HOBIE BRE AM KAYAK SERIES – Forster Mar 24/25

The Hobie BREAM Kayak Grand Final was held over two days in conjunction with the Forster Fishing Carnival on March 24-25.  It was the culmination of qualifying anglers from the east coast events held in Sydney, Mooloolaba, Gold Coast and Forster.  With 26 ready to fish Hobie Kayaks supplied, all the anglers had to do was bring their rods, reels and tackle and battle it out to be the first recorded Grand Final winner.

At the end of two days in the fish rich waters of Forster and the Wallis Lakes system, the champion angler was Victorian Hobie rep Scott Lovig, with a 4/4, 2.19kg limit over the two sessions.  Scott used a Nitro 6 piece travel rod matched to a Daiwa Certate 2500 spooled with 4lb braid and 6lb Sunline V Hard fluorocarbon.

Lovig used a Berkley 2″ shrimp in pepper prawn colour rigged on a size 4, 1/50th Nitro jighead to lure all his fish.  Working the floating racks, Lovig positioned his Hobie kayak carefully with the wind and tide before making a precision casts.

“I would cast tight to the racks and let the lure sink for 5 seconds before retrieving and casting again,” explained the champ.

Looking for the actively feeding bream close to the surface when Lovig hooked up he would drop the rod tip in the water and wind with a tight drag to extract the bream from the racks.

A supporter of the newly introduced 2009 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series, Lovig attended all 4 qualifying rounds and deservedly has his name written in the records books as the 2009 champ.

Runner up and day one leader was Michael Maas from Queensland with a 4/4, 2.15kg limit.  He used a G.Loomis Dropshot rod and Daiwa SOL 1500 spooled 4lb Berkley Fireline and 3lb Sunline Rock FC.

Working the Lucky Craft Sammy 65 and NW Pencil top water lures in yellow colours, Maas used wind assisted long casts into the shallows.  With a walk the dog retrieve for 3-4 metres he would then pause the lure hoping for a hungry bream boil. 

“If I could see a swirl following the lure I would tweak it to entice a strike,” he explain.

With no top water action on day two, Maas switched to throwing a Jackall Chubby in the racks.  Casting close to the shaded side, he would keep the rod tip high and installed a jerky retrieve with pauses to capture the attention of the bream lurking in the racks. 

Not having paddled in a Hobie kayak before the event, Maas was not only able to master the manoeuvring of the craft but this was also his first time fishing the Forster system.

Big Bream for the event had a $500 cheque attached to the prize and after the mark was set by Josh Holmes on day one at 780 grams, it was the Sydney victor Wayne Robinson that walked away with the oversized cheque for his 820 gram specimen.

Fishing 2ft of water near the boat shed, Robinson flicked his Berkley 2″ banana shrimp into the shade where he was clunked straight away.  Once secured in his livewell the enthusiastic angler knew he was paddling around with a $500 bream onboard.

A successful inaugural series, Steve Fields and Steve Morgan thanked the gathered crowd and promised bigger and better things in 2010.

For further information visit www.bream.com.au or ph ABT on 07 3387 0888.

Overall Results

GRAND FINAL

There are 25 slots available for the 2009 Hobie BREAM Kayak Grand Final.

• In each of the three Qualifying events, the top four placed anglers will qualify as well as
• a fifth qualifier drawn from places 5 through the rest of the field. Declined places will be
• offered to the next down the list from that event.
• Five places will be offered to anglers from the Forster Kayak event preceding the Grand Final.
• There are 5 wildcard spots that will be filled at the discretion of the Naming Sponsor.
• All grand finalists will fish from supplied, identical Hobie kayaks with livewells,
• Ensuring a level playing field.
• Anglers provide their own tackle/safety gear for the Grand Final event.
•  $500 prize for the biggest bream in the Grand Final.