One of the things with these comps is you can pre-fish your heart out and hatch a great plan but all that effort can be thrown out the window when 90 odd boats leave a few minutes before you and get first dibs on any of the spots they like.
You can imagine my suprise when I looked up to see that one of my go to blading spots had been completely left alone, the other had 2 boats in the area so i bolted to the available spot and got to work with an ecogear vx 35. Just a few casts in and a fiesty little 26 tip was in the well, a few minutes later and a much better fish was taking drag and doing all the right stuff. I was pretty stoked to pull a 34 fork length out of the murky water and let it join its mate in the hobie live well.
My initial plan was to just fish this spot for ten minutes or so while the field got settled in to fishing their chosen spots then head out to the main river and work the structure on the edges. Ten minutes turned into an hour because i got sidetracked by the awesome whiting on blades fishing i was having. It was a fish every other cast with some real thumpers coming in, I kept thinking the next one would be a good bream but I couldn't get past the whiting it seemed.
I eventually woke up to myself and moved out ot the main river where the field of boat and kayaks had now dispersed into all parts of the system, in fact I only saw a few other competitors for the next few hours.
I spent the next few hours just cruising down river casting at any structure I came across and in no time i had my bag finished. From there i just continued doing the same uprading slowly as i went.
I was having a great session and 'as you do' I was thinking the other guys/girls were all having a similar day.
I try not to think about what everyone else is doing but in my head Jason Reid, Jason Lambert, Luke Kay and a few of the others all had great bags. I was guessing 1.5kg for my bag at the time and thought I'd need over 2 kilo's to be in the running. The upgrades kept coming but they were small upgrades at best where you'd look at 2 fish and keep the fat twin. Eventually a few better ones came aboard and i picked up another few hundred grams but didn't think my bag would rate.
At about 12.30 i cruised back to the blading spot I started at to find the same plague of whiting still there and pretty much finished the session there.
I really think we will see a 3kilo plus bag come out of the harbour in a kayak comp soon, so i was pretty amazed when i took honours for the day with 1.725kilos.
Heres a few pics from the pre-fish and the final weigh in.
- I added this phot because i get a few like this every time i take photos on my own. Dam those spikey bream lol
- Name the spot occy.
- Rebel1 got a bag.
- woot woot
Well done to Shane Taylor and Shorty for taking the other places and to Jason Lambert for pulling big bream.
Big props to all the crew from basin lure and fly for runnig this event. This event has grown so much in the last few years and the hard work they all put into is really noted appreciated by everyone who attends. It was also great to see one of the sponsors Josh Batterson from skeeter boats take out the boating division.
Great to see everyone out there,
Stewie.
and well done to all the placegetters.
