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Last weekend saw the ABT Daiwa Hobie bandwagon rock into Northern Sydney for a two day kayak fishing extravaganza at Narrabeen Lakes. Anticipation on the turnout from Sydney siders was high but unfortunately the rate of entry was a little low. Day one saw 43 anglers make the trek through the channel and towards the furthest reaches of the lake. Conditions were superb with overcast skies and a skerrick of wind.
My journey started with a long pedal towards middle creek in hope of a fringe bite and perhaps finding a little structure. The lake itself is made up of a few creek run ins/outs and weed beds littered along the edges. Its these areas that either held fish or pushed them somewhere deeper, such as buried in weed at depth. Finding fish was hard with only half a dozen undersize Bream to show for my effort. It wasn't until I pushed the button at 1pm for the return journey that I realised I had to change my fishing style for day two.
With no fish gracing the well my usual favourite techniques just didn't live up to expectations. Sure there was a few short strikes and even a take or two (Foul hooked Mullet in the ass gave me a real work out on light tackle) but I just couldn't get them to stick. Either the profile was wrong or the colour, I was banking on both but the retrieve was something I had to contemplate a lot further.
Day two saw a switch in tactics, a dramatic down size in trebles and lures and an approach I'm not normally known for. Fishing with soft plastics is usually what I deem 'Boring' but with a pattern shared early on sunday morning by Craig Coughlan, some kindly donated lures, I set out returning to the only place I knew where fish were holding. The wind picked up earlier and the sun came out stronger, polar opposites to the day before and the bite definitely improved.
Rolling a craw styled plastic with a hidden weight I worked a drift along a 200m bank slowly but surely, punching plastic onto the weed before sinking it down the face. Working it back was very slow with very subtle movements of the rod tip. Eventually I hooked my first Bream of the day and placed a 29cm in the Hobie livewell. I knew it was going to be a long time between fish using this approach but once again set my drift up and kept the plastic rigged dead straight.
Rigging them backwards or upside down prolonged life but nothing drew the proper hook up response than a plastic in nothing but perfect condition. My second last craw was belted right at the end of the run and ended up being the third biggest fish of the comp. With two fish to weigh in with a combined limit of 1.09kg I moved into 11th position outright and just shy of the top 10, consistently mimicking the past three rounds performances.
One valuable lesson I revisited is that no matter your favourite approach to targeting Bream being a 'One trick pony' will never do you any favours. Sometimes it helps to think outside the box and listen to the advice that's being offered. Usually spot on information that embodies the ABT 'Who shares wins' philosophy and also the mateship associated with this series.
Full results and images available @ http://www.hobiefishing.com.au
