Daiwa ABT/Hobie Kayak Tournament - H&C Bay, 21st Nov 2010

Finally the season was here for us Sydneysiders and shock, horror, the weather gods had forgotten about us and it dawned a simply beautiful morning with just a faint breath of wind. Forty yakkers lined up for the 7am kick-off and on go we spread out to our favoured haunts.

I turn right from the beach and proceeded to the jetty in Hen and Chicked Bay but the SP's I flicked into the shadows didn't even get a bump. No problem, I'll slowly make my way over to the mangroves (ah crap, I can already see half a dozen yaks over there) and pick up a few on blades on approach. Or so I thought but it was another zero.

Over on the other side, the others were all working the shallow water and I followed suit with a couple of shallow divers. I kept my eyes peeled and after ten minutes of MORE fruitless casting, I'd realised that none of the others were having any luck either. Time for a change of tactics, me thinks.

On with a Squidgy Lobby (Dusk) and I start heading out into deeper water, slowly increasing the depth, hoping I'll eventually find the depth that the fish will be in. At 1.5m depth, I hook-up. Ooh, it's a bream. I think he'll go legal, too. This year, the tournament legal length has been changed from last years 25cm fork length to 26cm total length (or one cm more than the fisheries legal length, so it'll change from state to state). This guy goes on the ruler and NOOOOOOOOOOO! He's 25.8 cms, so he back into the drink. Just once I'd like to get a good start in one of these ABT/Hobie events and today looked like it may be a typical crappy start for me.

I re-rigged and thought I'd stay in the 1.5m zone. A few minutes later the line jumps and I set the hook again. This feels better and yes, it's 27 cms so I'm on the board! Woo hoo! With the donut monkey off my back, I change to a Gulp Camo sandworm and blow me down, I hook another one. Another good tussle and this one stretches out to 29 cms total length. Two in the yak and I'm aware that I haven't seen anyone in the shallows land one yet. I'm hoping they haven't seen me and I quietly slip this fish in the well with his mate.

Back to the Lobby and it's not long before the rod bends and I'm thinking 'Please, please please be a bream.' I'm peering into the water and there's a silver flash. Ooh, it's not a flatty! Good, good. Then another flash and it's not thin. So it's not a whiting either. Gooder, gooder. Only one more thing it may be... then up she comes and yes, it's not a trevally! Into the net and I grab the camera and take a photo. Not of the fish, but of my watch. It's only 8:17am and I already have my bag. Un-bloody-believable! This one is 28 cms, so no monsters but three in the well by this time is great.

Nonchalantly whistling to myself while furtively looking around, I sneak this one into the well, too. Back to casting and looking for upgrades because those two smallest fish, although legal, are pretty thin. Try as I might though, the bite has finished and I move off to new pastures. I pass Paff on the way and he has two good fish in the well (a 29 and a 33 from what I recall) and while saying "Well done, fellow Hobie Team Member" with a big grin on my face I'm really cursing him until the cows come home. ; )

Into Exile Bay and I bump into Squidder (Squidgy GF winner). He only has a 26'er in the well. That's a big surprise for me and I leave him to his side of the bay and move to the other. I switch to blades and land a small flathead. There's little activity and I decide to give the shallows one more try even though the sun is high in the sky now and I figure the edges wouldv'e already been worked over by others before me.

I approach a section where there is a big Rubber Tree casting a shadow over the water and I shoot a Gulp 2"Shrimp (banana) towards it's edge. The line immediatly goes tight and the drag buzzes under the pull of a good fish. This thing wasn't stopping so just short of the shoreline I have to clamp down on the spool. I turn the fish and ease him out into the open but he's not finished yet. He runs again, but this time into the open so I let him have his head and follow him.

I back off the drag now as I don't want to risk loosing him in these final stages and I can see he's a good size. He keeps darting away from the net but the drag is faultless and eventually he's in the net and all mine. YES! That's what I needed. He's 35 to the tip and one more like this will see me up there amongst the leaders. I get him in the well and set the 27cm fish free. I just need one more to upgrade the 28cm one and I'll be happy. Well, I was happy now, but you know what I mean.

The wind was starting to pick up now and I move into France Bay and catch up with Scotty Lovig (the 2009 champ). He has two in the well and he hooks up but it's a massive whiting (phew, I say). Then my blade gets munched and the drag sings again but it's the twin brother of Scotty's whiting. Bugga! He had me going for a minute there.

I leave and land a few more whiting and flatties but that was it for me on the breaming stakes so I head back for the weigh in. I pass Steve Fields and Greg Lewis (AOY for the last two years) and they both only have one. Hmmm, could it be that everyone has done it tough? I still haven't seen Stewart or Andrew yet and those bloody Mexicans (Scott, Matty, etc) are too good to write off. Then there is the central coast gang (Dave, Ronnie, Jason, etc) so although I feel I'm in with a chance, there's too many good breamers that I haven't seen to start counting my chickens yet. Plus there's the Woods brothers and Gary Cook and WayneR so I'll just keep my fingers crossed for now.

At the beach there's plenty of tales of woe but also a few success stories that have me wondering about whether I'll make that podium and snare one of the GF qualification spots. Paff bagged out, as did Scotty and also Andrew. Stewart turned up right at cut-off time and shock, he only had one. I was guesstimating my bag to be about 1.4 to 1.5 kgs. Daniel Holder shot to the lead with a 1.445 kg bag which was quickly followed by Paff with a 1.435 kg bag. Only 10 grams in it and one of Paffs fish had a huge chunk (healled) missing out of it from a bite or net that if intact, would have put him in the lead. My turn next and I'm fearing that skinny fish will cost me. onto the scales and....1.390 kg! Ah, 45 grams short but at least I'm in third.

And then it comes down to Andrews turn. As he lifts his fish out of the live well, I know that my goose is cooked. He smashes us with a 1.815 kg bag and pushes me out of the qualifiers into fourth. Ooh, so close but there's more chances yet so I'll just have to get some bigger ones next time. Andrew also won the Squidgy round that was held on Sydney Harbour so we'll all be watching him the next time there is a comp on here. Here's a photo of the 'Rooster of Hen and Chicken Bay' surrounded by photographers. So well done to Andrew, Daniel and Paff for making it to the GF that will be held in Port Macquarie in October next year.

So another successful tournament has been run and won and here is a photo (Courtesy of

ABT/Hobie) of the entire group that competed. So the next round is on the Tweed River this weekend. Full details can be found here: http://www.bream.com.au/abt/2010/Tweed10.pdf

and as per all of these events, you can rock up on the day and enter so if you suddnely wake up and decide to give it a go, do it. Good luck to all the competitors and I know the usual contingent of travelling fishos will be there and good on them for supporting this great series. Work keeps me stuck in Sydney but I'll be checking the web regularly and making the obligatory phone calls at about 3pm to see what the shaledown is. Happy yakkin, everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Bloody Bream! Squidgy Grand Final - Oct 2010

Two days of breaming and all I caught were three of the buggas. This can be a heartbreaking sport sometimes. Day one was at St Georges Basin and the weather was fantastic. I had a great days fishing but a crap days tournament fishing.

In total I landed 3 Luderick, all caught on blades, 2 legal squire and eight flathead from 42 to 53 cms. Plus I lost a ripper of approximately 80cms right at the side of the yak. But I didn't land one single bream all day. I don't think I even hooked one!

Day two was held on The Shoalhaven river. Talk about chalk and cheese weather. The southerly was blowing at 20-25 knots and right on start time, it started to rain. What a miserable day. There were even boats coming back in by 9:30 am. But most of us crazy yakkers stuck it out in the cold rain and wind.

The breaming today was HEAPS better than yesterday as I hooked three of them. Two I landed but both were just undersize (one was 24.8 cm. They have to be 25 cm) and I dropped the only decent sized one that looked about 30 cms or so. So back on the beach I handed back my keytag and recorded a double donut. Shizer. Here's a collage of my fish from the weekend anyway.

The top three were deserved winners and the podium list was Squidder, Rebel1 & Blueyak. I hope next years grand final (if I make it) will be better for me.

The highlight of the weekend though was seeing the biggest bream ever caught in one of these catch and release style comps. It was landed by Adrian Van and pulled the scales down to 2.510 kgs. Man, this thing was MASSIVE! Apparently it was hooked on a blade in only 6 feet of water and it buried him in the weeds before he could manage to land it.

Photos never do them justice though but this guy was 46 cms fork length and at least 4 inches thick across the shoulders. If a kayaker had landed it, it wouldn't have fitted in any of our live wells. And it was fantastic to see it swim off at the end of the day, too.

But to more recent news, the ABT/Hobie series returns to Sydney this weekend and returns to where it all started three years ago, and that's good ol' Hen & Chicken Bay. Fingers crossed and touch wood, but the weather is looking pretty good so far and from recent reports, the bay has been fishing fairly well.

Come on yakkers, let's turn up in force and get a good crowd there. You can enter on the day so just be there by 6am and sign up. Here's a link to a PDF with all the info you need: http://bream.com.au/abt/2010/Sydney10.pdf There's always good prizes for the winners and a chance to qualify for the Grand Final at Port Macquarie next year. In fact there's three spots up for grabs. Well, only two of them really, because I plan to take one... : ) Happy yakkin', everybody!

cheers,
Cid

Georges River - 2/10/10

Well, the soccer season is over and we ended up the Minor Premiers and also the Premiers! Go the mighty Hedgehogs!

But with the end of one season, another begins and this weekend sees the start of the Daiwa Hobie ABT Bream Series at two locations: Mandurah and Ballina. Once again it's going to be a fantastic year with new venues and an extended competition, with the Grand Final planned for Port Macquarie on 29th-30th October 2011. The first one I'll get to is the Sydney round (where it all started nearly two years ago) on the 21st November, so put that date in your calendar and join in on a fantastic day with some great prizes and a chance to qualify for the big one next year.
For the full calendar, visit the Hobie Fishing website and start planning: http://www.hobiefishing.com.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=317

In preparation, I hit the Georges River on a few days for some practice and now that the water is warming up, the bream are becoming more active. I ventured over to the racks at Towra Point and extracted a few (and lost a few, too) on a beautiful morning that was simply magic to be on the water. Hardbodies were the go today, and the SP's never even got a touch.

The best I boated went 27cm fork but they certainly are feisty critters. I normally get a few big flathead around here this time of year too, but try as I may, I couldn't even land a tiddler from any of my spots. They'll turn up eventually though...

A few days later, I went to Oyster Bay and targeted the weedbeds and channels. First cast and I come up tight and it's a small whiting. Any fish on a first cast is good though, and I spent the morning drifting about picking up plenty of undersize fish but there was nothing of note over the flats. The tide was still dropping, so I moved to a channel and switched to blades. This saw me land two keepers within 15 minutes as well as another three that were just undersize.

On my way back to the ramp, I rigged up with a mango ripple minnow and pulled a 28 fork bream out from under a pontoon. Another gutsy effort from a medium fish and twice I thought he had me back to the posts and his freedom. next time I'll remember to tighten the drag.

So in two weeks, a flotilla of 25 of us will be competing in the Squidgy Southern Series Grand

Final that is held on the St Georges Basin and the Shoalhaven River. The competition will be high and another fun weekend is guaranteed, regardless of how many fish we get. To read more about this comp, visit the Basin Lure and Fly website: http://www.basinlureandfly.org.au/forum/viewforum.php?f=8

The team have done a fantastic job with the series (boaters and kayakers) and they concentrate on the southern half of NSW, so you southerners have a wealth of opportunities for your competition fix and the next series dates are up already.

It's been a while, but it looks like Tezza and I will hit the Cooks River tomorrow to get a couple of kilo size bream (fingers crossed). Here's hoping for a cracker day. Good luck to all the competitors over this weekend and may your bags be full. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Snapper and Bream

Only two weeks to go and the soccer season will be over. No more saturdays or sundays where time is at a premium and finally, I'll be able to get back to some serious fishing. Hallelujah!

A couple of weeks ago, Stewart and I set out for some snapper. the sea was supposed to be 0.7m but it was more like 2.7m! Still, we perservered but Stewie was the only winner for the day with a 45cm Reddie. While I, with my vast knowledge and incredible skill, I managed to land two stinky Pike. Great, huh?

Eventually we came back in and while I headed home, Stewart slunk off to his secret possie and managed five of 'em in about an hour, the biggest going 53cm. Next time, buddy, next time...

Last weekend I tried Captain Cooks Bridge for a jewfish or two and managed another donut. I wasn't going home empty handed though, so I turned my way towards shore and a set of jetties and pontoons that I was sure would hold a bream or two. It was the top of the tide and a hoped a soft plastic lobbed into the shadows would change my fortunes for the better.

The first few jetties I didn't even get a touch and I was wondering if the bream weren't there or if they weren't interested in my 3" Bass Minnow. I decided to change to a Gulp 6" Sandworm in camo cut in half. And first cast I drop what felt like a good fish.

Onto the next jetty and this time the hooks stick and out comes a plump 28 fork Bream. Yee hah! I'm on the board. Finally I can give the Hobie Livewell another run. The water temp is still quite low - only 14 degrees - so the fish are a bit sluggish still.

Off the next jetty I drop a small flattie and then it goes quiet for the next 3 or 4. I make it to the last one and there is a set of steps that lead down to the water. "There has to be one under there," I think as I skip the sandworm into the gloom.

As the lure sinks I notice the line 'tic' ever so slightly. This is normally a sign that something has picked it up so I slowly lift my rod and feel some weight on the line.When I feel it move off, I strike and I'm into number two! This fish puts on a better show and I just manage to get him out from under the steps and out into the open. A beautiful silver bream it is, too and it's the exact same length as the first one. Maybe twins, who knows? They are both in excellent condition and have obviously fattened up over winter. Two like this in a comp would be a good start and all you'd need is a kicker fish to be in with a show. But as much as I try, I can't get that one big fish on the moored boats I suss out on my way back.

Towards the end of next month is when the big flatties start to show up, so hopefully by the middle of October I'll have cracked my PB of 86cms and fingers crossed, the 1 meter mark. Come on the warmer weather! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

WSBB Bream Scramble - 27/6/10

Another year, another Scramble. This time Gary and I weren't fishing it together as he's sold his boat and still hasn't received his new one yet. So I teamed up with Dave (Just Crusin) in Jason Meech's tinnie. Thanks for the loaner, Jason!


It was a freezin' start to the morning but at least the predicted wind was absent. We started off in Exile Bay and I picked up our first (bang on 25cm fork) after about 30 minutes. We snaffled a few that were just undersize so we moved upstream to Brays Bay near Ryde bridge and started working a likely looking shoreline. Dave was fishing the shallows, I was casting out into the deeper water.


Dave gets a whack and lands number two (27 fork). Then I get another that's 26. Beauty, that's three and we still have three hours to go. All the fish have been caught on blades so far, even though we are changing between various HB's and SP's.


Then Dave calls out 'Yeah, this feels good!' and I turn to see his rod loaded up and the line zipping through the water. But bugger! It's a nice whiting of 37cm instead. Then he gets a flathead and another whiting.


I'm perservering with the deeper water and finally I hook up. This fish puts in some strong runs but every now and then I feel this 'thump, thump' reverberating up the line, so I'm starting to think that it's a trevally. And it is, too! Double bugga. 50cm worth of treva is a good fish but not what we want.


We'd reached the end of the shoreline and figured it'd be worth another run, so back to the start we go and turn the boat as it drops down into 5 meters. I purchased a new outfit last week (a Shimano Stradic Ci4 matched with an Okuma spin travel rod) and I was keen to christen it on a good bream.


We're still using the blades and first drop into the deeper water I get a double-bump and strike. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz goes the drag and there is some good weight here. There are a few head shakes but no tell-tale trevally signs so it's either a bream-from-hell or a jewie. The drag on the Ci4 is beautifully smooth, which is just as well as I'm using 2lb crystal braid with 4lb leader.


The fish takes me around the boat a few times, then turns and rewinds itself. We're still hoping for a bream, but I'm almost certain now that it's not. And sure enough, she surfaces and it's a nice jewfish. Dave does a stirling job of scooping her up in the net and at 70cm total length, she's well and truly christened the new outfit.


So that was it from this area so we scoot around a bit and only manage those evil, pesky 24cm bream that always come out in force during a tournament. We have an hour to go so head back to Hen and Chicken Bay for some drifts over a 'Spot X' that Dave has been told about. First drift and Dave gets a 26'er. That's four, just one more for a full bag. We really need a kicker fish though and as the last minutes tick away, we both drop a couple of legals but nothing that would've pushed our bag out to a tourny winning weight. So it's time up and we head in with our four fish.


We manage 18th place with 1.51 kgs so it wasn't a bad effort, we just couldn't get those thumpers that we needed. In fact we didn't even hook any that we'd call good fish. Still, it was a great day, even if Dave and I felt a bit funny fishing out of a boat rather than a yak.


On the Botany Bay front, Terry has been hitting it all this week (jammy git has been on holidays, hasn't he!) and has been getting heaps of tailor on the troll. Most of them have been up near the 50cm mark too, so they're a good size. Every now and then he'll pick up a trevally as well, so he's been having a ball in his new Hobie PA. Happy yakkin', everyone!


cheers,
Cid

First Jewfish of Winter - Georges River

It was about this time last year that we started getting a few jewfish in the Georges and now that the ABT/Hobie series is finished for a few months (there is still the Squidgy Southern Series though), I thought I'd try to tangle with a few of my other favourite fish. It had to be a mid-week assault though as my weekends are pretty much tied up with family sport, so I ventured out for an early morning half-hour to catch dinner.

With a 10 knot SW blowing, it was a bit cooler than Forster a few weeks back but the water wasn't as discoloured as I thought it would be. No boats out here and I hoped I'd hook up quickly and be back for a warm shower before work.

Thankfully I came up trumps and at 51 cms, it's an ok start to the season. This guy was caught on a Strike Pro Blade lure and gave a very decent account of himself, seeing as I hooked him on 4lb braid and 8 lb leader.

Feeling that tell-tale head-shake reverberate up the line is just magic and I'm hoping it'll be another few months of peering over the side waiting to see these silver-purple fish rise out of the depths to a waiting net (or gaff )! My biggest to date is 82 cms (and that's the one in the DVD) and I'd love to crack the meter mark this winter.

Maybe I'll have another crack this week as this one went down a treat. I prepared a home made curry paste of onion, garlic, eschallots, ginger, chilli, fresh tumeric, coriander, cumin, clove, salt, pepper and lime zest, coated the fillets and baked them wrapped in foil. Superb!

Yep, I've gotta get some more...

cheers,

Cid

ABT/Hobie Kayak Grand Final at Forster- 15th-16th May 2010

Day 1

Here we were! Forty nine finalists and at 7am we are off in the Hobie supplied PA's. First off I feel like I'm sitting in a lounge chair, the seats are that good. Last year I went up the Breckenridge Channel but this year I'd decided to do something different and fish the Tuncurry side of the system. Yesterday in the pre-fish I'd managed a few ok fish (the biggest at 29 cm's) and had a couple of spots in my plan and figured it may be quieter (on the competitors front) over that side.

Slowly the field dispersed and I soon found myself at spot number one. On with a Gulp 2" shrimp to work the edge of a channel that branched off the main river. Yesterday I pulled a 26 cm fork from here but today all I could manage was a 23 cm forker. Not good enough. I moved off and started to fish some racks out of the wind. Nothing here either, so I'm off to some weedbeds where yesterday I landed the 29 cm guy.

Zippo here too, except for a mass of Long Toms (they were all over the place). One of the bigger ones I got (see the photo) was after me big time once I landed him. These are the only fish (not including sharks) I've landed that WILL TRY TO BITE YOU. Vicious prehistoric things they are, but amazing looking. And their acrobatics over the water is quite fun, especially on light gear, but not when you're in a tournament chasing bream. If fishing a surface lure, you'll normally know when a Long Tom is after it as you'll see their long beak-like mouths coming out of the water trying to eat it.

Eventually I get a legal bream but he's bang on 25 cms. It's 10 am and I'm struggling a bit, so I move off and find a set of racks I hadn't fished before. Here I find Dave (Just Crusin) who's feeling a bit crook and says he may head back if he doesn't improve. He has two in the well, so he gonna keep plugging away. He moves off and I start fishing the edges of the racks with an 80mm Squidgy Wriggler in bloodworm. First cast and whump, I'm on. I skull-drag him in and this one is 26 cms. That's two!

I continue on and five minutes later I get another that is 25 cms and 2mms! Whew! That's my bag but I really want to upgrade that smallest one. Sometimes they can shrink in the live wells (they must tense up or something) and I'll be nervous until he's outta there. There are another set of racks nearby and thank the lord, I pull one more out, and he's 26 cms too, so I can put the smallest one back in the drink. Time to head back and although I have a bag, it's nowhere near big enough to be near the top and with 1.210 kgs I'm sitting in 23rd place.

Day 2

The wind has dropped a bit this morning but is expected to pick up again soon, so we're in for another breezy day. I venture up to the Tuncurry side again and land three bream quickly, but the biggest is only 24 cms fork. Shizer! No more bites from this area, so I move up to the racks where I got my bream yesterday. Today there is nothing about and by the time it's 10 am, I'm starting to twitch nervously.

Another move to some racks that looked good yesterday and where Dave had done pretty well. He was fishing not far off so I left him to his set of racks and started a drift over my own. I'd swapped to a HB and was using an Atomic Crank (green) shallow diver. The idea was to put in long casts over the top of the racks that had 30-40cms water over them and slowly roll it back, hoping to entice the bream that should be feeding on the oysters.

The PA was perfect for this as I could easily stand and scope the area. First cast and I twitch the lure a few times to hopefully draw a lurking breams attention and then I slowly crank it back to me. From out of nowhere, a shape races in and grabs the lure. I'm just as quick to react though, and I'm on the board with a 28 cm fish. Yahoo!

That's the donut monkey off my back and what a relief! Back to the same technique and half a dozen casts later I have a massive swirl behind the lure that had me cursing it had missed. I fire the lure back to the same spot and quickly a bow wave appears behind it. The lure is tapped but there's no hook up. "Come on," I pray. I twitch the lure once, twice and the water erupts and the rod loads up.

Ooh, this is what I need. I wind quickly trying to keep the breams head up and he slices sideways towards the next rack. I angle my rod to get him out and dip the tip in the water to keep the line clear of the rails. Out he comes and he zips back to his original rack. I swing the rod back to the other side and finally get his head up. The wind has pushed the yak right over another set of racks and I quickly grab the net and scoop him up before he can dive again. Oh, what a buzz! He's 36 to the fork and that's a nice kicker fish. Trembling, I get the hooks out and put him in the well. One more like that will see me in with a chance of making the top 5, I reckon.

A few casts later and I get another hit but it fails to stay on. I've reached the end of the racks so I move back to the start and begin the drift again. The wind has picked up a bit and I'm drifting across the racks rather than along them, so basically I'm getting one, maybe two casts on each rack. The little Atomic is swimming enticingly just below the surface when it's smashed again and it's another cracker.

This fish dives immediately and I feel the braid rub against the racks. Into the water goes the rod again and I'm waiting for the line to break but amazingly I get the fish out. I wind furiously to keep it coming towards me and as it comes in I can see it's a similar size to my 36'er. The wind has swung me about and I'm fighting facing backwards and just as I almost clear the fish from the racks, it dives and ping, he's gone! Nooooooooooooooooooooo.......

Oh, so close. That hurt. He would've pushed my bag way over 2 kgs which is what I need to have any chance of getting near the top. And even worse, that was my last Atomic! There's no time to cry about it though, so I tie on a Lucky Craft NW Pencil and go for a 'Walk-the-Dog' presentation. I'm still getting a few follows and it's not too long before I get another 28 fork to join his mates.

The bite continues and I land a couple of 26'ers before it shuts down. Time to change to the SP's and the wriggler comes out again. Twice I get busted up by some bruisers and before I know it, I have to head back. Man, that was an amazing session in the racks. This close quarters combat really gets the adrenaline flowing and I was chuffed to get all my fish from here today.

Dave also managed some good fish and a few times I heard him and Steve Fields from Hobie
swearing and cursing lost fish. Thems the racks , for ya!

Back at the weigh-in I was hoping for a top 10 finish. If I'd landed that other biggun, I'd be hoping for a top 5, but I'd need for the guys above me to miss out on their bag limit, which is pretty rare for these top anglers.

My bag weighed in at 1.83 kgs, which was the fourth heaviest bag for the day and at one stage I was in 2nd! LOL. The top 5 were weighing in last and I knew that they all managed three fish each, so I didn't hold out any hope for being up with them.

It was quite a spectacle with all the anglers in their tournament shirts and a big crowd watching the bags being presented to Simon from ABT. My bet had been placed on Stewie taking it out, but he couldn't get any kickers and he eventually came in at a very respectable 5th place (3.58 kg), with Dave (3.57 kg) just being edged out into 6th by 10 grams.

Top honours went to a very deserving Daniel Brown with a 4.62 kg bag. Runner up went to Andrew Krushka with 4.22 kg, 3rd was taken by Jordan Trusty with 3.78 kg and 4th was the ever consistent, nearly always in the top 10, Greg Lewis (AOY as well) with 3.61 kg.

As these guys weighed in and kept bumping me down, I was still hoping for 10th place until Adrian Ryan knocked me off by 110 grams. So I have to settle for 11th with 3.04 kg but I'm pleased with having jumped 12 places up the board.

Well done to Adrian though and all up it was an amazing weekend. The prizes on offer were fantastic, and everyone received something from lure packs to shirts, hats, line and PFD's plus the top 6 guys all took home a Daiwa Steez Reel and matched rod with a combined value of $1300! Oh, was I jealous! Don't forget the cash payouts of course and Dan also took home the Hobie Pro Angler he fished out of.

Absolutely brilliant so a big thank you has to go out to all the sponsors. Hobie, as without them, this series wouldn't have even eventuated. And how great was it to rock up to Forster, from all corners of Australia and to have a top of the range PA ready to go for you.

Then ABT who run the show so professionaly, followed by the major supporters of the comp: Daiwa Fishing Australia , Pure Fishing – Berkley, JML – Ecogear, Frogleys Offshore – Atomic Lures & Hogs Breath Cafe.

So let's sign off the tournament year for ABT/Hobie with a shot of the top 10 anglers. Any of them could have taken it out and I'm sure they'll all feature prominently in next years series as well. Thanks to all the guys who shared tips with me throughout the year and a big thanks go out to all the dealers that make us all welcome when we visit their neck of the woods.

Next year will be bigger and better still and I can't wait. It won't be long until the calendar is released and I'll be locking down some of the events immediately. especially in Victoria where some massive bags were brought in. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

ps If you buy the latest copy of Sport Fishing Australia incorporating Yak Fisher, you'll be able to read an article of mine with tips on gear and techniques for these Kayak Bream Tournaments. Read it and jump in to next years events. They're a hoot!