TASSIE ADVENTURES Pt 3 (THE DERWENT SHOWDOWN)

To all who have been following this Tassie series, sorry for the delay in the final chapter to this adventure. Our last port of call was the infamous Derwent River in Hobart which in the past years have produced some massive five fish bags ensuring the ABT circuit makes this destination a must on the yearly calender.

After having a field day at Anson's, Tristo and I made the trek back to Hobart straight after fishing all day. The six hour drive was made interesting by forgetting to fill up petrol back in St Helen's only to find out the nearest petrol station was 10k's out of Hobart. (riding the clutch down hills was the key!!)

So we finally met back up with the crew in Hobart and I must say is one of the best parts of travelling for comps. The guys I stayed with this year were all accomplished fisherman who had earned respect from their peers due to their knowledge, past performances and consistency. Chatting to these guys and gaining knowledge, I believe is essential for me to grow to become a better angler. Also their ability to keep you well amused through sledging was priceless!!

Deciding to give the next day prefish a miss due to tiredness (and laziness), it was awesome to see all the anglers at the briefing as there was a collective buzz that big fish were on the cards for this comp. My boaters I drew for this comp were local guns in Andrew Wells, owner of TACKLE US in Hobart and Andrew Krushka, a respected consistent bream angler, so I was keen to smash some bream after the wind was definitely in the sails following our epic day at Anson's.

Day one started overcast and drizzly with it being our first experience of wet weather for the trip. Andrew W and I headed way up river to our first spot to hit a shallow weedy edge where Andrew found good fish the previous day. I started the day throwing my Anson's destroyer the Smith DD Panish where Andrew opted for the black bream fav the Daiwa Presso 6F. Running 4lb leader on 6lb mainline I was adamant not to lose this lure as it was the only one Spiro gave me!!! Andrew drew first blood of the morning with a nice 28cm in the well after half a dozen casts which was good to know fish were around. I follow soon after with a robust 29cm bream which well and truly calm the nerves as I didn't come to Tassie to eat donuts!!!
Andrew then went on a rampage filling his bag in quick succession with some good fish with his biggest at 39cm looking a little worse for wear after swallowing his lure. I have learnt over the years if you have a sick fish, don't keep checking it too much as it takes away a lot of fishing time, time where you could be smashing more bream. With the score at 5-1 to Andrew, it was time to get my act into gear or I was going to be left behind!!

Now the next 45 minutes was some of the best fishing I've ever had in a comp, where I went from one fish, to a full bag in 15 minutes, to upgrading my 29cm with a 36cm stonker, to then upgrading my bag of 36ers (Yes, 36cm was the smallest at that time!!!) with a 38cm even bigger stonker, to finally upgrading again with a 40cm mini dump truck of a bream!!! Now this sort of situation has never happened to me in my breaming career but I'm rest assured it will be etched into my memory for the rest of my life. I think my grin could of been seen from Lindisfarne where the final weigh in was to take place!!

After hitting a few more of Andrew's other spots quickly we were off to the weigh in as one Andrew's fish was still looking a little dodgey (At 39cm, we didn't want this bad boy to die!!) Andrew was first to weigh in with an impressive 4.49kg for his five fish which gave me confidence that my first over 4kg bag was well in reach. Being next up, I was pretty nervous with anticipation as I knew I had good fish in my bag but when weighmaster Chris hit that final button I was gobsmacked!!! My total weight for day one was a whopping 5.16kg which left me in third place but too be honest my comp was already won. To experience that awesome session with big fish to boot was truly the essence that drives my breaming addiction. Thank you Derwent River.

On day two I think I was still coming down from the high I was on, where fishing seemed really relaxed for me. I wasn't too sure whether it was a combination of 'fishing exhaustion' after fishing 7 of the last 8 days or whether my Tassie adventure has had so many crescendos that no matter today's result I was leaving Tassie on a high. Day two panned out a little less exciting than the previous day with Andrew Krushka and I not getting onto schools of fish but more like finding the odd one here and there. Andrew finished the day with four fish to keep him in the top ten which was an awesome feat knowing the calibre of his fellow boaters where I was to finish the day with two fish with the biggest being 38cm to the fork to give me a tournament total of 6.975kg and leaving me in 7th place!! A top ten finish in an arena I've never fished....Awesome!!!

Now that our Tassie adventure was coming to a close, I would be the first to admit it was seriously a trip of a lifetime. In ten days, I learnt years and years worth of fishing knowledge, met some great anglers, had sore ribs from laughing too much and made some awesome friends. I don't know about you but what more can a serious angler (or any bloke!!)ask for. It really was an insight into a the essence of fishing to me where keeping an open mind, staying relaxed and having fun proved to be the best recipe for an awesome fishing trip.

I have heaps of people to thank for making my Tassie experience priceless; Graham 'the zucchini man' Franklin, Phil 'the eternal non-boater' Nix, Mark 'Yeah Dawg' Healey and Cam 'The most knowledgable Gui-Low I know' Whittam. Thanks heaps guys for the endless laughs and hope to see you next year. Finally my biggest thanks goes to my good mate and fishing mentor Tristo Taylor, who's search for the 'endless good time' is enough drive to keep my life relaxed and full of laughs as it's all to easy to get caught up in life's complications. Cheers bud, I'm be your wingman anytime. Happy Breaming.