BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW INVITATIONAL 2010

Last weekend I had one of those fishing experiences that will be etched into my memory forever.
After a good result at the Bribie ABT, I was ecstatic to receive a call up for the annual Brisbane International Boat Show Invitational Comp. With this being one of ABT’s showcase events it was pretty hard to contain my excitement as I see this as a pinnacle in my short breaming career. I’m sure my fiancé, my mum and dad were equally happy but sick of me mentioning it everyday leading up to the event as my mind raced through the endless possibilities of outcomes that could unfold over three days of fishing Moreton Bay. Just to get asked to fish it was exciting enough!!
My partner for the event was half of the reigning champion team in Jay Perham, who with Tristan Taylor, took out the 2009 BIBS crown. Over the years, Jay and I have formed an alliance and friendship in fishing teams events together with many laughs and jokes shared along the way. Not only was it exciting to fish my first BIBS but it was even better to share the experience with a good mate. We were chosen to fish for Team Lowrance, who’s affiliation with the boat show continued this year along with being one of Jay’s personal sponsors. With a classy field assembled containing some of Queensland’s best Bream and Bass anglers, this event was going to be nothing short of exciting times.

DAY 1: A stiffening SW wind was forecast to greet us on the first morning of the event. With ABT opening up the boundaries to Moreton Bay, the fishing possibilities were endless let alone the ride was going to be interesting. Jay and I chose to tough out the conditions and head to the infamous Redcliffe. Redcliffe is known for it’s big bream but can still reduce grown men (and women, sorry Trace!!) to tears as the often tentative bite can be testing. On arrival to our first spot (after checking if I still had all my teeth from the bumpy ride!!) we were quick to notice only three of the nine teams decided to make the treacherous trek across the bay. We started working some flats that were knew held fish with Jay coming up trumps with 2 legals (27cm,28cm FL) in the first drift. With the tide rising, we persisted in the shallows as were knew fish would be chasing bait up before the sun got too high. Approaching our first lot of bommies we took a tandem approach on our drift with Jay twitching hardbodies and myself slow rolling shallow divers. This technique proved the killer as while slow rolling my Jackall Chubby it got smashed four to five cranks after landing. This fish felt small at first but as soon loaded up and started to give us hell. Two long runs and big headshakes, I called it for a squire which are very common in these areas but we had seen a flash of silver as that confirmed big bream. Fighting it in the shallows we eventually got him out of some nasty rocky terrain to find a fish notorious to Reddy....39cm fork length bream!! With several high fives and fist pumps we nailed a kicker fish before 8am on the first day!! How good. Jay then pulled a cracker 33cm in the shallows and myself a 28cm in deeper water to fill our bag by 8.15am. Now for a comp like BIBS, it’s essential to get at least 5 fish each day to put yourself in the running. We then move to another spot targeting deeper reefs to only upgrade a few of our smaller ones by a few centimetres.

After a relative quiet patch we waited for the tide change to hit some bommies which I knew held fish but were better attacked on the receding tide. Noticing several bait schools in the area, I change to an Atomic Shad 40 which is quite a small, light lure but when cast with the wind allows you maximum distance with little effort. Twitching this shad over the first bommie it got smashed, again with big head shakes and two decent runs to turn up a solid 34cm bream. Two casts later, Jay applied the same retrieve to his deep diving chubby and BANG!! with that fish going 35cmfork. Next cast I was on again, two twitches and a pause, with this fish going 33.5cm.

Now the next series of events were so hectic we could only look back and laugh. While still twitching my lure I hook up to something which I thought was big but it’s long runs gave away it’s identity... yes tailor, so Jay asks me to break its neck to take it home for dinner. So I take the lure out (chuck it in the water out of harm’s way) and as I reach into the net to seal it’s fate, the rascal tailor turns around and ‘inhales’ my finger!!! In a mad panic I pull my hand away to see bite marks that resemble a Rottweiler mauling , with blood pouring out everywhere!!! So while trying to apply pressure to my mauling as the bleeding wasn’t stopping, I turn around to pass the cursed fish to Jay to do the job right, I hear this ‘metal on metal’ clunk. So in all the chaos, a pike has taken my lure (that I took out of the tailor) it’s taken off and my rod shot into the water only to have my reel handle get snagged on the steering arm of the motor!!! How Funny!! So with the adrenaline flowing through my veins and ultimately out my finger, Jay yells at me to keep fishing as this electric bite may soon come to an end. With electrical tape (which did bugger all) wrapped around my finger, much to Jay’s amusement I pulled another 32.5cm then a 31cm bream which on any other day are awesome fish but this day 33cmwas our smallest.
So this day turned out to be the best tournament fishing day I have ever had at Reddy with the day having everything, big fish, rough seas, vermin pike, and a cracker F.R.I..........Fishing Related Injury!!!We finished the day in second spot weighing 4.45kg with my good mate Tristan Taylor and Scott Lovig from Team Hobie nailing a cracker bag of 4.83kg to hold a good lead into day 2. Roderick Walmesly and Sean Pallent of Team Sunline were in third place with a respectable 4.34kg, with the top 3 teams being the only ones to tough it out across to Reddy to reap the rewards. God bless her!!!



DAY 2: Today the weather showed us some mercy with the overnight winds dying down to a light offshore breeze. After an awesome first day at Reddy, we knew we would have some company today as the rest of the field struggled down in the southern bay on day 1. Would Reddy hold up to the pressure??? Or will it shut down??? These questions were in the back of our minds as we shot to our first spot for the day, hitting an outer reef a few hundred metres from where I nailed my stonker on day 1. Fishing our tandem approach again, Jay twitched shad style lures while I kept to the slow rolling. My second cast of the day pitched right on top of this outer bommie r gets slammed immediately with this big fish exposing it’s back out of the water to try a rapid escape in a foot of water across the top of the bommie. While wrestling this weighty fish it’s headshakes become more intense as Jay motors the boat into deeper water out of harm’s way, giving me ample space to play this awesome fish. After several runs and countless headshakes up she came and did not disappoint at 41.5cm to the fork!!! Oh yeah I was pumped!!! Now to even get a yellowfin bream that big in your life is awesome but to do it at a comp like BIBS I was in heaven!!!So much in heaven, I reckon I made Jay’s ears bleed as I talked at a million miles per hour for the next hour trying to get my heart rate down. Jay wasn’t being left out of the limelight as he then pulled a fat 35cm fork bream while cranking a deep reef nearby and day 2 was shaping up to be exactly like day 1. But Reddy had different ideas, as clearing skies and dropping wind turn fishing into a semi shutdown. We then decided to visit the scene on day 1’s onslaught as the tide was approaching the top and the fishing was slowing down. Soon after our stop Jay hooked up on a big bream, as he fought him away from the reef, I motored us into deeper water to limit the risk of being busted off. As the fish arced underneath us, Jay’s leader popped much to his bitter disappointment. Being busted off at Reddy is a common occurrence so at the end of the day you just have to soldier on. We then picked up two legals at 26cm and 27cm fork which left us one fish to get to fill our bag. After seeing other boats come and go we knew people were struggling as well as us, so we knew we had to tough it out.
We returned to our first stop of the day and as the tide started it’s run out we fished deep cranks on the off chance fish were still feeding deep and out of the sunlight. With morale dropping with the tide, we were staring down the barrel of not filling our bag. Then out of the blue, bang I was on. I have never played a fish so carefully in my life (actually I think it was TOO careful!!) and as it came up I knew it was a good bag filler. It went on the lie detector at 32cm fork and my day was done. So after a hard fought day we weighed in the biggest bag of the day at 3.18kg to hit the lead, a mere 40g in front on Team Hobie with Team Sunline a further 770g back.


DAY 3: Taking a 40g lead into the final day was a new thing for me as I have had little experience being in the lead of a big comp. So our theory for the final day was treat it like a first day and get onto fish early. As our spots had produced over the weekend, we decided to keep the momentum going by sticking to our milk run early then if all else fails PANIC!! Hahaha just kidding. We had backup spots that we hadn’t even touched over the weekend so it’s good to have something up our sleeve. On arrival to our first stop, the site of yesterday’s big fish battle, it didn’t take Jay too long to hook our first fish a nice solid 30cm fork. Now for any tournament angler avoiding the dreaded ‘donut’ is a priority in all comps let alone the third day of BIBS, so this was a monkey off our back for sure. Soon after it was my turn, on the same bommie that produced our day two kicker fish, my shallow chubby got smashed by a healthy 32cm fork. What a great start!! We then did the rest of our milk run to no avail, followed by a move to another one of our spots to see if that was firing…. no good, only one legal at 25cm fork. As the sun was getting higher in the sky and time was ticking, we expected the bite to shut down so we went to plan B….. which was created within 5 mins while driving to a spot we haven’t tried!!! (Locals, who you calling locals!!). So we tried our luck at Woody Point which has not fired since last summer but has a reputation to hold fish, not sizable but legals. With the SE wind whipping up, I was forced to surf the waves on the electric motor as Jay pitched long wind assisted casts into the rubble flats. As my multi-tasking were being tested to the max, I was the first to pull a fish, not big but legal to make our bag total 4. Then it was Jay’s turn, again not big but right on the legal limit of 26cm tail tip. So our moved paid off with the only problem being weight. Three small fish could really come back to hurt us in the end as Jay’s calculations ran rampant in his head. We then moved to another new spot only to have our hearts broken by a 32cm squire as it’s strong runs had us fooled for a big bream. So it was off back to our milk run hoping the tide had turned not only the water but our luck for big fish. After several drifts and casts, the morale was fading as time was definitely running out.

As an awesome gesture of comradeship, Roderick and Sean from Team Sunline offered to chaperon us home as the SE winds were getting angry. Much to our tenacity (or stupidity!!) we chose to stay another 15mins as I was adamant to Jay my job was not done. I joked to Jay on the first day I was only there for ‘good looks and upgrading’, so after two days of doing just that I wasn’t finished. As we drifted across a bommie in 10ft of water, Jay had his doubts as I was certain reef was below us and then suddenly I felt a hit…… then another…. then bang, I was on!!! With a last throw of the dice, I felt good weight from this fish as it’s furious runs and countless headshakes had me certain it was a big bream!! We saw a flash of silver as it past deep with my Samurai 203 rod taking all the shocks of each headshakes and as a final run it took off under the boat to then have it surrendered to the net with only one treble hook left pinned in its lip!! How awesome!!! Now all weekend my heartrate has had some serious spikes but this last fish with 5mins before we had to leave was no exception. With countless high fives and ‘I won Gold Lotto’ like yells, I was certain we weren’t going down without a fight.

From day one Jay was adamant that Roderick and Sean were the darkhorse team to watch as Roderick’s fishing skill and knowledge, let alone his knowledge of Reddy, was impeccable. So as we suffered through the back breaking yet invigorating ride home(Got to love the Bay!!), we were certain a podium spot was definitely ours if not the top honours. After the final weigh in at the Brisbane International Boat Show, Jay and I finish a proud second with Team Sunline’s 4.05kg final bag, smashing a 770g deficit to take out the title with Tristan Taylor and Scotty Lovig’s Team Hobie securing third spot.


After having an absolute blast of a weekend I am still pinching myself to wake up out of this dream. To firstly get selected to fish and then finish second was certainly a pinnacle in my career. I’d like to congratulate Roderick and Sean of their wonderful victory, well fished guys. Also thank you to Simon Goldsmith and Steve Morgan from ABT for letting me fish and for another smoothly run comp. To my fellow BIBS competitors, great job on lasting three days of comp fishing and sharing heaps of laughs with us, it was priceless!!! Thank you also to friends and family for the ongoing support throughout the comp as it got us through the quiet times. In closing, I believe the BIBS commentator Bill Corten summed up my weekend after interviewing me on day two quoting ‘ he has a smile like a Cheshire cat’ and believe me if you had a fishing weekend like mine, you would too!!

Happy Breaming,

Grayson