Hobie Kayak Bream Series - St Georges Basin - 15th May 2016

The TT Lures Round 7 of the Hobie Bream Series was held on St Georges Basin on the weekend and this time it was launching from Basin View. I'd never fished this end of the Basin before but some valuable time spent studying the area on Google Earth helped me immensely with what I planned to do. I only hoped the other 56 anglers didn't have the same ideas as me!

My plan was to stick to the Swan Bay side of the Basin and first point of call was a plateau in the middle, which seemed to be the same plan as about a dozen other competitors. I picked my spot and first cast with a Bait Breath 2.4” SL Remix Bloodworm Chiby (rigged on a 1/8th TT Jig Head and 3lb Gosen Bass Reloaded FC) and it gets whacked and the drag sings. Happy days, that is until a nice snapper comes up. But it’s only about 10 minutes later when I get my first bream and it’s an 800g beauty!

A few minutes later I dropped one and then it went quiet so I moved out to the edge in about 6m and picked up bream no. 2 on an Ever Green Little Max blade. I kept heading south, working the deeper edges, hoping for the clouds to move in and also the wind. When they both finally did, I raced over to a weed bed flat I’d spotted on Google Earth.

Out goes the Chiby again (this time with a 1/40th HWS) and it gets smashed on the drop. This thing screamed off and buried me in the cockle weed. I manoeuvred the yak right above her and I tried for a few minutes but I just couldn’t get her out. I'd give her some slack line and she'd run off again. Eventually she does another run and this time she pinged me. Arrrggghhhhh!

By now I'd drifted a bit closer to the shore and I was in about 1.3-1.5m depth and I changed to a Bait Breath 3” SL Remix (colour 787) which is my favourite big fish soft plastic. I picked up two fish and the best goes 890 grams, so now I have close to 2.9kgs for my bag. But then the wind stops and so does the bite.


I drop back out to the deeper water and pick up another on the Little Max. Onto the scales it goes but it’s no upgrade. But hallelujah, the wind picks up again so I race back to the same spot as before and get another two fish. One weighs in at 760 grams (caught on a 3” SL Remix colour 784) which is a nice 170g upgrade that should see me just nudge over the 3kg mark.

Back on shore the bag went 3.06 kgs and I’m chuffed to say it was just enough to snare me my 2nd win of the year. Congrats to Mark Crompton on a very close second place and to Jim Barrie for taking out third and to Scott Carmody for that crackin' Boss Hog.

Thanks again to the major sponsors TT Lures and Hobie and Steve Fields and his crew for another superb event. And also to Chris Purnell and Tameika Purnell for the fantastic lunch. Bellisimo!

And to Stephen P Blackmore and Dane Tomaszewski from Gladiator Tackle, thanks for the continued support and the excellent products that are working so well. The photo above shows my winning lures for the day (including the chewed colour 787). I've gotta say that those Bait Breath SL Remixs are gold! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

ps I almost forgot to add that it is always a pleasure to take the 20 bucks of Matty at the end of the day. : P I'm sure it won't be long though until the roles are reversed and I'm handing over the cash to him. Well, I hope not.

St Georges Basin Lure Selection - 12th May 2016

For those that might be interested, here is the selection of lures I plan to use this Sunday at the Hobie St Georges Basin round. They are all distributed by Gladiator Tackle and I'm confident they'll land me a few bream. Hopefully at least three (or four if it's a four bag comp)!

 

The top three are Ever Green Tiny Predators (the black one is a home pimp effort). And the green one is the lure that landed me the Boss Hog at Mallacoota earlier this year. The next two lures are IMA Tetra Monos. Then there are my trusty Gladiator Shiver Vibes (with another home pimping) followed by the Ever Green Little Max blades.

The top two soft plastics are the Bait Breath 3" SL Remix and then the 2.4" Chiby. The bottom one is an Ever Green C-4 Shrimp.

Now, how will I use them and where and when? That info can wait until monday I think... : P

Good luck to all competing and see you on Sunday morning. Thanks to Stephen Blackmore and Dane Tomaszewski from Gladiator Tackle for helping out with all the gear. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Ps And yes I will be throwing the Bingos. I just didn't think I needed to tell anyone that!

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

Lane Cove River - 10-7-16

Luke Kay has been bugging me for ages to head over to the Lane Cove River for a session. 'Come on, it'll be fun', he said. 'You'll catch a kegger,' he said. And so with this tempting offer, we set off from Woodford Bay just after 6am. Not only were bream expected, I was also hoping for a jewfish or two as Luke has hooked a few around this area lately.

We slowly cruised down to the mouth of the river and headed around towards Manns Point. We found a nice little drop off with some nice arches showing on our sounders so we started flicking our lures out. I started with a Little Max blade and had a few bumps but no hook ups. Time for a change so on goes the Bait Breath 2.4" SL Remix Chiby rigged on a 1/8th jig head, 4lb Gosen Bass Reloaded FC and Gosen 9lb Mebarin PE. First cast and whack, I'm on.

There were a few good head shakes and I called it for a jewfish at first but when she came up I realised Luke had been good on his promise. A nice fat bluenose 1.09 kgs bream! Fantastic. And there in the background of the photo you'll see the ever elusive 'Lukellus Kayius'. : )

We picked up an assortment of fish: bream, tailor, flathead and flounder. The tide was just starting to turn and a bit more run might have brought the fish on the chew a bit more. Then to top the morning off just before we headed back, I come up tight on another good fish and this time it's a crackin' trevally. What a way to finish the session. Thanks for the invite Luke. And as Arnie said, 'Ill be back!' Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Back online! and Hobie Kayak Bream Series Round 11 - Lake Macquarie - 23rd-24th july 2016

Yes, I'm back! And there is sooooooo much to report. Where do I start? It's probably best if I start with the latest report, then jump back in time after that. So here goes...

Lake Macquarie... after last years Australian Championships that were held there, I was keen to redeem myself and do well. At least catch my bag anyway. On Friday afternoon I set off with Eric Wood for a pre-fish. We hit the flats and weed beds and managed a few fish each. Nothing amazing but it was enough for me to start formulating my plan. The Bait Breath SL Remix and Chiby were the stand out lures for me so they would be my starting lures for Saturday.

It was supposed to be a two day comp but the Wind Gods said 'I don't think so' and Jim Barrie and Tony from Hobie made the correct call to cancel the first day. And thank God they did as it was windy enough to blow a dog off its chain.

But that wasn't going to stop us from fishing. We hatched a plan and 18 of us set off for Dora Creek to keep out of the wind. 10 bucks each into the kitty and the total length of your best 3 bream would take the cash. Well the fishing sucked big time! I dropped one fish and was there when Eric landed a 25cm bream which I told him to keep as it might be the winner. As I headed back I worked a small drop-off only 20m from the ramp and blow me down, I hook up and it's a 33cm bream.

Well whattayaknow, that bream was the biggest and I'm leading. But wait, there is still 5 minutes to go and Kevo and Simon Morley are just coming back in. Kevo has nothing (that's good) but Noooooooo! Simon has 2 bream (that's bad): a 36 and a 32 so he ends up scooping the pool and taking the cash. Great fun though and at least we weren't sitting back at the resort doing SFA.

Saturday night we had time to talk tactics for the next day, so my roomies for the weekend, Geoff Alford and Eric Wood dissected the lake and the weather and came up with our cunning plans. Mine was going to depend on what the wind did. Enough of it and I'd hit the flats and weed beds. Not enough, I'd hit some plateaus and rocky points I'd marked. Whatever I decided, I planned to stick with it as in the Australian Championships here last year (where I donuted) I felt that I raced around a bit too much.

53 kayakers set off from the Power Pole start line into the very chilly conditions. The wind wasn't quite enough for what I wanted but I decided to gamble and head to the weed beds anyway, hoping the wind would pick up. Thankfully, it did. I started with the Bait Breath SL Remix and also the Bait Breath Chiby that worked so well two days ago. These were rigged on a 1/30th Nitro jighead connected to 3lb Gosen Bass Reloaded FC (straight through) on my Psyborg rod and reel outfit.

20 minutes without a bite and it was time for a change so I went for the ever reliable Smashbait 3" Minnow (colour 12 - the green one). Two casts later I get my first bream then it's about 35 minutes before I get number two which is a nice 630g fish. Jim Barrie was going past and took a few quick photos. Thanks Jim.

I continued to move towards Swansea but once there I figured there were too many anglers about and the water just didn't feel 'fishy' enough, so I turned tail and headed back to my original destination. This was a good choice as number three soon goes into the well and at 11:14am, number 4 and my full bag is completed. All on the Smashbaits, too.

I land another couple of legals (26cm to the tip of the tail) over the next few hours but they aren't upgrades so I return to the weigh in, hoping I'll scrape into the top 10. The tough conditions worked in my favour though as a lot of the other anglers (and some of the gun locals) had struggled and my bag of 2.18 kgs was enough to clinch me 4th place.

Congratulations to the podium getters, Nathan Cliff, Tony Pettie and Michael Halliday and also to Luke 'Sick as a Dog' Kay who ground it out and took home the Boss Hog with that 1.03kg beastie.
I'd like to thank Jim Barrie and Tony who worked like trojans to run the event for us this weekend. Hats off to you guys. And also a huge thanks to Chris Purnell from Totally Immersed Watersports and James Kilpatrick from Hunter Water Sports for helping me out with my sounder woes (you guys are legends).

As always, thanks to Stephen Blackmore and Dane Tomaszewski from Gladiator Tackle whose amazing products are keeping me up at the pointy end in the tournaments this year. Next month I journey to Forster and the final qualifying round for the World Championships. There is going to be probably 80 or more anglers for this one, so it's gonna be HUGE! I cant wait. For further details, visit this page at Hobie Fishing. Happy yakkin' everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Woolooware Bay - 5th September 2015

Finally! The sun rises a bit earlier, the water isn't as cold and the gin-clear waters have coloured up after the rain a couple of weeks ago. It was time to hit the racks and test out some new lures. Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle had sent me some of the new Ima Tetra lures in the new Aussie colours. These are really high quality lures and the finish is superb. They cast and swim well and come loaded with Owner hooks. 

I'd used the old colours before and have always done well with them but I think this time they've really hit the nail on the head with the designs and I'm sure a few big bream are going to try to take them home as souvenirs this summer. The top row are the Tetra's while the bottom row are the Tetra Mono's. The Mono's have a slightly deeper and wider profile and dive a bit further too. Perfect for when it's a bit blowy and you want to punch them into the wind.

The Tetras get down to about half a meter while the Monos will dive to a meter. This makes them ideal for the racks or the flats and over weedbeds. But today it was all about the racks. I was using the Gladiator Tackle Psyborg rod and reels with Gosen Mebarin 8lb PE. This is then attached to a 3 meter length of 12 lb fluorocarbon leader. Conditions were great even though the tide was almost at it's lowest. Not much run in the water but I was still hoping for some action.

I tried a few channel markers on the way out but there was no interest from any of them, so I continued into the racks. Two weeks ago when I came out I didn't even get a touch or see a fish. But today felt different and it didn't take me long to get on the board. Not a big bream at 27cm's tip but he'd be in the live well if this was a comp day. This guy pounced on a Tetra, colour no. 03.

Time to try another colour, so I tied an a Tetra Mono, colour no. 02. Matt Black is always one of my favourite lure colours in the racks and it was soon snaffled by a slightly bigger bream, this one going 31cm's tip. 

I was slow rolling the lures with pauses every couple of meters and it was during one of these pauses that the lure was belted! The rod loaded up and I felt a few angry head shakes transmit up the line. The drag was locked down and neither of us was giving an inch. I started to crank the reel handle and then he was gone. Aaargh. I still had my lure though and the hooks were still intact, so I guess I must have just lip-hooked him. That's rack fishing for you: you have to go hard or they'll dust you up good and proper. At least I kept my lure!  : P

Time for another colour change (a Tetra no. 05) and this one works too. This bream went 33cm's tip and really played up, darting from one rack over to the next and then trying to race back to where it came from. It wasn't quick enough though and after a quick photo, it went back to his little home.

So all up, I had a brilliant morning and I didn't have to share the racks with anyone else the whole time I was there. With the Hobie Georges River round in a few weeks time, it looks like the fishing will be pretty bloody awesome. This will be the last chance to qualify for the Australian Championships at Lake Macquarie in October, so get in quick and have a crack. And if you're after any of these Ima Tetra's, contact Adam at fishin.com.au. In fact, he'll have just about anything you could want, so just contact him! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Lowrance and Insight Genesis - create your own maps!

Fishing is always pretty quite in July and August for me with soccer finals for the kids and myself but I still try to sneak out for an hour or two when I get a chance. I've been managing to brave the cold a few mornings and I decided to utilise one of the excellent features of my Lowrance Elite 5 CHIRP sounder: Insight Genesis. The sounder allows me to record my sonar log to a micro SD card which I can later upload to Lowrance and create a personal map for use on my sounder on future trips. Once you know what to do it's pretty straight forward and if you follow the steps below, you'll have it mastered in no-time.

Plus there is also a competition being run by Lowrance for the next few months called the Insight Genesis Challenge and whoever uploads the most acreage of sonar logs each month wins a Lowrance HDS7 Gen2 Touch. That's an awesome prize in anyone's books, so jump on-board and have a go. Regarding the competition, here is a video of Lee Rayner explaining how to get involved and this link from the Insight Genesis website also has a video that quickly explains it. For the complete FAQ, go here.

So for those that don't want to watch the videos or read all the other stuff, here's my cheat sheet for how to record your sonar:

1. Get a micro SD card. I have an 8GB card and based on my first lot of recordings, that will hold over 80 hours of sonar logs (approx. file size for me was 90Mb per hour).
2. Insert the SD card in your sounder and select the sonar only screen from your 'Pages'. On the Elite 5, if you don't have the sonar page on your screen, you wont get the 'Log Sonar' option when you open up the menu. I know this as on my first attempt on the water I was going backwards and forwards through menus trying to find it without success until I selected the sonar only screen!
3. Hit the menu button, and select 'Log Sonar' then 'Start Logging'. A red dot will flash in the upper right corner of your sounder to show it is recording. Start fishing!
4. Every hour I stop logging and start a new log. That way, file sizes are kept smaller for uploading and if a file is corrupted, you only lose one hour and not the whole session.

And that's it! Simple, huh? The next part is to upload your files to the Lowrance cloud, it then does all the processing and eventually you'll have a map that you can download to your SD card and use on future trips. Another great thing about this tool is that you can merge trips and build up an accurate detailed map over time. The sonar recording is great to review later and below you can see a heap of fish right on the edges of the drop off below.

I started using this in Yowie Bay and below shows the maps and merged trips over a two week period. To get a really accurate map, you go back and forth over the area.

This will allow all the lumps and bumps to be recorded.

The next week I ventured down the other side of the bay and merged my two trips into one map.

If you like, you can also turn off the trail to show the contour map only.

 Here is a zoomed in section showing the detail that can be obtained. Brilliant stuff I reckon.

My next trip was into the upper section and then back down across some previously un-mapped water which I once again merged with my previous map. And each time I go out and merge trips, I'll end up with a more accurate map than the last time.

Oh, and although the fishing wasn't exactly brilliant, I did land a first from my kayak, and it was literally, a beauty.

So once you've finished mapping a section and completed your maps, you can download them and use them on your sounder. In fact, there are literally thousands of maps from around the world that you can download and use on your sounder. It's an awesome feature that can save so much time and effort if you are fishing in a new area. I know that every time I go out in the kayak now, I'll be logging my sonar for future reference. It's a no brainer. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

ps I filmed a quick 'How to...' for your sonar logging.

BLF Southern Bream Series - Sydney Harbour - 28th June 2015

41 kayakers were lined up to spread out from Hen and Chicken Bay with 7 hours (actually 6 hours 45 minutes) up their sleeves to attempt to catch at least 3 of Sydney's winter blue nosed bream. A couple of weeks ago there were numerous reports of great captures but things can change pretty quickly in the big city. To ward off the cold, the Sydney Latte Brigade downed a nice warm latte before the kick off...

I shot straight over to the boats from the launch site and started casting a Gladiator Shiver Vibe (SV4003) under the hulls. The water was a bit too still for my liking but it wasn't too long before I landed my first. 25.5cms though and he's agonizingly half a centimeter short of legal size for the comp. Back he goes and I continue on. I'm alternating between the vibe and the Bait Breat SL Remix soft plastic and it's the SL that gets me my first legal for the day, a 29 tip specimen that sees me throw the donut monkey off my back.

It's very quiet though and I decide to move down towards the main river. I start by working the front of the marina and land two undersize bream in successive casts and on the 3rd cast my lure gets whacked and screams off. My hopes are soon shattered when I feel the pulsations through my line and a cracker trevally eventually is landed and set free.

I make a move to some moored boats and Eric Wood is working the same area as me. I flick my vibe way up in between two boats and it gets nailed half way back to the yak. This feels really good and I stop his first run and gain some line. But then he decides he's not done yet and races hard for the next boat. I have no choice but to lock up the spinning spool and PING, I pop a knot. Bugga, that was a good fish.

On with another vibe (my last brown one) and I keep flicking between the boats. The wind is pushing my nose into the boats so I grab my short paddle to turn me back out when my rod bucks and I'm onto another good fish. Eric is yelling out behind me, "Oh, that's a good one, get him. That's it, he's out. NO! Stop him, yes, that's it. Ha ha, oh he's good! Get him, no!" And with that last shout, he does me on the rudder of the yacht. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's two bruisers within the space of a few minutes. Soon after Eric hooks up to a biggie as well and also gets done over. Shizer.

Tail between my legs, I head up river. I try everything in my arsenal and eventually manage another 29 tip bream but that's it for me. My two fish weigh 870g and lock me into 14th. Top honours went to good mate and top fisho Terry Grima who smashed us all with 2.5kgs (see, I said in the last report it'd take 2.5kgs to win it!). 2nd went to Matthew Hooper with 2kgs and 3rd went to Mr Consistent, Luke Kay with 1.64kgs. Well done lads.

So there's a bit of a break now with the next comp for me not scheduled until 9th August at St Georges Basin. This will be the last comp before the Grand Final and with a close points table, I'm sure there will be a few yakkers turning up to secure vital points to ensure they make it into the top 15. I better get my hands on a few more of those brown Shiver Vibes from Gladiator Tackle, me thinks. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Daiwa Hobie Fishing Bream Series - Forster, 16th-17th May 2015

Saturday and Sunday saw Round 7 of the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Bream Series train roll into good ol' Forster town. This is probably my favourite place to fish for these iconic fish. There was an excellent roll-up for this event and eventually 67 yakkers took off, all chasing Forsters big Bluenose Bream that mostly call the Oyster Racks their home.

Day one and I got my first fish on the 2nd cast and it fell to my go-to lure lately, the Gladiator Shiver Vibe in purple and black (SV4010). I'd tempted the fish out from a set of broken racks by slowly hopping the vibe parallel with the rails. By the time I'd put the fish in the well, turned back and got ready for cast number 3, there were two skin divers heading down the same row. Ah well, time to move on I guess.

I only had one of these purple and black vibes though and it was soon taken home by a big beastie . On goes my next favourite, a brown colour one (SV4003) and it's working a treat also and I get my bag by 8:20am. I had a blast today and landed about a dozen legals but I was only upgrading a centimeter at a time.

Right at the end of the day, I checked my watch and I had 40 minutes to get back to the launch site. I really needed a kicker fish though and in the last ten minutes the wind had picked up and the fish were starting to come on the chew. I decided to roll the dice and have one more run through the racks.

I was now casting a Gladiator Bingo, landing it as close to the racks as possible before rolling it back to me. My roll of the dice worked out for me as I landed a 37 fork length which bumped my bag up by about 400 grams. Time to high-tail it for home and 'SNAP'!, there goes my back fin cable. Shizer! I paddle (as well as pedal) and I make it back with 2 minutes to spare. That was close! My 3 bag weight is 1.91kgs and I'm sitting in 7th.

A huge thanks goes out to Chris Purnell from Totally Immersed Watersports who sorted me out with a new cable. You're a champion Chris!

Day two and I start off with the Shiver Vibe again but it's a bit slower today and it's not until 9:40am that I get my 3.  From then on it was simply a matter of working through the racks hoping I'd slowly upgrade every now and then. I eventually changed to a Gladiator Bingo which did the trick and the bream were wolfing it down. Even the Long Toms were getting into the act with them. In hindsight I probably should have made the switch a bit earlier.

Every now and then I'd throw out a SP, a Bait Breath SL Remix and this was pulling it's fair share of fish, too. As per usual, I was done over a few times and I landed more than yesterday (15 legals) but I just didn't get the bigguns. A bag of 1.57kgs saw my 2-day weight of 3.48kgs land me in 9th spot and I was stoked to crack the top 10 here with such a big field of talented anglers.

Congratulations to the podium getters: Joel Crosbie, Glenn Allen and Chris Burbidge and also to the Boss Hog winner, Jason Meech. And an additional HUGE congrats to Joel and Glenn for making it onto the Australian Team for the Hobie Worlds in China this November. Go get 'em boys!

Thanks again to Steve Fields and his team for running these awesome events, they simply are brilliant. And thanks for the continued support from Stephen Blackmore from GLADIATOR Fishing Tackle for the fantastic tackle and lures that keep on producing for me.

And last but not least, thanks Matt Petrie for the 20 bucks I won back off you after you took it off me at the Georges River round last year. : P

This weekend I'll be competing in the Sydney Harbour round for the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series which is also a Hobie Australian Championship Qualifier. It's still not too late to get your entries in, so jump in and have a go. The fishing has been great so there'll be some pretty good bags weighed in and I'm guessing it'll take a 2.5kg plus bag to win it (for the kayakers). Happy yakkin' everyone!

cheers,
Cid

BLF SBs Round 4 - Shoalhaven River - 19th April 2015

Well I haven't been down here for a few years and I've yet to get my full quota of three fish but I've always managed to pull a good size fish from this notoriously tricky waterway. I was guessing that most yakkers would turn right and head for the oyster racks, so I planned to do something different and head to the back of Nobles Island (or Mangrove Island).

From the start, EVERYBODY except Terry Grima and I headed right! 'Hmmm, do they know something we don't,' I thought. Anyway, fingers crossed I'd find a few fish amongst the racks and over the flats. 

I'll keep it short and say that I couldn't get a legal bream in there. Neither could Terry. Neither did I see any of the two boats in the same vicinity land anything either. I persevered for probably longer than I should have, but it's always a bit of a guessing game. Do I stick it out and hope that they come on the chew, or do I move off and try to find them? 

A few years back I remember fishing a tournament with Gary Brown in Brisbane Waters. We were working this big weed bed and about 100m away was Chris Cleaver. After two hours with only one just legal fish to show for it, we decided to move. Back at the weigh in, Chris weighed in a massive bag. 'Guess what? ' he said. 'About 10 minutes after you left, they went nuts and we bagged out within 15 minutes.' And that's sometimes the way it can go.

Eventually I decided to move into the main river and I set my sights on the drift just south of the punt. There were a few boats there and the tide was just starting to get a bit of pace to it on its way out. I grabbed my Psyborg Rod and Reel outfit with 8lb Gosen Mebarin and 4lb leader. This was finished off with a 1/6th jig head and a 3" Bait Breath SL Remix (colour 787), the lure that had fooled my big bream in the Georges River round earlier this year. All this gear is distributed by Gladiator Tackle and it has been working for me brilliantly since I've been using it.

The technique was to cast upriver while I faced into the current, slowly pulsing the Hobie Mirage Drive to keep me stationary. Then it was a matter of letting the lure hit the bottom and slowly lifting it and bumping it back towards me. The bottom was pretty snaggy here so I was expecting to lose some tackle (and I did, too).

I'd only been there about 5 minutes when I felt a bump on the line. 'Fish?', I wondered. I wound in the slack, lifted the rod and it bucked in my hands as a solid weight took off. This was good and there were a few angry head shakes transmitted up the line. Bugga, it may be a Jewfish and I peered into the depths trying to get a glimpse of it. There were a few more stubborn runs and I was worried it might take me over some boulders and bust me off. Eventually I started to get some line and I sucked in some air over gritted teeth when I saw it emerge from the depths.

Into the net she goes and a passing boat yells out 'Bloody Hell, I hope we can get one like that?' What a beauty! A quick measure and into the live well and back out to try and get it's twin. But, that was the only legal I could get. Eventually the tide was too fast for me to sit in the current with out exhausting myself and it was time to head back anyway. Only one fish, but at least it was a good one.

She went 1.28 kgs and 38 fork. This girl was enough to push me up into 4th and also snare me the Big Bream prize again. This SL Remix is worth its weight in gold! The winner (again!) was Luke Kay (1.65 kgs), 2nd was Glenn Allen (1.440 kgs) and 3rd went to Jon Chen (1.43 kgs). Well done boys on a pretty tough waterway.

Next event for me is the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Bream Series at Forster on the 16th-17th May. This is also a World Qualifier and the top 2 places secure a position on the Hobie Australian Team that will be competing at Shang Lake, China from the 9th-16th November 2015. For further details, visit the Hobie Worlds website. Until the next report, happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

BLF SBS Round 3 - Clyde River, Batemans Bay - 22nd March 2015

Two weekends ago I was able to fish a new location: The Clyde River at Batemans Bay for round 3 of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series. This was a special event as it was an affiliated ABT Hobie event and was also the NSW State Titles. With 4 spots up for grabs for the Hobie Daiwa Grand Final at the end of the year, everyone knew it would be a hotly contested round. This was my first crack at a Hobie round this year so to grab one of the GF qualifying spots would be extra sweet. Just after 7am, 30 kayaks set off to find the elusive Clyde River bream.

I didn't have to travel far to my first set of racks and only a few racks away from me was good mate Terry Grima. Only a few minutes into it and Terry is on but the hooks pulled on a very good fish just as he was about to net it. Man, that had to hurt.

I'd been trying a few surface lures without much interest so I switched to the HB lure that worked so well for me in round 1: a GLADIATOR Fishing Tackle Shiver Vibe. I didn't have any of my favourite purple and black colour, so I tied on colour SV4003 (Brown). After a few tentative bumps, I finally hooked up solid and fish number 1 came to the net. 32 fork, so not a bad start.

I had the lure rigged on 8lb fluoro and 8lb Gosen Mebarin Pe. I was casting them as close to the racks as possible, letting them settle for a few seconds before I gently lifted them a foot or so before letting them drop back down. That brown Shiver Vibe didn't last long as I was absolutely smoked by a beast that I just couldn't get up and coming towards me. In fact, this guy started to pull me and the kayak towards him and eventually he did me on one of the posts supporting the racks.

On goes another Shiver Vibe and it's not long before I get destroyed by another brute. Terry has also lost two fish so there are a few big ones about. I tie on another colour (SV4012) and I eventually get number 2 in the well. Over the next 30 minutes I'm busted up twice more and land a few undersize bream before the bite shuts down.

I decided to move upriver, hoping to find fish in a variety of places (mangrove edges, weed beds, submerged rocky boulders) but I just can't land a legal bream. Time ticks on and I decide I'm going back to my original racks to have another quick try to get number 3. I'm eagerly casting away when Eric Wood drifts past and he has his 3. "Well done," I say as he heads off. "Ya mongrel,' I mutter as he gets out of earshot... : P

It's 1:16pm, only 29 minutes to go when my last Shiver Vibe gets whacked and I lay into the fish and get him in quick smart. As he skips across the surface he must be thinking 'What the hell is going on here?' Phew, that's my 3. I'm guessing I've got about 1.4kgs, so I'm hopeful for a top 10 placing.

Back at the weigh-in there's lots of tales of woe and misery and I'm surprised to take out 3rd place with 1.39kgs, just pipping the in-form Simon Morley by 10 grams. Eric took out 2nd place with 1.59kgs (congrats Eric) and the number 1 spot was taken out by Luke Kay with 1.69kgs. Luke is blitzing it, with three 1sts and two 2nds in his last 5 tournaments, pretty amazing stuff and well deserved, too.

We were all stoked to grab those qualifying spots for the Hobie Daiwa GF and we're all keen as mustard to get to the next round on the Shoalhaven next month. Thanks to Ian Phillips and his team for putting on another great event and thanks to all the sponsors for making these tournaments what they are. Thanks also to Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle for his support and the great gear that's helping me get the results.

The next round is down on the Shoalhaven River. This place can bit a bit tricky, but she's been pretty good to me a few times before, so hopefully I can find a fish or two. Ideally, I'd like to find at least three, but I'll start with one.

On a different note, after 6 years, Adam and I are winding up the Kayak Fishing Sydney website. It's served it's purpose well and has allowed us to sell quite a few DVD's and introduce a lot of new people to the world of kayak fishing.We had fun making it and bringing it to fruition and who knows, maybe one day we'll do another one. Thanks for coming on this adventure Adam, we made a pretty good team.

I'll still be doing this Blog however, so you'll still be able to pick up many fishing tips through the reports. In fact, there are over 200 reports on the blog now, so there is heaps and heaps of information on different species and locations that'll help you get into a few fish. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

BLF SBS Round 2 - St Georges Basin - 28th Feb-1st Mar 2015

25 Kayaks and 53 boats at this round of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series. Conditions were good for Saturday but a little more wind would ruffle up the water a bit and hopefully get the fish on the chew over the flats and shallow weed beds. My plan of attack was to head out to the cockle beds in Erowal Bay. I'd had a little pre-fish there and picked up a 36 fork bluenose that engulfed one of the Bait Breath SL Remix soft plastics, so I was hoping to emulate that effort on comp day.

On the way I had a few quick throws with a Gladiator Kozami surface lure but the water was way to still for my liking, so I ventured the 700 meters to my first way point. Checking the sounder, I could easily see the cockle weed and fingers crossed, the bream would be here too.

I was fishing a 3" SL Remix (colour 787), this time rigged on a 1/40th HWS jig head with 4lb Fluoro attached to Gosen Mebarin 8lb PE. I gotta tell you, this Gosen is unreal stuff. It's super thin and casts a mile and is amazingly strong for its size. Being able to get those extra few meters each cast really makes a difference I think, especially over the flats.

After 45 minutes, all I had to my name was one 50cm flattie and two small bream. Hmmmm, what to do? I decided to mix it up and I rigged up with a 1/20 jig head. Maybe the fish were feeding more off the bottom. This did the trick for me and within half an hour I had two fish in the well. Not beasts, but good enough for a start.

I bumped into Gary Brown and David Tosland (in a dirty filthy stink boat) and they still didn't have one in the well yet. They moved off to try different waters while I decided to give it another 30 minutes. This turned out to be a good decision as five minutes later I landed number 3 for the day. Well that's my bag but it's nothing special. I need a kicker. A few people today will get fish near a kilo and to be in with a chance, you have to have on in your well, too.

I eventually moved into deeper water to see if the fish were there in bigger numbers. I land a few small snapper and eventually I get a mighty wallop and the rod buckles over. There's some good weight here but it doesn't feel breamy. As I peer into the depths, a big flattie planes into view. Luckily I see Gary and David again, so I call them over and they scoop her up for me in their large net (Note to self: I've got to get myself a bigger net.)

I'd called her for 70cms when I saw her in the water but now she looked a little bigger, so I called out to Gary, 'What is she? 72?"
"No way," he says. "She's 71!" Well I was close. A few quick photos (thanks Gary) and she slides back down into the depths until next time.

By now the wind had picked up a bit so I moved over to the shallow weed beds and again switched to a lightly weighted SL Remix. I picked up another 3 legal bream but none were upgrades. These fish had obviously been living among the weed for a while as they were all a coppery-gold colour. Close to me Simon Morley was hooked up to something that was giving him the run around. I asked what it was? "Don't know," says Simon, "it's silver though!" Jason Reid and I are both spectating when he finally brings it aboard and it's a big trevally. "Oh, bummer!" we say sarcastically and return to our fishing. : )

My measly bag weighed in at 1.26kgs and saw me sitting in 12th place, 840gms behind Brian Hunt in 1st place. See, I told you I needed a kicker fish!

Day 2 dawned the same as Saturday but there is a predicted southerly so the organisers have called an early finish. The kayakers have to be back at 11:45am so we'll have 2 hours less fishing time. Ok, time to get my finger out and get a big fish or two.

Well, unfortunately no-one told the fish about my plan and by 9 am all I'd brought aboard was one small tarwhine. Ok, think Carl, think... Right, the last few days it's been blowing a North-Northeasterly. "Fish the wind blown banks," they say (who 'they' are I don't know) and if that's the case, I'd better get a move on so I can fish the southern side of the bay directly across from the launch site. It takes me 45 minutes to get there and I want to give myself at least an hour to make it back with plenty of time, so I have 1 hour to catch my bag.

There's a few boats in the area so I'm hoping I've made the right decision. First drift I get one in the well. 2nd drift I get another. Then BAM and my drag screams. Please, please, oh please be a bream but there's a few violent head rattles and I'm thinking it may be a snapper. Sure enough it is and I land my first legal snapper from the Basin. It was fun but not what I'm really after so I set off for another drift and it's not too long before I get number 3. Yes, what a turn around! From nothing to a bag in 45 minutes. I land another two legals but again they aren't upgrades and I have to head back for the weigh-in. Bummer, no kickers again and I know I'm out of the running for a podium placing.

There are a few slight gusts of a southerly as I head back and by the time I make shore, it's up to about 15 knots. Excellent timing I reckon and within 10 minutes, it's blowing about 30 knots! Good call Basin Lure and Fly, glad to see that angler safety always comes first. Kudos to you all for calling it early.

My bag came in at 1.6kgs (two day bag of 2.86kgs) and it was enough to bump me up to 7th place. Any time you make a top 10 is good and I was quite pleased with my efforts but without those kicker fish, it's very hard to get into the top spots. See, I told you I needed a kicker fish!

Top place went to good mate Stewart Dunn who smashed us on day 2 and ended up with a weight of 2.32kgs (2 day bag of 3.97kgs). 2nd went to Scott Marcinkowski (3.9kgs) and 3rd went to ever consistent Simon Morley (3.67kgs). Simon also took out the big bream prize with a beast of 1.32kgs. So again, another title comes back to live in the Shire! Yay Stewy.

Round number 3 is going to be held on the Clyde River, a place I've never fished before, so I'm really looking forward to it. Apparently there's lots of oyster racks in this system, so I reckon my Gladiator Bingos and Shiver Vibes are gonna get a work out. Thanks again to Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle for his continued support and for bringing in the great lures that keep catching me bream (and flathead and snapper and jewfish and whiting, etc, etc). Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid