HOBIE ABT KAYAK SERIES - ST GEORGES BASIN

What a round, one of my favourites so far...

Rather than go off on a massive 2500 word + rant on the St Georges Basin round of the Hobie Kayak Tournament series, I thought I would let others do it justice. Craig and Jason have spread the good word on the Australian Kayak Fishing Forum and commented on results, weather, experience and overall outcomes. To touch on what they said wouldn’t do the comp justice (Or KFA dedication to Kayak Tournaments) so below are their experiences (First Jason’s text, then Craig’s).

Jason 'Squidder' Price wrote:

“We arrived bleary-eyed at 5.10am, to see that most of the competitors had already arrived. At the briefing we were warned of high winds forecast around lunchtime (but none of us expected the cyclonic conditions that eventuated. We were also given awesome snack bags with fruit / chocolate / muesli bars / muffin bars and as many water bottles as we needed, it was the first time I'd experienced this and massive thanks to the local Hobie dealer who organised this, and the sausage sizzle afterwards.”

“After the countdown, there were people going in every direction, I waited to see where everyone went and then started off towards a distant bank where nobody else was heading. I had a few casts with surface walkers, caught a few tailor, and then Paffoh arrived and caught a legal fish first cast from right under my nose. Leaving him that patch of fish, I headed for the weed beds visible a few hundred metres up the bank, and after two more tailor I got a smashing surface hit, which gave a couple of head shakes then came in very easily. I thought it was a small Flathead initially, but when a mega bream appeared and just swam into the net I couldn't believe it. He ended up 36cm to the fork and 0.96kg, and missed out being the Boss Hog by 40 grams (Well done Peter!). “

“The wind got up a bit so I tied on a cup faced popper which gave off a bit more splash, and managed another legal off a weed edge which went 29cm. At this point the wind really started to hammer, so I tried anchoring up and casting surface lures with the wind for distance, but it was tough, so set off in search of more sheltered waters. Met up with Paff and Craig on the way, Craig had a full well and had upgraded several times, while Paff had picked up another nice fish for 2 in the well. We headed our separate ways again, and the wind dropped away again. I tried edges for about an hour but the bite had shut down, so tied on a blade and hit the open water, and was lucky enough to pick up a just legal 25cm fish, and then quickly upgraded him to 27cm, amongst a steady stream of pinkies, small bream, whiting, and a ripper Tarwhine which nearly pulled my arms off. “

“At this stage the wind started up again, and steadily increased. And then at about 12am a southerly sprung up and started really blowing its guts out, to the point where it was quite dangerous to be on the water. As soon as I saw people start to pull in at the weigh in point I headed in too, it was chaos with a nasty shore break flooding everyones yaks, there were quite a few reels which needed some TLC after being dunked. The next hour consisted of making sure fish stayed alive for the weigh in, which was tricky because the gusty breeze had blown over the tents. Major Props to the Hobie and ABT guys for running a professional comp, despite the very trying conditions. My bag ended up going 1.90kg, the same as Craig450, but I ended up a place ahead of him in 3rd because I had a bigger fish (Sorry mate!). Congrats to Peter Wood who weighed a monster bag, for a well deserved win, and also well done to Jason Meech who seems to finish top 3 in every comp he fishes. It was also great to see Paffoh get 6th for his best ever tournament bag, well done mate.”

Craig '450' Coughlan wrote:

“No apology needed mate, if anyone was going to beat me that way I’m glad it was you. I’m pretty damn happy with 4th place to be honest, I would have been happy enough with top 10 so I’ve exceeded my own expectations. The weather conditions were ideal to begin with, overcast and a nice gentle breeze being just enough to have a nice slow drift, but I knew it was going to come up pretty bad so I wanted to make the most of it while I could. The plan was to fish deep open water at first until the wind came up then find some shelter wherever I could and fish the edges. Within the first 45mins to an hour I had my 3 fish limit and 30mins later I had my first upgrade, and ended up upgrading 5-6times a cm or 2 at a time (Fishing blades in deep water).”

“The wind got up a bit so I chose to head back towards the weigh in and fish a sheltered bank nearby, but once we got back there the wind died right off again so i continued with the blades and ended up drifting slowly all the way back to where i had just been scoring plenty of fish along the way. I fished with Paff for the 2nd half of the day and watched him secure his bag limit then begin upgrading as well which was great to see. I knew Squidder would get his bag limit, and with the size of the big one he already had I knew he would weigh a heavier bag than me, but at the scales we went the same weight to the gram which was a real suprise to me!”

“I used the same lure all day and only changed to a different colour of the same blade in the last 30mins but couldn’t manage another upgrade. Paff and I started to head back at about 11:45am and about half way back is when the predicted wind shot up and we found ourselves in the middle of the bay in some pretty nasty conditions but made it back a little wet but safe, I’m just glad we didn’t put off heading back another 10mins. That place is the best fishery, and i really hope we see another ABT event held there in the future. Congrats to everyone that weighed fish, and well done to the top place anglers. Also a big thank you to the guys from Outdoors and beyond (Hobie dealer in Nowra) for the BBQ and lunch packs which were awesome.”

“Also, thanks to Jim and Wes from Basin lure and fly for the support boat!"

NSW - CLYDE RIVER WEEKEND 17/1/10

After a hearty dinner at Hogs Breath with friends, Craig had promised to take me to his secret jewie spot. We spent well over an hour collecting live prawns and poddy mullet for bait, and fished a deep hole in the river (which the sounder reckoned was full of big fish) for several hours without losing a bait. Still enjoyable though and I’m starting to realize why jewies are such a prized fish.

We had tentatively arranged to meet up with mate Brenton for a kayak fish in the Clyde River on Sunday, but after fishing very late the night before both Craig and I slept through our alarms, and arrived at the launch site just as Brenton was packing up after having already been out! We will be more punctual next time!

I was determined to catch a bream on a blade, so armed with some new purchases and some golden tips from Craig I commenced casting and jigging around the bridge at Nelligen, and almost immediately came up tight on a nice bream that went 26cm to the fork. An encouraging start, but that was pretty much all the interest we got with the blades, so switched over to fishing plastics deep. Craig showed his flounder catching prowess with two handsome specimens.

As soon as we found some shallower water we changed tactics again, Craig fished a much lighter jighead with wrigglers, and I changed to suspending minnows jerked over the weed beds. Despite the dirty water from the previous day’s rain, the bream were quite willing with a couple of nice ones landed, many between 20-24cm.

I was smoked by a big fish early on which grabbed the minnow on the pause, gave a few head shakes, then headed for the mangroves at warp speed. The hooks pulled just before he reached them, saving me a lost lure, and wondering what might have been. I was stoked to catch a nice little EP soon after that, and then an aggressive gar just before we pulled the pin.

Although the day way grey and drizzly for the main part, it was great to have a fun and relaxing session, and catch a few nice fish to boot

NSW - NAROOMA (WAGONGA INLET) 11/1/10

We have had some pretty windy days here on the south coast lately, so i decided to take the boat down to Narooma this morning and chase some Jewies with livebait. I picked up my mate at 4am and got to Narooma at around 5am, and set off for one of my marks. We Dropped the anchor and set out a burley trail and within 5mins we had hundreds of yakkas under the boat so getting the livies was not a problem, i sent one down on the heavy overhead combo and started to flick plastics around.

A few casts into it i came up tight on the plastic, only to drop it as soon as i applied pressure then the same thing happened 4 times on the way back to the boat then just as the SP was almost out of the water a big squid came up and had another shot at it along with one of his buddies following behind, we got the first one in then quickly dropped the SP and got the buddy in the net too. I sent out one of the heads unweighted and let it drift in the slow moving current, and set it in the rod holder and turned just in time to see my O/H combo loading up with weight so i grabbed the rod and set the hooks but dropped the fish, so i free spooled back to the bottom and hooked up straight away this time the hook grabbed, the first fish of the day was a flatty at 65cm.

A good start but not exactly what we were after, so on with another livie and sent livebait number two down hoping he would turn into a Jewfish while he was down there. 30mins had passed with no action so i thought i would check on my livies health and picked the rod up and started to wind, only to find that something wanted to stay down there and keep my yakka. The heavy O/H combo made light work of the flatties, so after a short fight we had flatty number two in the boat, which measured at 75cm and a very fat fish.

I thought it was about time to check the rod with the squid head bait, and just as i reached out to grab it, the rod bent in half and line started to scream, after a bit of a struggle to get it out of the rod holder i set in for the fight but could nothing but watch line dissapear off the reel, then all of a sudden the line went limp and it was all over. Once i retreived what line was still out, i found the leader knot had let go, which serves me right for not re-tying my leader last night before i left, i have no idea what kind of fish it was, but for now im calling it for a 22.4kg Jewfish (22.4kg, quite accurate eh? - Ed).

Our spot had gone a bit quiet, so we decided to move to another mark stored in the gps that i fished on a visit late last year, sounded the drop off to the deep hole and set our livebaits again and within 5mins the livie was hit and small amounts of line were stripped from the reel. This one didnt feel much like a flatty, putting up much more of a fight than most so it left me wondering, but it wasnt long before we got the first glimpse of it in the crystal clear water, it was indeed a flatty, and a PB too of 80cm.

That was the only fish from that spot so after moving around to a few different marks, we decided the wind was too strong now and called it a day.

KFA KITCHEN - SNAPPER W/ LIME AND GINGER

I recently returned home from a trip to the Sth Coast NSW with some smallish snapper around 45cm. Having not prepared a lot of snapper for the table, I wanted to keep it fairly simple and not spoil the fish.

I found a recipe that is fairly easy to prepare and most of the ingredients can be found in the kitchen at any given time. The verdict from the tasting crew was quite favourable so please enjoy.


1 whole red snapper (approx 1.5kg), cleaned and scaled

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

3 spring onions, chopped

1 tomato, seeded and diced

1 lime

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 lemon

Pinch of sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
   
   Make three slashes across each side of the fish using a sharp knife and then place the fish in a shallow baking dish or roasting pan.
   
   Cover each side of the fish with fresh ginger, then spring onions and tomatoes. Season with sea salt, then slice half of the lime and place the slices on top of the fish. Drizzle with the soy sauce, and squeeze the other half of the lime over the fish.
   
   Cut the lemon in half and set in the pan and then cover the whole dish with aluminum foil.
   
   
2. Bake the fish until the flesh can be flaked with a fork, about 20 minutes.
   
   Squeeze the baked lemon halves over the fish before serving.
   
   

KFA Kitchen tips:

• A nice accompaniment with this meal is a crisp Riesling, or for the beer lovers, a Kronenburg or Stella

NSW - WAGONGA INLET & CLYDE RIVER 8/1/10

Thursday 7/1/10

Its been a few months since my last visit to Narooma so i decided to do the trip down on Thursday morning to see whats biting. Luke (username Fishwhisperer from AKFF) PM'ed me through the week to let me know he was coming down and agreed to join me, so we met at my house at about 7:30am and set off straight away.
The whole trip down we drove through light rain, but upon arrival the lake was glassy calm with not a breath of wind. We started off in Forsters bay, i was throwing blades while luke was flicking SP's. I hooked the first of many tiny pinky Snapper about 10mins into it, then shortly after landed a decent Flattie on the edge of a weedbed with the blade, that fish ended up in Lukes fish bag for him to take home for dinner.

We drifted slowly along the edge of the weedbed with the tide, hooking up but dropping a few more Flatties. We worked the area for a while then decided to head to a point where i had a good session on my last visit, and just as we got moving i heard a noise and looked back to see a feild of Tailor busting up on the surface, we quickly spun the yaks around and flicked the blade straight into the middle of it all and started to rip it back, after about 4-5 turns of the handle i hooked up. Luke got his blade out and hooked up straight away, then while he was fighting that one i got mine back out and hooked up again.

They were only an average size of about 35cm but a bit of fun on the ultra light gear, they vanished after that last fish so we moved on to the point we were originally heading for but once we arrived i was dissapointed to find there was nothing happening so we pedaled to the south end of the inlet to pull over and have some lunch and a beer, Luke did a fine job organising lunch and after recharging we set off again to fish the shallower south end. On my 2nd cast after lunch, the blade got hit and what felt like a good fish started to pull some drag, then shortly after the hooks pulled so i opened the bailarm and let the lure drop, and the fish came back for another go and stayed connected this time, after a nice little fight i boated a 32cm Trevally which is my first Trev on a blade.

We fished pretty much as far down towards the sanctuary zone as we could, with no more fish apart from the usual tiny Snapper and both of us dropping a few reasonable fish so we chose to head north again and fish the Lake where the channel drops in, lucky we were in small crafts because there were boats everywhere so we pretty much just stopped in the only spot available and continued to catch the tiny Snapper again. I soon got bored with that so pedaled the short distance back to the weedbed we fished at the start of the day, plenty of hits, and dropped fish before i finally hooked up again, this felt like a good fish, a Flatty approx 65-70cm came up beside me then took one last dive and cut my leader and made off with my favourite blade.

I was a little cranky after that so i thought id give the flats and oyster racks a try with surface lures and after covering a lot of ground with out so much as a follow i decided to give up on that as well, but on my way back to the channel where Luke was still fishing, i put a cast over to where the sand meets a weedbed and the surface lure got smacked by a decent Flatty around 55cm. After that Flattie we dropped a few more fish but landed nothing else so we packed up and headed home after a big day on the water.


Friday 8/1/10

Today, we met up with Paddy and hit the oyster racks on the Clyde river at 5:30am and pedaled over to the racks behind Budd island and fished the last of the run out tide. The action was pretty slow to begin with, lots of minature Tailor hitting the surface lures before the Bream had a chance to have a go, but managed a few small Bream in between the Tailor. After working my way upstream about 300m, i landed a legal Bream that really wanted to get under the racks but managed to keep him out, he measured in at 26cm to the fork. I struggled for more hits so i tied on a 100mm Squidgy fish in Silver fox colour and worked the deep side of the racks where it drops off into the main part of the river, no touches after 20mins or so, so i fired a cast out into deeper water and came up tight to a solid fish.

It was hard work to get the fish up off the bottom, but once i did he did the unmistakable headshake of a good Flatty, the fight went on for a few minutes but i was confident in my 15lb braid and 20lb leader until she gave another solid run straight down and buried itself deep behind something on the bottom. I tried several different angles then finally decided she wasnt coming out so i put a bit of extra pressure on it to try lift it up, she moved slightly then the line snapped above the leader knot, so it must have got the line over something sharp on the bottom :( I was absolutely gutted and honestly felt like packing it up and going home to have a sook about it, but the day was still early so we pushed on.

We drifted back over to where Paddy was fishing so i could have another whinge about my loss, and discovered Paddy drifting in very close to the racks with a SP, landing plenty of just undersized flatties but struggling for the keeper. I moved over and fished the shallow side of the floating oyster racks and got slammed on my first cast and was busted off before i had a chance to do anything since i hooked it so close to the rack, tied on another blade and got done again on the very next cast, so i tied on another blade along with a heavier leader and tightened the drag considerably. Fired another cast and got smashed again but pulled the hooks as soon as it tried to run, i decided it was going to cost me too many lures so i moved on. 10am arrived and Paddy had to head in to prepare for his return to Canberra so Luke and i pedaled upstream to fish a Jewie hole i knew of for the slack part of the tide.

I was fishing a black gold 110mm Squidgy fish on a 1/2oz jighead and fired casts all over the deep hole with no result, until i let one drop then just very slowly rolled the lure back just off the bottom and got a good hit but no hookup. We both kept at it for around 45mins without so much as another tap, and the look of the nearby oyster racks, and the sound of Bream hitting the surface became irresistable so out came the surface lures and before i knew it i was deep into the maze of racks hooking Bream on the surface in some very tight structure, but suprisingly didnt lose a single fish or lure.

All up i landed 8 Bream in the space of an hour with the smallest 26 to the fork, and the biggest 32cm to the fork, so a reasonable average size. The wind picked up a bit which made it hard to land lures in the right spot and we were both getting pretty hungry so we called it a day and finished up what ended up being a good couple of days on the water, lots of hours in the yaks, and not a great number of fish to show for it but very enjoyable.