Hobie BREAM Kayak Sunshine Coast Results Feb 22

Report #1 (more to follow)

39 Kayak enthusiasts attended the second round of the 2009 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. A massive arena with everything from trawlers and moored boats, to docks, pontoons, mangrove edges and flats. However, recent rain had made the water quite discoloured and the fishing tough. In total, 10 fish were weighed in between 7 smiling anglers.

Event winner, Josh Carpenter, a 32 year old from Brisbane borrowed his mum’s kayak to compete.  An avid BASS Electric competitor, Josh made the switch for the weekend scoring 2/2, 0.98kg.  

His arsenal comprised of a Tica Duffman long cast rod matched to a Daiwa Certate 2000 reel spooled with 4lb Fireline and 6lb Hard Rock fluorocarbon.  The winning bait for Josh was the Berkley 2″ Shrimp in new penny colour rigged on a 1/28 TT jighead.  
After trying his luck at the trawlers early, Josh moved to the backend of a canal system where the water looked cleaner. Hearing bream slurping and crunching a nearby pontoon he flicked his Berkley shrimp under a t-section of the floating pontoon letting the current drift the bait further under and pulled up tight on his first keeper.  Paddling around the canal systems, he again heard the familiar sounds of bream feeding and soon scored his limit.  

Second place went to a popular Steve Fields, Managing Director of Hobie Cat Australasia.   Proving he can mix it with the best, Steve armed himself with a new Daiwa Advantage 3 rod and reel combo spooled with 4lb Nitlon fluorocarbon straight through.  His winning bait proved to be the Berkley 2″ Banana Prawn rigged on a 1/40 TT jighead.  
Steve felt it was important not to chase the pack and stick to the basics fishing points in the canal systems.  Scoring plenty of fish including moses perch and a mangrove jack, Steve was plagued by undersize bream before scoring a keeper.  
With the tide change, his bite pattern shut down and Steve moved to a pilon that had wind pushing up against it and some amount of stirred up water.  With only an hour to go in the tournament his second cast landed him his limit and enough for second place.  
“I really encourage people to come and try these events, have a great time and learn some tips from the sharing of information,” said Steve.  

The event’s big bream went to Chris Martin with a 610 gram specimen caught on a Berkley 2″ Shrimp in banana prawn colour.  Rigged on a 1/16 jighead he found anchoring up and drifting his bait under pontoons was a successful technique.  
The next qualifying event is on the Gold Coast, March 15, at Budds Beach.