Daniel Brown adds his name to the Hobie BREAM Kayak Grand Final trophy with victory in the 2010 GF. Saving his best bag to the final day (2.45kg) Brown leap frogged from 3rd to 1st to secure his maiden Hobie win. 

Compiling a 6/6, 4.62kg limit for the event Brown achieved a comprehensive win over his nearest rival, Tasmania Andrew Krushka (6/6, 1.94kg), with the 2010 champ securing the 2010 title by 400 grams.

Day one leader Jordan Trusty stuggled to find the quality fish from day one, slipping to 3rd place.

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Final Report

Taree BREAM Daniel Brown added his name to the Hobie BREAM Kayak Grand Final trophy with victory in the final event of the series at Forster, NSW, 15/16th May.

Saving his best bag of the tournament for the final day (2.45kg) Brown showed the advantage of his local knowledge, leap froging from 3rd on day one to 1st on day two to secure his maiden Hobie win. 

Compiling a 6/6, 4.62kg limit for the event Brown achieved a comprehensive win over his nearest rival, Tasmania Andrew Krushka (6/6, 1.94kg), with the 2010 champ securing the 2010 title by an impressive 400 grams.

Earmarked as one of the favourites heading into the season ending Grand Final, Brown kick started his tournament fishing the oyster racks in Wallis Lakes’ famous Paddock.

“I’d had originally planned to fish further up the system but my legs were spent before I got there so I stopped for a breather and starting fishing the racks at the start of the paddock”, explained Brown.  

Keying in on the empty racks as the most productive ones to fish Brown focused on the rails swimming a 2″ Berkley Gulp Shrimp shallow and along the structure to catch his fish. Current and water movement were crucial for success with the fishing adage of no run-no fun definitely the case for Brown.  

“Current and casting were the keys to success. When the tide pumped the fish bit, but with the clear water and shallow presentation you needed to make sure your casts were long and spot-on”, explained Brown.  

With his kayak positioned into the current, Brown would cast his lure up current before working it back to the Hobie with a slow rolling retrieve. With the fishing holding shallow Brown kept his lure likewise, swimming it no deeper than six to eight inches below the surface.  

Hooking the fish was very much like a hardbody bite, with Brown only striking at fish when the rod loaded up.  

“You’d wait for the rod to load up then you’d pull hard so they didn’t do you in the racks”, explained Brown.  

The approach proved effective with Brown only losing one fish on day one and another three on day two.  

“It was old school aggressive rack fish, especially on day one when the wind was blowing hard and there was a good ripple on the surface”, explained Brown.  

Day two saw this aggressive pattern wane slight with the easing wind, and the fish became more tentative.  

“There was a lot more tail bites of the plastic on day two and it became even more important to keep the casts long”, explained Brown.  

The tackle he used to keep the casts long and muscle the fish out of the racks was a combination of two outfits, a Daiwa Luvias 701LFS rod, matched to Daiwa Certate 2000 reel spooled with 8lb line. While the other and heavier outfit was a custom made, 7′, 6-12lb rod, matched to a Daiwa 2000 Certate, and spooled with 12lb Sunline PE Jigger 8 HG line.  

Brown’s choice of leader was perhaps one of the main ingredients between success and failure with Brown opting for 15lb Daiwa TDR Competition fluorocarbon leader to keep his fish connected in the line shredding oyster racks.  

Lure wise Brown cashed in courtesy of the ever-popular 2″ Berkley Gulp Shrimp in pepper and banana prawn colours, rigged both on his beloved TT jigheads.  

“A 1/28th, size 2 TT HWS jighead was the perfect tool for the job, giving the Shrimp just enough weight to swim at the right depth, and a small enough profile so the bream could get the plastic in its mouth with ease”, explained Brown.  

Post victory Brown was perhaps most satisfied with his ability to remain focused and calm on the final day when he could see victory as a real possibility.  

“I knew I was on the fish that I needed to win, I was just concerned that I might get could caught up in the emotion of it all and start second guessing myself and what I was doing if the fish played hard to get”, explained Brown.  

Remaining calm and calculated Brown executed his game plan to perfection, catching his biggest limit for the tournament on a day when many of his nearest rivals stumbled and struggled to adjust to the changing conditions.  

Bucking this faltering trended was event runner-up and self confessed yellowfin bream novice Andrew Krushka of Tasmania. Catching his first yellow fin on the Friday prefish, Krushka took to mainland breaming like a duck to water, catching his limit by 9.30am on day one, and by 10am on day two.  

“The prefish set the tone for the weekend, I caught fish just about everywhere I went and felt like I was on the ball for the tournament”, explained Krushka.  

Fishing near Bandicoot Island Krushka hit the weedbeds early each day to catch his limit before switching to the racks in search of upgraders.  

“I got a few tips from fellow Tassie breamer Steve Steer and combined them with the techniques that I largely use at home to catch black bream”, explained Andrew.  

Starting off with a Daiwa Presso Minnow on the weedbeds Krushka fished shallow, high sticking his rod on the retrieve and working the lure with a slow rolling retrieve.  

“The lure was so shallow at times they were almost like surface strikes”, explained Andrew.  

Swimming enticingly over the top of the weed the hits were aggressive and purposeful, with the approach delivering Krushka his limit within the first two and a half hours of the session.  

With his limit in the bag and the racks now in his sights