Oyster Bay with Danielle - 6th May 2012

Earlier this month Lachlan was staying at a friends place for the night so I took the opportunity to smuggle Danielle onto the kayak seeing as it's been awhile since she's been out with me. She was so excited, the night before she was saying, 'Early to bed, Daddy. We're going fishing in the morning!'.

And thankfully it wasn't too cold either. We had the ramp to ourselves and conditions were excellent. We started trolling a Chubby and a Babyvib while we watched the mullet jumping sporadically around the bay. Last time she managed a good flathead, so our goal today was to catch her her first bream.

Things were surprisingly quiet and we even had a short stint at flicking a surface lure under overhanging trees. I was hoping for a big surface smash but alas, no luck there. Finally though, the rod bucked and with a 'Ooh' and wide eyes, she was on!

This wasn't a big fish but she loved it just the same. I repeated the words I'd mentioned to Lachlan when he was learning. "Rod up, a little more, no, not that much, point it towards the fish, keep winding. Well done, that's it...'. And yes, it was a bream. Not legal but who cares when you're just out having fun. We had a quick photo and she dropped the little guy back into the water for another time.

We continued around the bay, eating a few chocolate biscuits, talking about fish and ballet and let's not tell Lachlan and 'Ooh, are there sharks in here? What about crocodiles?' Our laughter was interrupted by the singing of the drag as a better fish raced off with the Chubby.

Lots of funny faces were pulled as Danielle struggled to wind this 'huge' fish in. I saw the silver flash and this bream was soon in the net, too. Yay! This one was legal (about 27 tip length) but we weren't out for a feed today, so this guy won his freedom, too.

The time literally flew by and before we knew it we had to head back in. There was still time for another first for Danielle though, and although the drag didn't sing or the rod bend too much, she landed her first tailor. 'See ya fishy!' we yelled as he shot off into the depths and we continued back to the ramp.

Another fantastic day and I love being able to share these experiences and teach my children a wonderful pastime that hopefully they'll treasure as much as I do. Our time is all too brief on this planet so you've gotta squeeze every last drop out of it while you can. These memories will last a lifetime for me and I'm pretty sure Lachlan and Danielle will cherish these times too. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Botany Bay in April

Phone calls made, locations discussed and a launch site decided. We're off to Towra! Larry, Andrew, Stewart and myself met at the western end of Silver Beach at Kurnell and launched from the boat ramp. Conditions were great but the swell created a nasty shore break that would be tricky coming back in.

Neither of us had been here for over a month, so it'd be interesting to see if a few kings were over the flats, or maybe even a school of bonito, but with me in tow, it was unlikely any bonito would show up within coo-ee. We were pretty confident there'd be a few big bream about as the tides were good for some action over the weed beds.

I started off with some surface lures and soon switched to un-weighted SP's. Not even a touch. I slow rolled a Chubby mid-diver and couldn't even raise a pike. The other boys had moved out into deeper water (2.5-3.5 meters) and on approach I could see Andrew hooked up. In comes a trevally and over his shoulder I can see Stewart hooked up, too. His is also a trevally and it's not too long before we all get involved.

I rig up with an Atomic 3" paddle tail (flecked motor oil with a chartreuse tail) on a 1/24th jighead and get monstered on the first cast. That happens sometimes with 2lb leader. On goes anotrher one and this time I keep it under control and bring in my first treva of the day. As I slip mine into the live well, I can see Larry is on for his first, too.

The next hour saw us all land fish, with multiple hook ups a common thing. Andrew was the standout today though and landed over a dozen cracking fish. Stewart did see one king but couldn't tempt him and Larry was the only one that could get a bream into the kayak. Still, when the trevally are on, it's a great session. I left the fish still biting and the boys went back the next day and although not as many fish were caught, the size was noticably bigger.

A week later, Stewart and I gave the HWO a try. It's been very lack-lustre at this spot lately and we weren't that confident of getting much there, in fact it was really the Drums in the middle of the Bay we were going to have a crack at for kings. Still it's always worth a throw and the first casts with our Waxwings saw us both hook up. Woohooo! The tailor are here and they were a good size, too. At between 45-50 cms, they had a bit of grunt and we probably landed a dozen each before we decided to continue out to the Drums. Of course, we lost a good deal more as they jumped and threw our hooks and the main reason we moved on was because a bigger specimen had taken my waxwing as a souvenier. It's hard to leave when they're biting like this, but we had bigger fish to fry, so to speak!

But as our luck would have it, as we neared the Drums, the tugs moved in with a tanker and that was our chance gone. 'Back to see if the tailor are still there?' said Stewart. Why not?

Fifty meters away Stewarts sounder lights up and he reckons they're bream, so he stops to drop a blade down. I continue and have now rigged up an old blue/silver metal slug that's been laying in my tackle box for years. Out she goes into the middle of the churning water. A few cranks of the handle and it's hit. "The tailor are still here,' I yell back to Stewie and then all of a sudden, things change. The spool starts singing and I quickly realise that this isn't a tailor!

It makes a 50 meter run towards the beach and I think 'Thank God it didn't head towards the oil jetty.' But this fish can read my mind and on cue, takes a left and races off again. I'm chasing it now and there is considerable weight on the other end of my line. I'm only using 10lb leader and can't put too much pressure on it. More tug of war between us and then another 30 meter run before I stop it again.

Now we're only 20 meters from the jetty and I decided to try the gently-gently approach. Sometimes with Kings, if you just keep gentle pressure on them, you can guide them with you. I start to move away and 'YES', it's following me. And it did for 5 meters before it decides that enough is enough and it does a screaming run to the jetty and ping!, it's all over. Ooh, that was a big fish, easily the biggest king I've hooked (my best to date is 89cms). In fact, I don't think he was even that troubled by me. If only I'd hooked him on the heavier gear. Ah well, that's fishin'.

From there we headed into the shallows and picked a a few bream and trevally on a range of HB's and SP's. I landed one good bream of 38cms on a Saku lure and after a quick photo, back he went. The next report I put up will be on the Squidgy Shoalhaven round that was on the other week. You know that weekend, it was the one when the southerly blew all sunday while we were out trying to fish the racks. LOL Happy fishin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Breamin' with Tezza - 25/4/2012

As promised, here is the report from Terry. I'll follow this one up with a report on the couple of times I mad it out onto Botany Bay with Stewart, Andrew and Larry when we struck gold with the trevally and Tailor.

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done some serious bream spinning, so I organised with a mate to hit the Parramatta River on Good Friday in our yaks.

We met up in the car park at 5:30am, discussing our plan of attack on where to hit some spots. We slid the yaks into the water, as the tide was still rising to a 1.7mtr, we both started off with surface lures, hoping for some surface action, trying to tempt a bream or two to take our offerings. For me there was no interest, while my mate Jeff had a little interest, but they were only small fish, so I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

We moved on. Jeff fished with plastics, & I fished the rock walls with hard-bodies. We did this for ½ hour, still for no hits or bumps. I had two rods rigged with divers & each one was getting worked for nuthin’!

2 hours on the water and we still had zippo. I suggested we move to the main part of the river, as by this time the tide had turned around and still not too many stink boats were about. Off we headed to a particular spot I knew and we worked the rocky point that has plenty of barnacles over the rocks.  I was hoping that the bream would be there feeding and not long after arrival, my lure was smashed as the tip of the rod loaded towards the water. It felt solid as it headed for cover, but with a bit of rod work I steered him into the net and what a relief that was.

 Jeff was yet to catch his first bream, though he was getting some cracking whiting on his Atomic Hardz. Some fish were measuring 45cm which he was very amazed with, but luckily I was there to show Jeff what we were really after as whiting wasn’t our target species.

We kept at it, getting a few bream just under the legal limit, which kept us interested. Slowly we moved along the rock wall casting our lures.  Soon I was on again, for fish number 2; the signs were now looking good for us to get a bag of 5 in the well and possibly an upgrade or two.

 The next cast I led another chunky solid fish into the net. At this time of year the bream feed up ready for winter & some of these fish were of high quality.

The blood was pumping and I had a great feeling about this spot, that I would get my bag within a few casts and sure enough, I’m on again the very next cast: it was a hat-trick!

 

Now if it was a comp you’d be struggling to turn a reel, I think the bream know these days LOL. Jeff couldn’t believe how I got that many bream in so many casts & upgrade in between. Never mind Jeff there is always next time, maybe those Easter eggs you gave me gave me good luck.

There's some crackin' fish amongst those, Terry. Just catch them during a comp next time, eh? Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Bassin' with Tezza - April 2012

While I haven't been getting out too much, Terry has been getting into the natives with his usual gusto. Here is his latest report, and this one will be followed with a report on a Breaming session that Terry had on the Parramatta River.

In the last fast weeks that's gone by, we 've had some descent rain falls, bringing the river levels up, making it fairly unfishable .

With levels at 6 metres flowing strong, it was dragging out old cars, alligator weed, up rooting trees, collapsing banks, etc. It was going to take sometime for the river to settle completely but when conditions seemed OK, I ventured out.

On this two day trip I planned to investigate the river, to see how much it had changed, but hoping that the bass would be still there & didn’t catch a free ride to head down river to spawn in the salt.

I had got my father in-law to drop me off at a particular spot bright & early, as I was planning on heading down stream for the day with him kindly picking me up in the afternoon.

I set of with the current, as the water still had plenty of flow. The water looked really good, but let me tell ya, the river had changed dramatically and I was hoping there would still be snags for me to fish.

I kept my fishing gear simple for the day: I packed light with 2 rods and I rigged 1 with a hard body & the other with a Betts spin.

I flicked around for awhile for a few little hits & bumps, trying different lures as I went. It was going to be one of those days, I thought. I continued being fish less, casting lures into those sneaky pockets & snags, honing my casting skills to be more accurate. I thought that's what its going to be, casting practice all day.

I was a fair way down river, by this time and I finally had a big hit & the line was swimming across the yak, It felt like a good fish, tho' even small bass can fight just as hard as a big one. “Where do they get all the power from”, I thought but soon it was in the landing net looking in really good condition without any scars or bruising. I didn’t give it a measure, but a happy snap did me fine , a descent fish was released & I was on the board. I was hoping that from this point on there would be more.

These bass do very well to fight the floods & not get any marks or bruising, they hide in deep pockets of the river. It's amazing that any can remain at all after seeing what the floods were like.

I was on a high after that 1^st fish, and the next cast into the bank, as the lure was falling into the depths, I waited a few seconds before I retrieved the lure.  It felt like the knot had come undone, there was nothing there. ‘WHAT HAPPENED HERE ‘ I thought as I wound in & the line went straight under the yak , "Oh hang on, I’m on!" Wow this fish didn’t waste anytime at all, being 15 metres away from the bank, this fish went like lightening & into the middle of the river .The yak was getting towed around as the fish was fighting for freedom. As I slid it into the net I thought "where is my lure?" WOW !!!! it was down its gob, it was smashed .

The only down fall was not putting the fish into too much stress , trying to get the lure out of its mouth but luckily I was using the Betts at the time .

I approached  a very narrow section with plenty of water flowing through it with timber all over the place. I cast into a back eddy  and WHAMO, I was on again, no mucking around now, as it can run for cover very quickly & its all over in a blink of an eye, but with a few awkward moments, it was in the net . These fish were quality & I was surprised to see them in numbers and I continued to get plenty more. Normally at this time of year when the river has been flowing they start making their way down river for spawning.

Day2   I started where I had left off from day 1, it was crazy! Every 5-7 casts I had a bass, it doesn’t get any better than that.

I had lost count by mid morning on how many I caught. Though as the day went on it was slowing down making things just a little tough. Most of the fish were averaging the same size. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t crack a 400mm. That would of put the icing on the cake .

It was  a great 2 day adventure I had with plenty to see & lots of fish caught. Hopefully next season the weather will be a bit kinder to us .

Thanks again for the report, Terry. At least someone has been getting out regularly. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Squidgy Southern Bream Series - St. Georges Basin - 18-19 Feb

Ooh, we nearly cracked the fifty! Forty seven kayaks set off and I had my game plan ready to go. No travelling a bazillion miles for me, I was staying fairly close and from the launch I turned left and started at the first point you come to, drifting down with the breeze, working SP's on a HWS over the weedbeds.

Jason Reid was only 30m away from me and it wasn't long before he hooked up on his surface lure. A few seconds later, I snared one (woohoo, a double hook-up) and it was only 7:23am! The very next cast I land another but it's only 24.5cms to the tip, so it goes back into the drink.

I'm swapping between Squidy 100mm wrigglers and the Atomic 2" paddle tails and at 8:25am, the paddle tail pins me number two for the day. Jason already has two and soon after he gets his third. All off the surface, too. Bloody show-off! A flattie of about 55 cms gets my hopes up briefly and eventually I decided to move out into deeper water and try blading.

Another couple of flatties and then a 35cm snapper keep me on my toes and at 9:34am, I land number 3. Hallelujah! My first 3 bag down here at St. Georges Basin. I nearly faint and fall in the water but I keep my composure and proceed to catch more flatties, snapper and whiting and eventually have to come in with just those three that I landed.

After the weigh-in, it's even more of a shock to just be outside the top 10 in 11th place with 1.19 kgs. Andrew is just in front of me and Stewart has had a cracker of a day and sits in 2nd place. That night there's lie upon lie told about what, where and what with and we hit the sack early in anticipation of another good day tomorrow.

It was the same game plan for Jason and I and he has two in the well before I get my first hook-up. This guy hit the paddle tail on the run and zipped the line off the reel before coming to a sudden halt. I kept the pressure on the fish but somehow it just didn't feel right. I kept the rod bent but there was no movement so I figured he'd done me in the weeds. I approached where my line entered the water and I could see my line disappearing into a big weed clump. 'Bugger,' I thought and I grabbed the line to pull the lure free. But then the weed kicked and I could see a silver shape underneath it. 'What the..?' He was still there! I eased him out and into the net and I'm on the board for day 2!

But that was it. I landed one more undersize bream and picked up three flathead in the last 45 minutes but as far as legal bream go, nada. Andrew has only picked up two today and Stewart has donuted. I drop back to 19th place with a total of 1.725 kgs. Andrew takes out 15th with 2.03 kgs and Stewart ends up in 13th with 2.11 kgs. Jason ended up in 4th with 3.46 kgs.

Top spot went to Matty Petrie with a cracker bag of 6 fish for 3.93 kgs and second place went to Josh Carpenter with 6 fish for 3.855 kgs. Josh also took out big bream with a massive beast of 1.37 kgs. Both these guys have qualified for the World Championships in the US of A later this year so congratulations to both of them.

This weekend (10th-11th March) see's us all up at Forster for the NSW State titles. Forster has everything you could want in a fishery: lots and lots of racks, weedbeds, sand flats, etc and also some really, really big bream. All the details are on the usual websites: http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/ and http://bream.com.au/index.php

And we should get the fifty yaks this weekend, weather permitting. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 12/2/12 and the next SSBS/Hobie Tournament

No chance of getting out for me but Tezza hit the bay last weekend hoping to get stuck into the schools of surface fish - Bonito, Tailor and Salmon - that have been doing the rounds. He moved about a bit and had a couple of hits but the fish just weren't busting up.

He decided to change tactics and threw on a Mick Munns Lexan blade (the cool ones with the silicon legs) in the hopes of picking up some bream and trevally. Poor bugga didn't have any luck with those fish but he did manage some ok by-catch. FOUR JEWFISH!

Bloody hell, I'd love to get some by-catch like that. None of them were huge but on the light gear

that Terry uses, they are pretty good results. A simple lift and drop technique is what tempted these guys and I reckon Terry will be hitting this spot for more action over the next few weeks. I think I'll have to follow him just to see where it is! Well done, Tezza and thanks for the photos and not rubbing it in too much.

This weekend sees the next round of the Squidgy Southern Bream Series kick off at St. Georges Basin. This is a two day event and for us lucky yakkers, it's also a qualifier for the World Championships that will be held in the US of A later this year. The top two spots qualify, so I'm expecting that this drawcard, as well as the excellent payouts from these comps will see a field of over 50 yakkers competing at this beautiful fishing location.

The weather is looking good too, so I'm hoping to finally get my full bag at this spot. This is yet to be acheived by me so I reckon I'm well and truly overdue! For all the details, please visit http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/ or http://www.ssbs.basinlureandfly.org.au/. See you all down there. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Hobie Squidgy Southern Bream - Georges River - 29/1/12

Wow! 41 kayaks turned up for this years round, that's 15 more than last year. Great to see some good numbers turning up for these events. Hopefully it'll just get biggger and better each year. The conditions were great at kick off and with the 86 boats on hand, the beach was a crowded spot.

Most of the yaks set off into Woolooware Bay but 4 of us headed out towards Towra Point. This area consistently holds some big fish and I was hoping for a similar fish or two as I landed last week. But, on arrival at Towra Point, 'SNAP' and there goes my idler cable. Not a big problem though as it's mainly for keeping the turbo fins in time, but I still decided to go fairly easy on it for the rest of the day. Pretty good lifetime really, as it's 3 years old and gets plenty of workouts.

Andrew cut in towards the shallows while I remained out in the 1.8 to 2.5 meter zone. I started with HB's but soon changed to a HWS jighead with a Squidgy 100mm Bloodworm Wriggler attached. First a small flattie and then nothing for the next hour. I moved around further towards Quibray Bay and at 9:33am I landed my first bream (29 fork) that absolutely wolfed the plastic down. That's the donut monkey off my back and I decided to keep drifting the weedbeds for the morning.

The wind was howling now, probably 20 to 25 knots and conditions were considerably lumpy. I changed to a Gulp 3" Grub in camo colour (on a HWS again) and this resulted in number 2 for the well but slightly smaller this time at 28 cms fork length. I bumped into Andrew who hadn't even encountered a small one yet. Good for me, bad for him. A few of the boats I'd spoken to were doing it tough also.

The wind just wouldn't ease up and at about 11:45am I decided to start slowly heading back towards the weigh-in. As I rounded Towra Point, I decided to let the wind push me along this potentially nice drift along the shore. The ledge dropped from a meter into 2 meters and as the tide was running out, I was hoping a bream or two might be lurking there waiting for a feed. I'd changed lures again; this time it was an Atomic 2" paddle tail in translucent pink, rigged on a 1/32nd jighead, just to help it get down that little bit quicker and tied to 3lb fluoro straight through.

First cast I let is sink and give it two hops when it's hit like a freight train. This thing races off and does a wide arc around me, heading back out into Botany Bay. With 3lb silly string (and a light drag), I have to give chase and I take my time, giving a return thumbs up to two boats that are cruising around the corner and who saw me hook up. As it comes up, I can see it's a good fish (not a kilo though) and I'm wrapped to get him in the net. 35 fork length and probably 650 to 700 grams, so that's a good full bag for me. I'm guessing I have about 1.5 kgs which should get me top 10 but I douvbt it'd be enough to make the podium.

No more joy for me over the next two hours apart from one more undersize bream and at the weigh-in it's many a tale of woe but there are also some good bags thrown in, too. My main goal is to qualify for the Grand Final and with 4 spots up for grabs, I may be in with a chance. My 3 fish pull the scales down to 1.59 kg and I'm sitting in 5th place. But Luke Kay has already qualified, so I'm holding on, but only just. but then Jonathan Chen steps up and Aaarrrghh, he weighs in 1.64 kgs, bumping me out of contention. Well done to him though and it's a case of Deja Vu' for me as I came 6th here last year, too!

The winner was Ian Seeto with 1.935 kgs and 2nd was shire local Jason Reid with 1.91 kgs. 3rd was taken out by the ever consistent Jason Meech with 1.73 kgs. Overall I racked up just over 13 kms and the photo shows the path I took and where I landed my three fish.

The next comp is on the 18th & 19th February, down at St Georges Basin. This is a location that turns on some great fishing, but unfortunately, not for me. I'm due to have a good round down there though and this would be a good one to take out as it's also a qualifying round for the Hobie World Series (http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/). we should get 50+ yaks there for this one, depending on the weather but either way, it'll be a hoot of a weekend. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid