HOBIE BREAM GRAND FINAL 2010 - Forster Tuncurry NSW

Last weekend I had the privilege to compete in the Hobie Bream GF held in the bream haven waters of Forster Tuncurry, just north of Newcastle. After qualifying through good results at Redcliffe and Scamander, I was pretty excited to not only fish the grand final but to fish a system as notorious as Forster.

Over the years Forster has a reputation to reduce grown men to tears with it's abundance of oyster crunching 'kilo plus' bream just waiting for any angler willing to back themselves fishing the plethora of oyster racks that line this system. With ABT being regular visitors to this venue over the years, it made sense to test the newbies to the ABT circuit. My travel partners for this trip were fellow Queenslanders Tristan Taylor, Redcliffe guru and chick magnet Will Lee and Sunny coast Hobie dealership owner Mal Gray. We would be meeting up with some other maroons who were nice enough to bring our rods down in Raymond Stork and Nick Meredith. Our 'State of Origin' was starting a few weeks earlier with all the guys fired up for a big match.

DAY 1 : Forty nine anglers lined up for the 7am start, all chomping at the bit to get out and smash some bream. The best part of the Hobie GF is that all kayaks are supplied by Hobie Australia, not only are they the top of the line 'Pro Angler' model but they are brand new to keep all anglers on a level playing field. This was my second time in the Pro Angler and since the last outing I had learned a few things. Being vertically challenged, my leg length was a genetic disadvantage last time but a quick trip down to Kmart the day before for a pillow would prove to be the best thing since Subway's meatball sub. With the shotgun start, anglers quickly shot out of the harbour with the incoming tide to beat their rivals to their favourite spots.

My game plan was to hit the flats outside Wallis Island first which we found to hold fish on the previous day's prefish. I started the day throwing the Dog X Jr in a 'Grayson's home pimping colour' with my other rod rigged with an Atomic Crank 38 mid diver in ghost gill brown. As my regular readers would know, I find the dog to be a great fish finding tool.... especially in two foot of water!!! It wasn't too long till I was onto fish as the windless morning was ideal for fishing topwater. My Dog X jr was producing fish at a great rate but size was a real struggle. With the legal limit being 25cm to the fork, I had nabbed three 22cm and one 24cm to leave me fishless and frustrated for the first hour of the day. As the wind picked up, I searched for broken weed patches to try my hand slow rolling an Atomic mid crank 38 to fire up these big Forster bream. Third cast in I nailed my first legal of the comp at 27cm much to my relief, as there wasn't going to be any doughnut eating for Grayson today!! I continued on drifting with the breeze to only catch more undersize fish which got me thinking where to now?? Previous to the comp Tristo had showed me where Tim Morgan and Michael Starkey had won MegaBream back in March so in the back of my mind that area was an option to go to with only one minor snag.... it was going to be a long paddle!!!! After debating with my non boater (my 27cm bream!!) I decided to make the long run.

Fifty minutes into the tide and wind seemed like an eternity but I finally hit my destination which was a small island next to Yahoo Island which was surrounded by shallow broken weedy flats which resembled the shallow flats of Peel Island in Qld. With the wind being my foe on the trip it proved to be my friend as the wind swept shore provided the next hours' entertainment. Working the shallow rubble grounds on the wind swept side of the island, I punched a mid crank with the wind to maximise my covered area without spooking the fish,which produced a nice 29cm bream within minutes of arriving. While holding position in the wind was hard, I faced my kayak into the wind to cast perpendicular to work the flats effectively. I then filled my bag with another nice 29cm which satisfied my choice of making the long run. But I wasn't done yet, as I knew this untouched area still had fish and a kicker was somewhere out there. Having a house brick as an anchor (Hobie Brick Anchor - $49.95 release date March 2097, see www.hobie.com for NO details hahaha) helped me slow my drift as time was running out for me to upgrade and start the long 1.30hr trip home. Then on my last drift, my lure got smashed on the splash down with this fish keen to give me curry before surrendering. After tangled lines, stuck net, me facing backwards and the wind blowing me to shore, I landed my kicker bream at 32cm!!! Great upgrade and I was out of there. I finished the day equal 11th only some 500g off the lead. First day honours went to breaming young gun Jordy Trusty who managed a great bag of 2.32kg.

DAY 2 : After a great sleep (probably from paddling so much) I was pretty fired up for day two. My plan was to make the long run up again to my spot in the hope I left some fish there for today. As I trucked my way up to Wallis lake I slowly watched everyone peel off the procession of Hobies to their day two spots to find a good bag as the title was still open to most. As I finally made it to my spot (1.40hr against the tide today), I decided to work surface first with my crank rigged again for another assault. First cast of the day, BANG!! my dog got smashed only to find out it was a filthy flatty much to my disgust. Then two cast later, bang again, 34cm whiting!! ARRGGHH!! All good fish, were about.

Today's conditions were much calmer than the previous day's, which turned out to play a bigger part than I thought. With no wind to stir the bait, I believe it change the whole area's feeding pattern. So after hundreds of casts, many drifts and decreasing hope, I finally left the area with only one legal after sifting through dozens of undersize bream and flathead. I put all my eggs in one basket and today it didn't pay!!! That's fishing for you.

I finished the Grand Final in 28th place which I was happy with as I learnt a lot over the weekend (Paddling 20km each day does that to you!!!). In hindsight you could always do things different if the day never goes your way but learning from your experiences I think is valuable for me to become a better angler, so my lesson was learnt. Congratulations to Dan Brown, who's flawless two days won him the title for 2010 with noted performances from Tassie Andrew Krushka and Jordy Trusty who all fished great to earn their spot on the podium. Of our group Nick Meredith finished 14th, Tristan Taylor 16th, Will Lee 22nd, Mal Gray 39th and Raymond Stork 43rd. Don't worry guys we'll get them next year!!

I'd like to thank the guys for making the weekend such a blast, full of laughs and sledging which makes our sport all that much more fun!!!!

Happy Breaming,

Grayson

P.S. Thank you Ferdinando from www.fishin.com.au for your continuing support. Cheers.

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.