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ABT Hobie Kayak Tournament
Bemm River, Victoria (Round 7):
Having stopped briefly at Bemm River during my Christmas ordeal (Slash holiday) I was a little concerned on the tournaments location. A small and initially bleak town offered little or no tourist respite during what should have been their busiest time of the year (In hindsight, probably a week early). Sussing out the waterways of the Bemm proved pointless, it was howling a gale and housing an unflattering stench. “Can’t always be like this?” I muttered to Claire, realising that not only had we booked accommodation for the tournament but the whole family had chosen to follow me 4 days prior for the long weekend (Six powered sites and one unruly clan). With the sixth round of the tournament series at St Georges Basin on the NSW South Coast held on the Saturday I had a lot of ashphalt to cover to make the first of the Mexican competitions held on the following Tuesday (Australia day).
A large field gathered from near and far, Victorians embraced the round while the usual suspects (Now tournament veterans) travelled from Nothern NSW waters. With fabled big Black Bream on the cards in shallow environments many arrived days earlier to enjoy pre fishing success. With pre fish bans on the Marlo round (VIC State titles) this was many visiting anglers first and only opportunity to test a Gippsland lake system, it was also many kayak angler’s first encounter with a big black. Sharing attributes with their Yellowfin cousins, they are predominantly thicker and larger fish and a voracious to the point of accepting all presentations.
Overcast skies and picture perfect conditions allowed a dominant technique to develop during the prefishing opportunities, all whilst encouraging variation. Slow rolled crankbaits, high sticked shallow runners, flickbaits and Prawn style plastics all worked successfully. Noise and colour replaced any perchance for profile and action. Mottled green SX 48’s, Atomic Hards and custom shallow diving Jackal Chubby’s attracted planty of interest (And good fish) but the Squidgy ‘Pepper Prawn’ and glitter styled dark plastics secured the larger fish. Keeping jigheads as light as possible was a given, considering the majority of the lake was 0.7m – 1m deep.
Tight lines with Jerky, erratic rod lifts equalled strong tussles with XOS specimens. Little fish were lost quickly and certain areas seemed to fish better than others. All expectations were met and solid plans had been forged for comp day. The wind that created havoc before my arrival did manage to muster stronger gusts overnight, though it didn’t affect our time on the water actually fishing each day provided a different problem in the same areas (Weed blown debris). As the fish were still there multiple fouled casts hassled us more than the targets, removing weed from trebles became the norm.
Squidgy Southern Bream Series,
Clyde River, Batemans Bay (Round 1):
Buckets and buckets of rain had fallen over the south coast region weeks prior to the tournament, in some places it was a record fall (A welcome relief anyway). Unfortunately water conditions would rapidly deteriorate, making an area which we had finally mapped out a little slow come game day. With the other members getting down for a pre fish two weeks before the competition a few of us decided to return and see what damage had been done. These are the times for new lures, varying techniques and breaking tournament moulds, not the time for the usual offering.
Sometimes thats easier said than done but it was a little easier due to the discoloured water and sheer amount that had fallen. Red, burgundy, claret, merlot the water was the colour of wine (But suprosingly clear), debris scattered the shore and remained way up on the tree line (Buckets 8ft above high tide mark). The pre fish was timed with the rising tide and while proved successful was the complete opposite of what tournament days tidal chart predicted. I lost a couple of fish early in some shallow creeks (Due to rusting trebles) but it was a good sign, the Bream were still up for top water action in shallow water.
Some of the fishier looking locations (Very similar to the Bemm) held no species of fish, not even a lonely Mullet. I am sure in better conditions this area would be a haven but one sip of the water showed the amount of fresh in the system as opposed to salt. Other small creeks held surface smacking Bream, a Towadi and PX 45's secured smaller fish but none of legal stature. Jason landed a nice 29cm fork length Bream with an aggressive Hopper Popper retrieve along a ledge (The take from this fish was awesome). Using blades in deeper water I struggled to fight the current ripping through hard so proceeded to bombard the rocky ledges with a purple shallow running Atomic Hard instead.
While it wasn’t a fish a cast I managed a bag limit of legal Bream by casting in close, twitching once and rolling back. If the lure wasn’t taken in the first five seconds more often than not it failed to raise a scale. The funny thing was some fish were sighted loitering below or behind the crankbait far from the confines of the ledge. I should have added some scent to the rear of the treble but was content on leaving these fish for a week (Not wanting to sting any prospective targets before comp day. The day was a success but would conditions differ or deteriorate any further?
