2010 Hobie-ABT Kayak Series Round 8 Westlakes SA

[blueyak]

Well done to Tim on the first place with an impressive bag.
And good to see you on the podium again GregL.

And congrats to someone who picked up his first lil jew

[Buff]

Could only get 10th place but had a great time and am so happy to see SA will be getting another round next year (have already ordered some new lures to try and boost my chances for next year) .

A Great big thanks to the ABT organisers, Hobie, Hogs Breath and the great crew from Binks for the time and effort put in to bring the event to Adelaide .

Also a great big thanks to all the guys that travelled from so far away to fish this round for without your attendance SA would not have had a second chance to fish a local ABT event .

I definitely learnt a lot on the weekend,
1. Get your PFD out of the car Before the start
2. Don’t rush putting on your PFD in the dark as snapping the tip off your rod can put a little dampener on the day
3. Take note that the bottle of Dizzy Garlic scent has been sitting in the sun a little too long before using your teeth to hold the cap while undoing the bottle.
Exploding Garlic scent all over your face and shirt ain’t the Best Look.

A couple of shots of the weekend (didn't get many as I was way to busy casting playing catch up)

Day One
One of the Locals using the KISS system


Race for the finish


The finish line




Day Two
With so many little fish I switched to some Bigger lures to find the bigger fish.
It didn't Work


Steve Fields 5th place + 2nd Pro


Liam 4th place


Ben 3rd place


Greg 2nd place


Tim with the finer points on Bream Juggling



Had a ball and for any SA’er that was humming and haring about entering one of these events give it a go its will be some of the best fun you can have on the water.
You don’t need fancy gear and as for a live well Liam had a very simple system with a battery aerator and kept doing some water changes and with this put a Lot of us older farts to shame .

[GregL]

Nice write up Buff...
Well another round has been and gone, and to all those who made the effort to get there - and compete (you know who you are ) - a massive thankyou from all of us at Hobie.
We suspected that the numbers would be fairly low, but with only 8 locals turning up for Day 1, we were very surprised - and especially grateful to the interstaters who had made the big effort to get there!
Still, the event went off without a hitch, and it was great speaking to the locals after the event - all of whom had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were keen to do more in the future, and many also said that they were sure that they will be able to get there mates to get involved in the future. Some of the guys had been bitten by the bug immediately and quizzed me about getting to some of the rounds we have left, and I'm pretty sure we'll see a couple of them at Marlo at least. Fingers crossed we can look forward to a much bigger local turn out when we bring the series back to a different venue in SA next season.
Another awesome result, was that the three guys who qualified in this round for the GF - Liam, Ben and Tim - are all from the local SA area, and they are absolutely stoked to be coming to NSW for the big one!

And speaking of stoked, yes, you guessed it, the Smeg is also stoked with his result - although I am getting a bit over these bloody locals knocking me off top spot on Day 2 (same thing happened at Redcliffe)
For next series I am going to get Steve drunk when the rules are being sorted out, and there will be a 250km radius around each venue, and if you live within that zone, you can't compete!!

Anyway guys, Walpole is the next one - hoping to get some thumpers over there and a decent turnout from the locals, and then it's the one that I know everyone's been talking about.....TAAAAAAAAAAAASSIE.....(froths uncontrollably).....

[Shorty]

Is that an AI setup in Buffs third picture ?

Sorry the locals keep knocking you off Greg,,if you can't beat the motley crew of local degrenrates we have lined up at the Pole they must be something seriously wrong with you

[Buff]

Is that an AI setup in Buffs third picture ?

Yep you spotted it
Binks had a few demo Yaks there on the day for those not fishing to come and try

[Kelvin11]

I finished a stretch of night shifts on saturday morning so missed out fishing on day 1. After getting a few hours of sleep I dropped down to Bink to pick up a few upgrade parts to upgrade my Mirage Drive from a V1 to V2 (upgrade sprockets and masts). Also picked up some ST fins. I spent about an hour during the afternoon changing over the parts, packet my gear, and had an early nights sleep.

At midnight I was suddenly wide awake. I really hate night shift sometimes. No matter what I did I could not get back to sleep. I left home 4am and was first to arrive on Sunday, picking up tag no 1. In no time at all I was loaded at the waters edge and went for a quick spin. The ST fins worked great. I was also happy to see my homemade livewell (30L Esky, a cheap battery operated camping shower, some tube and lots of all clear) worked great.

It was awesome to meet some of the local and interstate Yakkers and see their rigs. Everyone was very friendly and the mood was good. The Proanglers really dominated the field and I can see why they are so popular for comp fishing. The start was good fun with everyone heading south from the launch site at a fast pace. The PA really held the pace well and I soon dropped back in the field.


I started fishing at the north western end of the island and soon was onto a small bream on a lightly weighed gulp shrimp. I soon hooked a good fish which fought down deep. I was sure I had on a good fish and was slightly disappointed when a flounder slid into view. It was a PB flounder for me and went over 40cm on the ruler. I decided to sacrifice some livewell space and slid the flounder in to join me for dinner.

A couple of small bream later I came across a small bait school being harassed. I picked up a ST before casting in close to a pontoon and scoring a good hookup. I soon had a nice 31cm to the fork bream in the net. The fish took a 2 1/2 inch gulp minnow in black (Emerald Shiner) fished on a 1/16 jig head, 6lb fluror and 2lb fireline crystal.

Soon after I hooked another good fish which powered into the pontoon chains, pulling a heap of drag before rubbing me off. Other than a few more small bream, that was it for the day. My fish went just over 500g on the scales and swam off strongly. I am left dreaming about my missed second fish and what could have been. But I was delighted to take home a big flounder which was dusted in flour, pan fried and served with a butter, lemon and parsley sauce.

I had a great time and would love to fish the event again. My $50 livewell worked great and easily kept the bream and flounder alive all day. A big thanks to the organizers and sponsors, ABT, Hobie, Binks, and Hogs Breath for a well run event. I am sure the next SA event will draw a great crowd.

[solatree]

Nice on Kelvin - good report. Flounder - yum. You'll have to post details of your $50 live well Any idea why your bream got missed off the list ?

[Kelvin11]

I'm not sure why I am not on the list. I remember catching a bream and weighing it in I have emailed Simon from ABT and am sure it is just a simple mistake.


Livewell was made from a K Mart camp shower which takes D cell batteries. I already had a 30L Esky and it was a simple matter of drilling a few holes connecting an outlet pipe and sealing it all up. No pics as my computer broke.

[Kelvin11]

All Fixed

http://www.bream.com.au/modules.php?nam ... le&sid=576