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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Photo Gallery #2 (warning, 188 photos)

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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

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Hobie ABT Kayak Grand Final – Official Pre-Fish Day – May 14, 2010

Sunny but windy (and cold) conditions greeted competitors today on the foreshore of the Foster Boat Harbour for the official pre-fish and kayak briefing and kayak allocation.

The normal “fish tales” started as everyone made their way back from the Wallis Lake system. Stories of “3 kilo bags” to “only a few small ones” were the norm of the afternoon chat .

EVENT FORMATS

This year’s series feature one and two day events. In two day events anglers could fish either/both of the tournament days, however, their best bag of the two days will count towards their final results.

Each state hosted multiple events (QLD, NSW, & VIC) used its last round as the State Title deciding round. State Title events featured a two-day bag and offered GF qualification spots to the top five. Non-state title events offered GF qualification spots to the top three.

BIG BREAM

A Hogs Breath sponsored $250 big bream prize will be awarded each day of The competition and will be known as the Boss Hog.

The Hobie ABT BREAM Kayak Series Grand Final runs from the 15-16th May with SESSION TIMES from 7.00am to 2.00pm each day.

BRIEFING LOCATION will be at 6.50am, Forster Boat Harbour Foreshore with the WEIGH IN SITE at the Forster Boat Harbour Foreshore, something not to miss.

 This year’s event is supported by: 

• Daiwa Fishing Australia
• Pure Fishing – Berkley
• JML – Ecogear
• Frogleys Offshore – Atomic Lures
• Hogs Breath Cafe
• ABT

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Competitors from around Australia start arriving today. The official pre-fish and kayak allocation begins tomorrow, May 13 at 7:00 am.

The kayaks are ready, the ramps are in, the flags and banners up……

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Hobie Kayak Allocation from 7:30 am Fri 14 May

Return of allocated kayak (from pre-fish)no later than 2:30 pm Fri. 14th May. DSQ if kayak not returned to Hobie by 2:30 pm

Link to updated PDF here

http://bream.com.au/abt/2010/Hobiegf.pdf

The Hobie Factory has been busy this week putting together over 50 new Hobie Pro Angler kayaks complete with Livewells and ready to fish for next weekend Hobie ABT Grand Final. The Hobie kayaks will be used in the 2nd Hobie/ABT Grand Final to be held at Forster NSW on 15 – 16 May.

This year’s event is supported by:  
Daiwa Fishing Australia
Pure Fishing – Berkley
JML – Ecogear
Frogleys Offshore – Atomic Lures
Hogs Breath Cafe
ABT

ABT Tournament Director Simon Goldsmith, says ” The Hobie ABT kayak series is the only nationwide kayak series that allows kayak breamers to scratch their tournament itch and strive to be the best on a national stage. The Grand Final at Forster is where this all takes place”.  

Hobie’s Steve Fields said, “I have been looking forward to this event all year and we have representatives from each state as well as some of the regulars from the ABT Bream series. The supplied boat format levels out the playing field and allows for interstate fisho’s to attend.

I would also like to give a BIG THANK you to Daiwa, Berkley, JML , Frogleys Offshore, Hogs Breath Café and the ABT for the assistance they have given us to make this series a success throughout the year”.

The final qualifying round of the 2009/2010 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series saw 22 anglers on day one and 20 anglers on day two hit the waters of NSW Mid North Coast’s Camden Haven River for one of the most anticipated events of the tour. One of the small water fishing gems of the area anglers experienced first the quality of fish on offer on the river with a host of 500gram plus fish hitting the scales.  

For Gosford breamer Jason Meech the event was an impressive final warm up heading into the Grand Final, with Meech securing another tournament win to add to his Scamander victory from February.

Compiling a 3/3, 1.995kg limit to win the event Meech outclassed a talented field of anglers including current Grand Final champion and AFC angler Scott Lovig, and 2009/2010 AOY champion Greg Lewis.  

Also adding his name to the list of podium finishers on the Hobie BREAM Tour was event runner-up and tournament debutant Mark Thompson of Forster. Bagging out with a 3/3, 1.7kg limit Thompson showed his hand as one of the dark horses for next month’s final.  

Victory though belonged to Meech who headed upstream from the start, fishing as he went before reaching Watson Taylor Lake on the upper reaches of the river. His first stop was the bride only a couple of hundred from the take off, and it was here that he opened his account for the day.  

“I cranked the bridge with a deep Atomic Hardz Crank and pulled a fish straight away”, explained Meech.  

With one in the well he hit the edges and fished natural banks with a surface lure approach. Using a Lucky Craft NW Pencil in ghost minnow colour Meech adopted a constant twitching and walking retrieve, pausing it occasionally to give following fish a chance to slurp the lure of the surface.  

The approach paid dividens with the Camden Haven winner upgrading six times, and losing four big fish that he couldn’t stop.  

“I’d never fished the Camden Haven before so I just fished what lay in front of me and it paid off”, explained Meech.  

The tackle he used to catch his winning limit included a 6′10″, Samikai Vamp rod, 2000 Daiwa Luvias reel, spooled with 4lb Daiwa Sensor PE and 3lb Sunline FC Rockfish fluorocarbon.  

With a last start victory and solid form heading into the final event of the series Meech will be hoping that his hot run hangs around for one more event.  

For event runner-up Thompson it was a dream start to his tournament career with the 51 year old breamer fishing a combination of rocky bombies and weeded flats to fill his bag. Starting off on a bombie in 2-6 feet of water near the river mouth, Thompson kicked off with a topwater, throwing a straw and olive green coloured Jazz popper.  

“I had my first fish in the well by 6.30 and it nailed the lure just after it landed on the water”, explained Thompson.  

Throwing the lure past the bombie and working it with a series of little shakes proved to be the key to drawing the best strikes, with Thompson hooking up to another fish on the very next cast.  

“The second fish was bigger that the first but it powered away and busted my off”, explained Thompson.  

With the pattern dying Thompson changed tact and hit the weeded edges starting off with the Jazz popper then swapping to a deep diving crankbait. Returns were quick coming with Thompson picking up the second fish of his limit within an hour of his first.  

“The Jazz continued to pull the fish with active weedbed loving bream whacking the lure with gusto as it blooped across the surface”, explained Thompson.  

The action was short lived and waned as the tide dropped and the fish retreated to deeper water. It was here that Thompson hit the wall and it wasn’t until the final hour of the seven hour session that he picked up his third and final keeper.  

“I was getting worried, after the action at the start of the day it got hard and I was beginning to think that I mightn’t get the third”, explained Thompson.  

Grinding away with his crankbait Thompson picked up his third, sliding it into the well then paddling back to the weigh-in happy and content with his first Hobie event.  

Pulling the scales down to 1.7kg it was a dream start to his tournament career, delivering him second place and a berth into the Grand Final. The kicker fish in his bag adding to his rewards for the event, with the 925 gram delivering him $100 as the day one Boss Hog.  

Michelle Carmody also cashed in courtesy of Hogs Breath, picking up the $100 Boss Hog Prize on day two with her 715 gram fish. Muscled out of collapsed rack upriver of the tournament start line, Carmody’s money fish feel to a chartreuse coloured Lucky Craft Sammy 65.  

Attention now turns to Forster and Hobie BREAM Grand Final, 15/16th May. The pinnacle event of the series that will see 50 anglers fishing from factory supplied Hobie Pro Angler kayaks as they battle for the 2010 Hobie Kayak Grand Final crown. Visit www.bream.com.au for all the details.          

Results

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Out of the event, several competitors staked their claim to ABT fame, the best rewarded being 29 year old bulldozer driver, Joel Crosbie, who took out the event with a 6/6, 6.735kg two-day bag. He pipped the day one leader, Dave Hedge, who stunned his opposition with a 3/3, 4.36kg limit. Neither, though, weighed a single fish as big as Scott Baker’s 1.78kg behemoth.

Other competitors who weighed limits that would have won most events on the tour were left bewildered. Amazingly, Crosbie has his fishing – and the win – done by 9am each day.

Here’s how he did it.

A south Gippsland local, Crosbie hadn’t even fished Marlo until recently, but on the practice day, he landed a solitary 42cm fork length bream from a stretch of bank on near the river mouth. This was to become his primary spot, although it wasn’t until the starter’s horn that he decided to fish it. “I saw at the start the nearly all of the field headed upstream, so I was happy to head down with only two other boats, “ Joel said.
All of his fish came off a 100m stretch of bank and all ate a Berkley Gulp! 6” Sandworm cut down to 5” and slow rolled on a 1/32oz Nitro jighead.

He fished the imitation on a Starlo Stix 2-5kg spinning rod and Shimano Sedona 2500 reel spooled with 6lb Fireline and 6lb LineSystem leader. And although he used a stinger hook, all of the big bream were hooked on the main jighead. “The spot fished well for only a couple of hours each morning. By 9am when the wind had dropped and the cloud had burned off, the fish were in the well and the bite was done. We were back in an hour and a half early each day, “ Joel continued.

It was his second ever ABT event. The debut for him and his Pro Angler kayak was the Bemm River round on Australia Day, where he came 12th. “Now I’m doing me research for Forster. It’ll be great to go to the Grand Final and fish in the supplied boat,” he concluded.

Second placed Dave Hedge’s day one heroics were eventually eclipsed by Crosbie’s two-day total, however, his Day One 4.26kg bag is the only limit over 4kg ever to be weighed at a BREAM Kayak event.
“Marlo would have to be the best fishery on the tour for really big bream and the Bemm River would have to be the best for numbers of big fish. I love the bream down here,” expained the 35 year old TAFE teacher.
“The scary thing is that I got a fish to the boat that would have been even bigger than anything in my bag, but I couldn’t control its final run and eventually lost it,” Dave explained.

Hedge fished an Ecogear SX40 (gold) and Lucky Craft Tango in small, specific areas of the lake where he felt the bream were feeding on pipis. Using a slow, rolling retrieve, he’d immediately pause the lure if he felt the softest of bites. The bream would inevitable come back to engulf the lure. Hedge presented the baits on a Berkley Gen III Dropshot rod and Shimano Saros 2500 reel spooled with 6lb Fireline and 10lb leader.

Scott Baker landed the biggest bream yet weighed in BREAM Kayak events, with a 1.78kg fish that he caught on a Lucky Craft Pointer 67 in Ghost Minnow colour fished on a Daiwa Steez 2004, 7’3” Yamashita rod, 6lb braid and 4lb VHard leader.

With only one Qualifier to go, competition will be intense for the last remaining spots in the Hobie BREAM Kayak Grand Final.

Valued at $3350 RRP the Hobie Mirage Pro Angler has a host of exciting features including the revolutionary patented MirageDrive pedal system, ergonomically designed adjustable Cool Ride seat, loads of hatch, tackle and rod storage and plenty more – everything you’d expect in a serious fishing boat apart from an engine. For Fisho’s review including video footage of the Hobie Pro Angler click here

For your chance to win this amazing craft simply write in 25 words or less why you deserve to win a Hobie Pro Angler – the most creative and original entry wins.

http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/hobie-pro-angler-give-away

Send your entries to comps@fisho.com.au by June 30. The winning entry will be announced on Fisho’s July 1 e-newsletter.