TASSIE ADVENTURES Pt 1 (Hobie Scamander)

Recently I was fortunate to get some time off to venture down to Tasmania with my good buddy Tristan Taylor to compete in the ABT Tassie rounds for 2010. Our plan of attack was to compete firstly in the Hobie event in Scamander then travel to St Helens for the first ABT event. After that we going to recreational fish at noted 'big bream' haven at Anson's Bay then travel back to Hobart for the Derwant River round. Tristo had competed last year in Tassie, so catching black bream was a first for me.

Our adventure started at Scamander, a sleepy town three hours north of Hobart which had.....ahh.....not much. A pub, servo, IGA supermarket and takeaway made up the crux of the town so we gathered going to the movies was a no-go on our first night. With a early start we met up with the Hobie guys from Melbourne who also made the long trip down then called it a night after a full day of traveling.

As dawn approached, we headed down to the local boat ramp which played host to the tournament headquarters where 24 anglers revelled in the cool weather to tackle the infamous Tassie black bream. We had heard from some locals that the Scamander river had been fishing pretty well over the last few months so we were fired up to smash some fish.

After a hectic start, Tristo and I had been given the heads up to fish a small bay that held about 2-3ft of water at high tide and is known to fish pretty well. With others venturing up river, we joined Hobie hotshot Scotty Lovig and two other anglers in this bay all keen to get our limits early. Tristo started the day on fire bagging out in the first ten minutes with small legals but with having his limit so early took all the pressure off for finding fish. I started a little slower with my first legal taking me 35mins to find after it smashed my lure on the pause. For this event I threw a Jackall Squirrel 61 in brown suji shrimp colour using a slow rolling retrieve with a pause as the lure dredged the shallow waters. Pausing the lure seem to be the key as I soon found out black bream are a little lazier than their yellowfin relatives up north.

It didn't take me too much longer to bag out with my fish measuring 27cm, 28cm and 29.5cm which was a great relief to me as I had hours to find upgrades. With Tristo venturing up the back of the bay, I decided deeper water towards the mouth was for me. This paid off as I upgraded again with a 31.5cm within the next hour which really pumped me up. Soon after we were joined in the shallow bay by some Hobie regulars Scotty Baker, Jason Meech and Kevin Winchester who were struggling to find fish early but keen to try new waters. After handing out some lures to Scotty and Kev, I helped Jason with some stick weight on his lures which had immediate results for him as he started to get onto some good fish. I then decided to pay Tristo a visit up the back of the bay which paid massive dividends as on my arrival I nailed a great kicker fish at 34cm to the fork much to Tristo's disgust as he struggled to upgrade his smaller legals. Sorry Bro!!

As the sun got higher in the sky the bite slowed for me as the bay we were fishing became more populated as word had got around we were onto fish. I decided then it was time for me to move back into the river and work some of the shore banks slowly while making my way back towards the start. This proved a great change as I caught two small bream in quick succession then got nail by a sizable fish that was definitely going to be an upgrade. This fish gave me curry as the fight was played behind the kayak as I had trouble turning the yak and fighting the fish, but as he tired i knew he was mine. Then glory turned to poo, as in a final shake for his salvation, the bream flipped over and the trebles pulled out leaving him lying motionless only a rod length away!!! As I fumbled to find my mini scoop net, I reach out and accidentally touched his tail and he took off like a jet!! Doh.

So we headed back to the weigh in interested to see how the other kayakers faired over this good arena. I was hoping I did ok as I had two good fish on board thinking a top 5 finish would be great. After all anglers weighed in, I finished in second place, earning me a spot in the Hobie Grand Final later in the year!! I was stoked. The totally ironic thing was that first place was won by Jason Meech who had no fish until he came over to me and I helped him out with some sticky weight for his lures!! Ahh well that's fishing.

After having a great start to our Tassie adventure we were off to St Helens for the first round of the ABT Tassie Tour. Hopefully our form can be carried into the next round so we can tame some bigger black bream. Special thanks have to go to www.fishin.com.au for my tackle, Scotty Lovig for our Hobie's and ABT for a running a great comp.