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After a long sortie down through Cooma and Bombala I arrived at Cann River late Friday afternoon. It was a surreal feeling, being alone in this neck of the woods. You see this region is normally frequented by myself and my associative families, all 12 of us (Plus ring ins). Year after year we make the pilgrimage to Bemm for our annual family holidays, some from Melbourne, some from Canberra. This time though this was my getaway, back to a tournament location I fell in love with many moons ago.
This wasn't some cabin affair with hoardings of comfort, nope I was definitely swaging it. After a year off the scene with new work commitments and kids popping out of the woodworks the only way I could resurrect some kind of competing triumphant dream was to make do with the bare essentials and focus more on fishing than budgets. Eventually I arrived at the Caravan Park (Never seen it that full before), tied a rope from tree to tree, draped a tarp over, pegged it to the ground and rolled out the welcome wagon.
Good mate Craig Coughlan shared the site but slept in his car. He arrived a couple of hours after with a sore back but a smile nonetheless. Everybody loves Bemm River, seriously for a featureless town the inlet and associated waterways are pure breaming heaven. We tied some leaders and pondered numbers present before crashing away and focussing on the future. I think we both knew we would underestimate the turnout, somehow you can never foresee 70 kayakers out on the water.
Next morning we awoke and hurried down to snare a park and congeal some coffee. Steve, Lew and Jim were setting up shop so to speak but still found the time to deliver my new 2013 Pro Angler 14 (Courtesy of support from Wetspot Water Sports )and run me through the way it was setup for tournaments, the general tournament setup itself and the new trailer/stage/ark. Tournament hours were from 7am till 2pm and after what seemed like an exacerbated procession we were peeling off in various directions. Having fished Bemm dozens of times before I developed a game plan which I am happy to share as it really involved using a cracked pattern and sorting through the smaller fish.
Day One:
Moving west of the ramp I focused on my favourite way to Bream, tournament edge bites. A simple affair which involves casting into a foot of water and working back to the boat with some aggressive twitches. The way this works for me is by sitting 45 degrees off the area I want to pinpoint and following the bank with successive casts. The features were undulated due to wind direction but weed beds and tussocks were plentiful enough to encourage a good session. The fish were a little slow off the mark with a north easterly putting a dampener on things and keeping the Bream cautious. Rinse and repeat with plenty of taps but no hook-ups, it was time to look for dirty water.
River flows with similar wind direction pushed a dirty line each side of the mouth a few hundred metres into the inlet. First cast from dirty to clear resulted in a nice 37cm Bream, fourth cast and an identical fish came to the net. Switching to the other side using the drogue to control my drift I caught two more fish, one of which completed my bag and the other was released due to lack of size. I never leave fish to find fish but after an hour of no action and a change to an easterly I revisited the windblown banks I had previously covered.
Throwing an old Ecogear SX 48 in gold with black tiger pattern I frustratingly missed some good takes until I drifted into the last bay section before the return to the ramp. Seeing a quick flash I jerked the lure by shaking the reel seat and come up tight on the only upgrade for the day. I now had 2 x 37cm Bream and a kicker at 38.5, nice fish in anyone's books but a little skinnier than past Bemm events. The field was strong with all entrants top notch Breamers yet I was sure with this bag I would come close to cracking the top 10. Weighing in I secured 8th place with 2.36kilograms, a great start to the event and a testament to my game plan.
Day Two:
My options were to go for broke or do my best to emulate the previous days efforts. Having fished Bemm over and over for the past seven years I knew that big fish in numbers just weren't there this year and I would lose a lot of time searching for one. With this in mind I quickly set about repeating the same trails but with a stopover in shallow lake. By the time I bothered to fish this zone half a dozen or so fish had already been pulled with one angler securing his bag not long after entering. Quickly snaring a 32cm I moved off after the sun grew high and revisited the dirty water. Plenty of power boats littered this area so drifting was unlikely to produce, I gave it a crack for plenty of by catch but none of those elusive Black Bream.
My second fish came up a point in a foot of water but was barely legal, soon after a 30cm completed my bag. My strategy of full limits was working but I only had a 32cm, a 30cm and a 29cm in the well, good enough to weigh in but I am always dubious on fish stress levels and shrinkage at the bump tub. Getting rid of the 29cm took longer than expected with bobs banks and bays laying dormant till 11am. Four Bream came out to play off the one drift which got replaced the 30cm and 29cm specimens with twin models around 32cm. Not much of an upgrade but creating girth for a decent full 2 day limit.
The last and only good Bream of the day came from an area where I had caught my kicker the day before, except this time the wind was right up and the edges a washing machine. My lure got short struck a dozen or so times so I knew they were there, so I suspected a shorter profile was required to drill one home. Sitting in the final reaches of a wind lane I hooked a 36cm, followed by a 34cm over a 100m stretch. I had to work fairly hard for these fish with an Atomic Min Crank 38 in Ghost Wakasagi pinning them, along with a PB Estuary Perch of 55cm (For a while I thought it was the upgrade from hell).
Weigh in:
The time ran short so I hurried back to begin cycling water and queuing up for a bag. Whatever the result it had been almost a year since I had entered a tournament and it would be satisfying. Some great bags came through early with mine just shy of the 2 kilo mark, putting me in 16th position for the entire tournament. Remarking to many I was more than satisfied I bid my farewells and checked out of the caravan park smiling from ear to ear. Was it the fact the field was made up of Australia's finest Bream kayakers, the fact others I knew had faulted under conditions or the fact I was once again fishing Bemm River? (Tournament or not).
The long drive gave me plenty of time to ponder the result, some heavy traffic spelling four hours later I knew the answer to the question was 'D, all of the above'. If your reading this and wonder how you can get involved in competing in tournaments on a national, state and worldwide level we will be holding nights during the year promoting techniques, lifestyle and equipment required. Keep an eye on notice boards and flyers instore for details but in the meantime visit http://www.hobiefishing.com.au and http://www.bream.com.au for more information.
Thanks to Hobiecat's Steve Fields, Lew Parsons, Jim Barrie for their efforts over the weekend and for the factory support. Special thanks also goes out to Scott and the team from Wetspot Watersports for supporting my tournament trails in 2013 and beyond.
