14-9-09
Over the last weekend we had the chance to participated in the eagerly awaited ABT Bream QLD Qualifier held at the Gold Coast. Being the host of last year’s ABT Grand final, it was interesting to see what the Goldy had in store for us in whether the Bay islands would again fire or will it be won by fishing the infamous canals of the Coast. Being only my second ABT as a boater, I was keen to get up to the bay and try to ‘ham it up’ with the big boat boys to see if I could crack a pattern over two days of fishing.
To any newbies, ABT events are normally held over two days for many of their comps but with this event being a super series, the top ten after the second day go through to a top 10 shoot out on the third day. Now for me, I would be stoked with a top 20 finish and to have two good consistent days of fishing. At the briefing held the night before the event, I found that on the first day I was a spare (Fishing solo without a non boater) which meant I was to spend 7 hours by myself fishing the bay!!! Oh man how boring!!! Ah well I guess it would give me time to catch up on my singing practice.
DAY 1: As I was the 19th boat to leave Horizon shores, it was awesome to see the big high powered boats go whizzing past me in my 435 Quintrex Hornet Trophy as we headed to the bay chasing the big bream. My first stop was the eastern side of Coochiemudlo where I had fished in the past and pulled some good bream out of in previous comps. I started the morning fishing topwater with my usual Dog X Jr with my other rods rigged with a Jackall Chubby and an Atomic Hardz Mid Crank 38, all that I knew worked at the Bay Islands. The next two hours proved to be a mixture of high excitement and sheer frustration as my topwater lure got more smashes than Game one of the State of Origin with very little hook ups. The bream weren’t exactly small under my lure either but they chose to follow underneath with the occasional swipe much to my frustration. I even would cast the Chubby behind it but to no avail. So with only one legal fish onboard at 24cm fork, I decided to run to the southern end of Peel Island which I had fished numerous times in the past with great success. There I started my drift fishing in 1½ foot of water trying to source out feeding bream chasing bait on the rising tide. It wasn’t too long where I got a nice strike and landed a solid 27cm FL Bream much to my relief as I was worried whether this spot was going to fire after being under fishing pressure from other anglers. Soon after that, I nailed another two legals in quick succession going 28cm and 26.5cm with the lure of the day being an Atomic Hardz Mid Crank 38 in Ghost Gill Brown. With just over an hour to go, I decided to return to Coochiemudlo Island to see if I could fill my bag as my fifth fish was proving to be quite elusive. With the tide reaching its top I deciding to throw a deep diving Atomic Crank 38 with the thought that the fish would remain deeper as the sun was high and also the tide. This proved to be awesome as my second cast got absolutely smashed by a feisty 29cm FL Bream and after a nervous fight near shallow rocks, I was off home with a full bag. My five fish ended up going 1.71kg which put me in 19th place with the leader after day one being Mick Horn (2.45kg) only 740grams away. It’s still anyone’s race.
DAY 2: On day two I woke up pretty confident I could find fish for me and my non boater as I saw a lot the day before with the hardest thing being whether they would bite. My non boater today was a top guy and gun angler by the name of Mark Lennox who was from Armidale with an extensive background in Bass fishing but has really taken to breaming like a duck to water. He had already qualified for this year’s Sydney grand final by coming 2nd in the Bribie ABT so I was keen to get him onto fish as he started the day in 7th place in the non boater standings. We started our day at Coochiemudlo where I had found timid fish on day one in the hope that they would become fiery on day two. Again the topwater option became a hit as it was drawing the fish out with Mark absolutely smashing good bream on the Dog X Jr in Modena Bone. I also had heaps of surface hits but failed to hook up, but Mark really excelled hooking four legals in the first couple of hours to leave me behind on the dreaded donut!!! As the tide turned and started to flood, we decided to move to the southern end of Peel Island where I got my fish the previous day. We started our drift the same as day one with immediate success. I pulled a good legal going 26cm to the fork which got me off the donut and gave me much more confidence that we could get more. In the next hour I got 3 more legals to get me to four for the day with the lure of choice again being the Atomic Hardz Mid Crank 38 in Ghost Gill Brown. On our way home we stopped at Coochie and Macleay and Russell Islands in desperation to fill our bags but had no luck which left us both on four fish and happy we got something. The final result for me was 18th place going 3.04kg for the two days which I was really happy with being my first ABT comp fishing at the bay. Mark’s four fish shot him up the rankings to 2nd place in the non boater category which I was really stoked I was able to get him onto fish on the final day.
All in all I had an awesome comp where I had nothing but fun over the two days. I got to meet some great people and it was great to see people look out for me as I was the smallest boat going up the bay each day (and 5-10kts each day really helped!!!) Also I want to send a huge congratulations to my good buddy Tristan Taylor, who showed awesome skill throughout the weekend to take out the Super series event by 600grams. Tristan is a massive inspiration to my fishing and with his knowledge base, handy tips, relaxed nature and goofy laugh, it certainly spurs me on to be a better and more confident angler. Cheers Midas!! Also congratulations to Jay Perham and Dave Mackenzie who qualified as boaters for the Grand Final and big Tony Moore for making it in the non boater category. See ya in Sydney boys!!!
Happy Breaming, Grayson
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