tomorrow, I'd be back in the hunt. 

Day 2: The wind was expected to be even worse and true to form it was. I tried the weed beds again and couldn't even get a touch. Back out to the Cockle Beds and I hook up first cast. Only a flounder though and I proceed to move about and try various depths to try to find the fish. I find them alright but they're flathead, snapper, whiting...everything but bream. 

It was 10:45am and the wind was getting worse. I decided to try the deeper water out the front of the start area and I could see another yakker and a boat working the same area. The boater was Gary Brown and I could see them hooked up as I deployed my drift chute. 'That's a promising sign', I thought and I grab my Blade Runner again and started casting.

My first drift I dropped 3 fish. Aaarrggh! Come on! Back again I go and not long into it I get smacked. This thing screams off and I thought it has to be a snapper. I have to give chase and the wind and waves aren't doing me any favours either. Eventually she comes up and my eyes pop. She's a cracker and we circle each other while I try to get her into the net. Finally I get her in and what a relief that is. I didn't measure her but she looks about a 38 forker so I'm over the moon. 

Back to fishing and 15 minutes later I get a 33 fork and 20 minutes after that (and two more dropped fish) I get a 35 fork. Wow, what a turn around. Within one hour I have my bag and it's a good one, too. I land another 3 fish but none of them are better than these so I head back in wondering how all the others have gone. 

Back on the beach I'm hearing some tales and it seems the yakkers in front of me on day one haven't done as well as I have, except for Andrew Death who also has a cracking fish that may be bigger than mine. 

It was great to walk up to the weigh in with a heavy bag and with 2.82 kgs I managed to leapfrog to the number one spot with a total weight of 4.01 kgs. Yee hah! You bloody ripper. 

Andrew took out 2nd place and also big bream with his 1.35 kg beast (mine went 1.17 kg) and Simon came in 3rd. Simon was only able to fish until 10am on Saturday so if he'd have fished all day it may have been a different story. 

So my winning lures are of course all from Gladiator Tackle. Day one all my bream fell to the Bait Breath SL Remix while on day 2, they all were caught on a Blade Runner, slightly modified with keeper hooks on the back. The rods I use are Psyborgs and they're bloody brilliant!

I'd like to thank Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator for supporting me and also the Basin Lure and Fly Club for running these excellent events. And if you're after any of the Gladiator Tackle, contact Adam Costa from www.fishin.com.au. He'll look after you. Thanks for reading and see you all at the next round. Happy yakkin', everyone! 

Cheers, 

Cid

Summer Bassing - December 2013

Terry finally convinced me to drag my weary bones out of bed at 3:30am one morning to go tangle with these Bronzed Battlers. We headed out to a stretch of the Nepean River at spot 'X' and as I was launching Terry hooked up to his first bass of the day. "That's a good start," I thought and the 'Anticipation Meter' went up a couple of notches. There were numerous Fruit Bats skimming close to the water and when one of them crapped on me for luck, I knew I was in for a good day.

We slowly cut through the swirling mists, heading further downstream and away from the launch area which is obviously hit fairly hard from other anglers. A couple of km's later we started casting. I was using one of Gladiator Tackles most successful surface lures, a Kozami 60 and had two rigged up, one in colour #10 and one in colour #14.

First colour out was #10 (black top/orange belly) and it started getting hits from the first cast. First there was a tiny 15cm 'bassette' but this was quickly followed by a 35cm beastie that screamed out and away from the snags which I thought was very generous of it as they normally try to dust you up in the closest snag possible. A couple of quick photos and he's back into the water and off to his lair.

Terry was about 50 meters behind me working the opposite bank and I heard him cry out in despair as he lost a big girl.' Ha ha, sucka,' I thought just as my lure landed next to a semi-submerged log. The surface erupted in a huge spray of water and the Psyborg rod bucked in my hand as this fish surged back to it's home. The drag was locked up but that doesn't stop the fish from dragging me and the kayak in it's direction. Just when I thought I had it under control, the rod kicked back and I knew I'd been done over in a grand fashion. Bugga! That was a really good fish. I guess you win some and you lose some.

I picked up the other rod and started casting with the Kozami 60 in colour #14 (translucent olive green with dark stripes). Thankfully the fish were liking this colour too and a succession of bass between 22cms and 32cms joined me yakside.

The Kozami 60 is easily worked on the surface and I was fishing it in a slow walk-the-dog fashion, working it for a few feet before pausing it for 5 seconds or so. The lure was tied to a meter of 10lb Gosen leader which was attached to 9lb Gosen Braid.

Casting right under the shade of an overhanging tree, there was a small boil just behind my lure. I paused then gave it two subtle twitches. BOOFO! and I'm on again. This is another good fish but this time I stay connected and extract her from her lair. She's a nice chunky bass of 36cms and another worthy victim of the Kozami 60.

Not to be outdone, Terry also hooks up but his is a tiddler compared to mine. But what he's lacking in size he's making up for in numbers. In fact we're both having a cracking day and have both landed over 8 bass each by now.

We continued moving downstream but the bite slowly tapered off. Every now and then I get a half-hearted swipe at my lure but there was a definite difference in their bite pattern. Ok, time for a change to try and rile them up again. I figured maybe they wanted something smaller and changed to one of my old favourite lures, a Mick Munns hand-made Fizzzer style lure.

And it was just what the doctor ordered. The downsizing of the lure was exactly what they were after and Terry and I were back into them again. I pulled another 35cm bass out from an undercut in the bank and this was quickly followed by a 34cm model about 10 meters further downstream.

By now the cicadas were in full song and the fish we were pulling in were disgorging chewed up Black Princes left right and center. As we traveled along this absolutely beautiful stretch of the river, we'd keep an eye out for surface smashes and swirls ahead of us. If we saw one, we'd quickly fire a cast off in that direction. You were usually guaranteed a big hit if you landed the lure in the right place and there were many hoots and hollers as we racked up our bass tally which was well over a dozen quality fish each and hand-fulls of tiddlers.

I unfortunately had to leave them biting but Terry couldn't drag himself away, so he continued on downstream without me and managed another half a dozen or so. In fact the fishing was so good, Terry went back the next day for a repeat performance and again cleaned up, this time fishing cicada pattern lures.

With prime fishing like this so close to Sydney, it's a wonder that we didn't see anybody else out and about. I'm hoping that it's not too long before I get back to tangle with these feisty fish. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid