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

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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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At the time it was flattering but also a bit of a pain that several anglers and journalists worked out a handful of my pet kayak jewfish spots on the NSW south coast. 

The upside is that it has forced me to explore further afield and has made me a better angler.  So far I have confidently identified a dozen new places to catch these prized fish, but they are still hard enough to make it fun.

This big journey started in roundabout way when I decided to see if I could catch a jewfish from a kayak 5 years ago; something that got me lots of ‘your kidding me’ looks at the time. 

Interestingly it has turned out to be the very best way to catch jewfish and I’ve cottoned onto a stack of stuff that I would’ve missed in a bigger boat.

For a start experienced jewfish anglers typically agree that these fish have a lateral line that can ‘feel’ noise a mile away, especially in a quite estuary.

It is one thing to read this but quite another to see it turn into results.  I have found that the small footprint and stealth of a kayak means far more jewfish ‘if’ you peddle quietly and keep noise to a minimum.  

This is much in the same way modern day bass boats with carpeted floors and electric motors are better on wary fish than bare hull tinnys with clunky 2 stroke outboards.

There are exceptions around bridges, marinas and ocean bommies where noise is accepted by the local jewfish population, but when chasing them in quiet estuarine locations you want them to sense your lure first, rather than your boat or a clumsy mate.   When used properly Kayaks are without a doubt the quietest and least obtrusive craft of all.

Too make things even more interesting, I am seeing more jewfish fining with the tide from my kayak than I do in larger boats.

This is helping me appreciate how jewfish are masters of the current; they move with the flow when migrating or coming out to feed, and lay up in the prime real estate for the rest of the time, which is often.

Perhaps what has helped the most of all is that in my kayak I have leaned to understand flows properly because I spend energy feeling the current, rather than not paying attention because I have petrol or electric power at my fingertips.  The subtleties of tidal flows are proving to be a real key to success. 

You can not only work out holding stations of a jewfish, which are usually structure or hole orientated, you are in pole position to work our where they move first when the tide slackens off, or where they end up when the tide starts to pick up.

Fair dinkum we have their bite time down to the half hour in some of the new spots, and now catch them consistently even in what I thought were the harder months such as summer and winter.  It is an absolute eye opener, even to some older friends of mine who have been catching jewfish out of bigger boats successfully for over 30 years! 

One of the downsides to the amount of jewfish that kayakers are catching is that power boats sometimes pull up nearby.

This is rare but disappointing when it happens, especially considering there is loads of good jewie spots in most estuaries. 

That and one of the benefits of having an outboard is that you can easily catch up to the tide change if you turn up late or an opposing wind turns the tide earlier than the charts predicted.

Most anglers know that bream and flathead can be found in suitable habitat throughout a system, especially when there has been no recent floods to push them down to the sea.  After a while you will find jewfish, while in much smaller numbers, are really no different.   

Whatever craft you use, give your fellow anglers some room and look for your own patch, it’s worth it.  And if you are struggling to understand tides, borrow a kayak and give it red hot go; if it’s not your cup of tea at least you can use what you learn when you get back in a bigger boat. 

From there you can even lure jewfish from the bank, albeit for a short amount of time on the slack tide.  However snags and losing bigger fish is a pain, especially when your kayak is strapped to the roof of your nearby car!

The icing on the cake is that south coast jewfish are getting easier each season for everyone thanks to recreational fishing havens where the pros can’t move in and net the schools you’ve been enjoying.  

With more education on where, how and when these fish they will hopefully grow into a more popular target fish like bream and flathead. 

You can use the search function on my web site www.fishingaustralia.tv to find more information. 

See you on the water. 

Rob Paxevanos

I just got back from one of the best impoundment barra fishing trips I have ever been on and much of the enjoyment and success had to do with being able to park and live on a house boat right next to the best fishing spots.

In all the previous trips getting to a good spot involved getting up at 4 am, stuffing down some breaky and then driving up to the local Barra Lake (eg Monduran, Proserpine, Kinchant, Temmburra) to launch a boat and then speed up to the best spots before daylight arrived.

This process can take some 2 hours! By 9 am you have only fished for 3 hours and are facing a lot of hours in the sun before the next good bite time starts at 5 pm! However, with the tips that we picked up from Steve Fields (B1) proved invaluable in us catching fish this time around.

With a house boat you simply wake up and fish nearby from 4 am to 9 am and then come back for a big breakfast. Too easy!

From there we spent the middle of the day in comfort while comparing lures and knots, sounding out new spots, having a nap, catching up on writing, or baiting for barra from the back of the house boat.

Interestingly enough a whole 6 pound catfish got smoked by a barra! The barra spat the bait and we didn’t see it but we could only imagine how big it was…

By the time 4 pm rolled around we simply headed out to the best spots with our reflexes fresh and ready to catch big barra, and this along with no curfew for dinner back at camp meant we could really concentrate on the fishing.

This is why we got our best fishing ever: 12 barra over a meter for 4 anglers over 3 easy days. Quiet a few more were lost while we waited for the camera boat to catch up; electric powered bass boats are much slower than a hobies mirage drive.

You can google up my article “barramundi nights” for lots more info on Monduran Barra and the tackle and lures needed, but since that article (mid 2009) I have learnt a few more valuable lessons.

Having a few hobies tied up to the back of the house boat made life really easy; you simply jumped in and went to which ever near by spot you wanted to fish and started casting without having to wait for anyone.

A meter plus barra is something pretty special to experience from a kayak, and much easier than you would think thanks to all the mod cons of the large stable Pro Angler Hobies we were using.

Along the way I did learn a few new tricks about using the new Hobies, including poking the stake out hole through the cart hole-this is easier and quicker than using an anchor if you are in shallow water.

If we had to anchor tying off the rear end was best; it means you are comfortable and facing where you are fishing. Simply pick your anchoring spot so that you are directly up wind of where you want to cast;

A few times I also placed the built in bungy cord around a tree and a mate docked nearby so we chatted quietly and fished at the same time.

You always have to minimize noise and stay stealthy when impoundment fishing but I really enjoyed having barra not get spooked as easily thanks to the kayaks small footprint. Most of the time we were anchored just 20 meters from the edge of the weed and the barra strikes came half way back to the kayaks: spectacular stuff!

The technique was pretty straight forward; pick a place where the wind is blowing directly onto a point: wind creates heck of a lot of water flow and the points divide the water and food past these spots. Barra move onto the front corners of such spots to ambush their prey, especially at dawn dusk and at night.

A lot has been written about moon phases and bite time predictions, but fishing a point that is facing into the wind, especially a warmer northerly wind, in the low light periods is far more important. Any moon phase is good for dawn and dusk fishing providing you haven’t had lots of cold southerlies, and even then our guide Rob Wood still catches plenty of Barra.

Rob mainly uses Storm Bait ‘n’ Switch lures and methodically makes 50 or more casts to each point. Each cast is aimed at the edge of the weed and slow rolled back occasionally touching the bottom. This lure allows Rob to quickly change the lure colour every ten casts of so (hence the name bait n switch) to see what the barra prefer on the night.

To top things off 10 year old Tom Woods fought and landed a whopping 120 cm barra estimated at some 66 plus pounds! I followed him around with a camera as his little sport travelled at some 4 knots through the timber. Great footage for next years Fishing Australia Series and we are all looking forward to seeing it.

The houseboat costs around $300 a night; you can get more info at http://www.lakem.com.au If you need more help to catch one of Mondurans Mega Barra contact Rob Wood http://www.hotelgingin.com.au or 07 4157 4342. For more info on the Hobie Pro Angler check out www.hobiecat.com.au/fishing/proangler.html

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Rob Pax (blog)

Readers may have noticed a friendly comp has broken out as to who is B1 ie Barra 1 and who is B2, B3 etc.

And while all the adults fought it out for this title; young 10 years old Tommy snuck up on us with this 120 cm 66 pound plus monster hooked in his hobie sport.

It towed him some 200 meters through heavy timber, at night, but he did a Stirling job and got the fish beat, after which his dad Rob Wood (pictured) came over with the landing net.

Look at the size of it-Now that is a barra!  

Rob Pax

( A huge flathead materializes beneath Robs hobie)

FISH’N’TIP  0500 Five Hundred Fish’n’tips

This week I have the pleasure of penning my 500th weekly Fish’n’tip for all the loyal readers out there.

This is the place where I cut my teeth on newspaper fishing journalism, and it all started with just one column in a wonderful little newspaper known as the Queanbeyan Age. 

With lots of dedication and enthusiasm, all motivated by the fact that I had to go fishing to get the good oil, this has grown steadily to be a feature column in the Rural Press network of newspapers around Australia and is also the longest running weekly column on the internet where it can now be viewed at fishingaustralia.tv  

Funnily enough the internet presence made it possible for people around the world to read the column, and you would be surprised at how many  people write in from OS happy to hear stories from their home country.

The column hasn’t missed a week for 500 weeks straight, and have been flattered along the way to have people mimic the sayings and types of fishing I have developed.  But before I the ego gets too inflated…I too have had the pleasure of fishing with many great fishos from whom I have learnt heaps!  You guys and girls know who you are-thanks!

I have had all sorts of wonderful experiences to write about, from giant cod on fly, to the still talked about marlin from my hobie kayak, from fishing with celebrities and heads of state to helping out those in need of a cheer up via a day on the water.

Of course there is much much more…too much to detail here, but suffice to say if you google up “Rob Paxevanos” followed by the fishing topic you can get stacks of material on any technique from around the country. 

Most of all though people write in saying thanks for helping them catch their first fish or for getting them into a new type of fishing. 

I would like to celebrate the next few weeks by writing about lure fishing for the humble flathead- our most popular and easy to catch saltwater fish that is within reach of anyone along the coast.  AND it is the perfect time of year to catch them.

FLATHEAD

I’ll mainly be talking about the species that live in the estuaries, inlets and bays in the Southern Half of Australia.  In particular I’ll be concentrating on Dusky and Sand Flathead that inhabit the shallows and thus can be targeted from the bank or from a small boat; but bear in mind that all flathead can be caught using the same strategy.

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Flattys as the name suggests have  broad flattened heads and bodies and they can camouflage themselves extremely well or even bury themselves in the sand with just their eyes showing. 

From this sneaky position they watch the traffic going overhead until a tasty little fish, prawn or other snack comes too close…then BOOM  the Flathead explodes out of hiding and inhales its prey in the blink of an eye. 

Flathead are typically solitary predators too – each fish does their own thing.  However, in prime habitats, you can sometimes find many individual fish inhabiting the same area.

WHERE

 Being ambush predators, flattys will often move into position somewhere near cover so they can surprise attack their prey as it comes around the corner.

The best places to find them are where the broad sand or mud flats meet a feature, such as an oyster lease, rock bar, shallow gutter, undulating gravel bed, steep channel or drop off.

Another classic ambush zone is where bait pours out of channels as the tide drains off the flats. 

Flattys also like to lay in small sand patches amongst heavy weed, or conversely hide near small weed patches on a vast sand bank.

Their low profile also means that if needed they can sit on the bottom where the current is strong and barely raise a fin!

Cripes they can be found just about anywhere, so the real trick to finding them is to cover plenty of likely spots.  Drifting with baits is good, but lures are even better; and this is exactly what I’ll be looking at next week in detail.

For the 500^th time it’s my pleasure type: see you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos.

Derek ‘Paffoh’ Steele wrote in to say that he was disappointed to report captures of small redfin in Yerrabi Pond, a place he says he has never seen them in the past.

These fish are typically introduced by unthinking anglers or by anglers who have been using them for live bait.  Both acts are highly illegal and carry substantial fines.

Redfin are not a native species and while they are tasty and fun to catch they do breed ravenously and cause all sorts of problems including eating lots of native fish fry and competing for valuable space.  Caring anglers should do everything they can to stop redfin getting into new waterways.

SNOWIES

Up at Eucumbene and Jindabyne anglers trolling deep with lures or casting wide with baits have fared best. 

George Vlahos and friend fished in a Hobie Outfitter near Kalkite Point and sounded up some a nice patches of rainbows way down around the 14 meter mark.  Softies and blade lures retrieved through the schools worked best and the lads were pretty chuffed at bagging out

SOUTH COAST SNEAKS SNARE LIONS SHARE

How many readers out there have crossed all those tiny little bridges on the Princess Hwy and wondered if there is any fish in them?

Well in most instances they do contain fish; lots of them, and if you make the effort to explore a little you will usually be rewarded handsomely!

Many of these little creeks open up into deeper water or wider lakes! A half decent map will reveal that there are dozens of these places to choose from.

Because such spots don’t have boat ramps there are zones that are virtually untouched so if you can catch a fish or two in the more popular estuaries you can expect to catch 10 times more in these ‘sneaky spots’ using exactly the same techniques!

If you don’t know where to start a 6 Cm Rapala Husky Jerk fished on 4 pound line is the bomb.  Fish it hard up against the snags with lots of twitches and pauses.  If fishing the flats retrieve it rapidly across the expanses stopping in the small holes momentarily to see where the fish are living. 

Deep spots can be targeted with small 3 cm long plastics fished on a 2 to 5 gram jig head.  When you find a patch of fish you will see how easy the whole gig is.

Some of the creeks holes are just meters wide and some of the lakes are not much bigger than a sporting field.

Of course readers of this web site are in pole position because as you well know kayaks can be launched almost anywhere and traversing the shallows is a breeze with Mirage Drive.  Many of you will know how much easier it is to catch fish that have been un pestered by the masses; if not give it a go on your next trip!

The freshwater reaches contain species like bass and black bream, while the brackish and saltwater reaches contain black bream, yellowfin bream, flathead, whiting and many of the other popular species.

Even during the summer when fishing has been a little tough in the more popular estuaries the ‘hidden lagoons’ along the south coast have really fired.

I can’t handle knowing how much fun it is so I’ll be sneaking back in as soon as I can.

See you on the ‘back’ waters.

Rob Paxevanos

The boom in the sport of Kayak Fishing has not yet hit Australia’s Tropics, but after a recent trip up north to test the waters I found there are some scenarios that are absolutely perfect for ‘the yak’.

At first I was talked out of kayaking in the tropics by people who were concerned about the dangers of crocodiles, but I soon figured that tropical fishing isn’t all about chasing barra in the estuaries, which is where most big crocs hang out!

There are plenty of places away from major rivers where crocs are not a threat, for example offshore islands in the dry season.

My adventure began in the Torres Straight where there are a good number of croc free fish yet fishy looking islands to choose from, all with nice warm winter temps in the high twenties.

The next hurdle was that no one up there had a half decent kayak let alone one of the pedal powered Hobies that I prefer to use because they leave my hands free to fish.

Shipping a yak up was looking like an expensive and time consuming exercise until I came across an inflatable hobie that packs up into its own large suitcase and can be checked in with the rest of your baggage on the plane. How cool is that!

Before I knew it I was wheeling the case down the beach on the tiny Island of Poruma, while locals looked on wondering exactly what this little white fella was up too.

After just 5 minutes I had the yak unpacked, pumped up, on the water and into some small to medium sized Queenfish on 3 kg spin gear. Queenfish are awesome; great fight and even better acrobatics, especially when viewed from water level! All this and I could see the pristine reef and sand below me the whole time!

At one stage a school of Queenfish circled me like I was a fad (fish attracting device), this was a great experience and something I have never seen out of a larger powered craft. Once again the yak was proving to be an intimate and fun way of doing something I have done plenty of.

To catch the Queenfish a small white soft plastic retrieved quickly was the stand out technique.

The warm up in the shallows served two purposes: getting to know the 12 foot long craft and building up the confidence to fish the drop off just 100 meters away where bigger fish lurked.

Good fishing spots around tropical islands sometimes go and in hand with sharks, everything from small reefies up to bigger whalers, hammer heads and tigers.

As usually happens current, wind and waves were more important than worrying about shark, so I took my time until it was obvious it was safe on the edge of the first drop off in 18 meters of water.

It was all a learning experience. I didn’t burley from the yak, so my toothy friends didn’t come too close. The whalers sometimes stole a hooked fish from me which was good; I knew they were about and what they were interested in!

I was not nearly as game as the snorkelers and divers who actually get in the water in the same areas! It’s all about putting things in perspective and once you’re out there you soon start to realize that it’s far more fun than fear.

Once settled in I had an absolute ball landing trevally to around a meter long, Coral Trout to 5 kilos, and numerous other species.

While poppers, knife jigs and metal slices all work up north, a tray of buck tail jigs from half an ounce up to 5 ounces covered every depth and species and I only had to work them gently which meant I could save my energy for kayaking, fighting fish and taking in the scenery.

I could’ve happily paddled around exploring the island and catching fish every day for a month. I felt as happy, fit, warm and adventure bound as I have in months.

Kayaking fishing will definitely catch on in the topics, after all it goes hand in hand with warm weather, palm trees and that idyllic island holiday many of us are looking for.

Special thanks to the Torres Straight Regional Authority, queenslandholidays.com.au, hobiekayaks.com.au, and poruma.com.au

You can catch the start of my Torres Straight adventure this week followed by a snap shot of my Kayak Adventure at Poruma next week on WIN Televisions Fishing Australia, 5:30 pm Saturdays.

See you on the telly just after the sun goes down.

Rob Paxevanos.

Stay tuned……..for more action from Rob Paxevanos

The next morning I launched at Corrigan’s again and peddled all the way across to Square Head which took me approximately 20 minutes, the idea was to do a little fishing and to burn up a few of excess carbs ingested over the holiday season. My little hobie sport has foot pedals (the Mirage Drive) and the standard paddle. I usually use the foot pedals exclusively because they are more efficient and leave your hands free for fishing but about halfway into the morning I pulled the paddle out to give my upper body a bit of a work out. There is something magical about getting some light exercise while out on the water, and while sometimes I go hard at it this time around I preferred to go easy but spend more total time at it-a perfect combination when re-acquainting your self with a fishing spot.

Again the water was still a bit murky which suits Tailor and I manage to troll up a few Tailor around the 40 cm mark on the beach between Square Head and Maloney’s Beach. The next day the swell had backed off the water had cleared up and it was time to get a little more serious so my Hobie Mate Mike Nicholls and I launched at South Durras and headed out around the nearby headlands and islands. Heaps of species came our way such as wrasse, Red Rock Cod, leather jackets, slimy mackerel, and a lovely 2 kilo Snapper-a real buzz on light tackle when fishing at water level. We used the new 6 inch long silstar slapstix softie on a 7 gram jig head in 5 to 15 meters of water. The slapstix has an extremely firm but flexibly rubbery consistency; possibly the best textured plastic on the market at the moment and I was pretty happy to be testing them out. The lures dense plastic meant that it withstood all the above fish without even having the old pants pulled down; very practical indeed when the fish are on the chew. The brilliant white color did all the damage. The large southern calamari in the area also went berserk over the lure, and one XL specimen wouldn’t leave it alone and then took a liking to the flippers on the Hobie and sat watching them while I tied on a squid jig to catch him. What an amazing experience at close quarters. This squid went straight into the ice filled esky I keep behind my seat and it won me some good brownie points come dinner time back at camp. Next week I will continue looking at the diary of one of my best family holidays to date and along with a brief encounter with a school of Hammerhead Sharks that I’m sure the more experienced anglers and kayakers will be keen to read about.See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos