Hobie Kayak Bream Series - Port Macquarie - 26th June 2016

Sunday 26th June 2016 saw me competing in Round 9 of the Hobie Kayak Bream Series sponsored by Berkley at Port Macquarie. Luke Kay and I drove up on Saturday night (thanks for driving Luke) and we were keen to hit the water the next morning.

I'd only fished here once before so it's still pretty unknown to me but I had a plan and I hoped it would work. 56 keen anglers set off at 7am and I scoot over to my first spot towards the breakwall and I start off with an Ever Green Little Max blade. I had a few tentative bumps before finally landing my first one after about 20 minutes. Not big at 27 tip but that's the donut monkey off my back (see ya sucka!).

I persevered for another 10 minutes then changed to a Bait Breath 2.4" SL Remix Chiby in Bloodworm on a 1/8th jig head. This brought me bream no. 2 and it was time to head up to Big Bay.

I bumped into Dave Hedge up there and we were both praying for a bit of a breeze to blow up. I could see a few kayakers already fishing the floating racks so I decided to stick to the barges with the old oyster trays on them. This turned out to be a good idea and over the next few hours I landed about a dozen legal fish, slowly upgrading by 20 or 30 grams every now and then. I was still using the Chiby but this time it was rigged on a 1/16th jig head and 4lb Gosen Bass Reloaded FC.

It was lots of fun but where were the big ones? Simon Morley drifted past and he had a similar story to me. Lots of fish but no kickers. It was too still in Big Bay now (no wind or tidal flow) and I needed to find some current. It was almost time to head back so I raced up to the entrance of Lime Burners. The current was still flowing here so I had time for a few quick casts.

We've all had that experience when you go to hop your lure and you feel a solid clunk and you know it's a good fish. I set the hooks and this thing raced back under the barge. I pushed my rod down into the water almost up to the reel to stop the line from rubbing on the bottom of the barge. I felt the line brush on something but it held and I turned the fish back out. A few quick winds of the handle and the fish lunges back again to repeat what happened the first time and again I stop it. Just as I was thinking 'yes, I've gotcha,' it does another run and this time the leader pings. Noooooooooo!

Ah well, everyone loses a biggie or two during tournaments but that would've been a nice upgrade. Next time fishy, next time...

Eventual winner for today was Steve Crawley, with 2nd and 3rd going to Jason Reid and Andrew Death. Congrats boys on some great bags.

My personal contest was to beat Luke but he got me with his four fish weighing 2.29kgs, easily beating my bag of 2.05kgs. My goal was to crack the top 20 and I succeeded (just) by getting 20th. But at least I smashed Simon and Dave! : P

Thanks Stephen Blackmore and Dane Tomaszewski from Gladiator Tackle for their continued support and thanks to Steve Fields, Jim Barrie and Hobie Australasia for running another superb event. The final thanks and a big shout out goes to James Kilpatrick for the fantastic BBQ and snack packs. Legend! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid