Daiwa Round 1. Marlo, Victoria.

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Day Two – Afternoon

Day Two – Fish Release

Day Two – Presentation

Day Two – Morning Action

Day One – Morning Action

Day One – Early Morning

FINAL REPORT – MARLO, VICTORIA.

Daiwa Australia round one was a tough start to the season for all 75 anglers competing in Hobie® Kayak Bream Series 9, which was contested over the January 22-23 weekend, at Marlo in Victoria.

A favourite on the Hobie Fishing calendar, Marlo has a reputation of delivering big fish, and once again, while the total catch numbers were down, the “Big Blacks” were there, just a lot tougher to catch. Full bags were scarce on both days with only 4 anglers catching 6 legals over the two days of the series opener.

Sitting in third place on day one Richard Somerton, from Melbourne in Victoria, snatched the top of the leaderboard from fellow Victorian, Bogdan Zisu, at the final weigh-in, with a day one bag of 3 fish for 2.27kg, and a day two bag of 3 fish for 2.22kg, giving him a total tournament winning weight of 6 fish for 4.49kg.

Somerton headed second place finisher, Tony Pettie from Victoria, who moved up from his day one 4th position to finish with 6 for 4.20kg. Stephen Majera from Victoria rounded out the podium placings with 5 for 4.16kg.

Total Bream Caught: 145
Day One: 65
Day Two: 80

Total Weight: 100.2kg
Day One: 41.93kg
Day Two: 58.27kg

SOMERTON HITS THE SURFACE

Although, having previously won the 2014 Hobie Kayak Fishing World Championship, with a combined bag of fish from Victoria’s Bemm River and Marlo, his 2017 Daiwa round one victory was Richard Somerton’s first, stand alone, tournament win at Marlo, since he began competing in the Hobie Bream Series.

The current number two in the world, Somerton, pedalled a long way to reach a secret location that he has shared with only one or two others. Somerton can travel extremely quick in his Hobie Pro Angler 14, nevertheless, it still took him around 1hr 20min to reach his preferred destination for round one of the season.

“We (Scott Lovig and Somerton) travelled all of the way up to PS Curlip at the Brodribb River boat ramp, then up past the bridge to a secret location. You can get an average bag out of the place, but you’re usually not in the running when you fish up there, mostly ending up in mid-field. We knew the place was going to win a comp one day, it just needed a really tough comp (laughs), and this was that weekend”.

“It was a very, late start on Saturday, due to bad weather, but when we reached our spot, I was able to turn a few bites into a bag. After the long haul back I was surprised to find I was in third position and within range of the day one leader. It was a tough day out there, but I really like it when it’s tough”.

On day two, with the usual 7am to 2:30pm session time announced at the briefing, Somerton chose to lose nearly three hours of line in the water, and set off for the same location as day one.

“When I finally arrived, the bite was a little better than the day before. I targeted the surface bite with Cranka Shallow Minnows and I managed to get my bag of three reasonable bream in pretty good time”.

“I was quiet surprised how tough it was for everyone out there. I thought I might be in with a slim chance of getting near the top, but it was a really, big surprise to take out my first win at Marlo”.

First Prize Payout: $2130 plus a sponsor prize pack valued at over $400

Rod: 7ft 1-4kg Duffrods Hystix
Reel: Daiwa Certate 2010
Line: Daiwa Tournament Braid 8lb
Leader: Sunline FC 6lb

Lure: Cranka Shallow Minnow in rusty gold

PETTIE POWERS TO SECOND

Along with Richard Somerton, Tony Pettie recently competed in the Hobie Fishing World Championship in Louisiana, USA, finishing as the third highest placed Aussie in 10th position on the leaderboard. On the weekend he was looking forward to returning to a familiar waterway and a favourite target species.

“I’m just the bridesmaid once again, it was pretty tough out there, but that’s fishing. One day it’s blowing its guts out and the next day it’s beautiful and the sun is shining. You’ve got to be able to plug through all conditions whatever they are and get the fish when you need them”.

On day one Pettie ended up with 3 fish for 2.17kg and also bagged out on day two with 3 fish weighing in at 2.03kg. He was one of the only 4 anglers to get full bags on both days.

“I got my first fish yesterday along the west bank of the channel near the first island about a kilometre for the start. But to get my other fish on Saturday I went up between the second and third islands to a spot where I also got my bag today (day two). I pretty much got all of my fish within a 500 metre radius, and I was pretty happy bagging out on both days because I knew everyone was struggling out there”.

Second Place Prize Payout: $1110 plus a sponsor prize pack valued at over $300

ATOMIC BIG BREAM

Chris Burbidge from Ferntree Gully in Victoria, who also represented Australia at Hobie Fishing Worlds 6, finishing 8th in the world, caught the first $100 Atomic Big Bream, of the 2017 season. The monster fish could possibly end up being the largest bream of the whole series, weighing a massive 1.72kg. The round was a tough series opener for all anglers and like most Burbidge struggled throughout most of day two until he cast at a tree, caught on a pole, and he came up tight with a heap of weight. The “Atomic Big Black” took him almost 5 minutes to land in his Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayak. The monster had three, huge attempts to make a run back towards its cover before Burbidge was able to win the Marlo battle against the Atomic brute.

Lure: Lucky Craft Tango in a ghost shrimp pattern

MORTGAGE CORP MONSTER MOVER

The Mortgage Corp Monster Mover, picnic hamper and backpack, went to Nathan Prezioso from Victoria who moved up from equal 36th place on the Lowrance Leaderboard at the close of day one, finishing in 11th place with a 3 fish bag of 2.72kg.

COMING UP IN FEBRUARY

On February 25-26, Hobie Kayak Bream Series 9 returns to Bemm River in Victoria, an undisputed favourite on the Hobie calendar for what is going to be a dynamite weekend of fishing in Atomic Round Two. Last year, a record 105 anglers descended on the tiny bream fishing mecca in East Gippsland and Steve Fields from Hobie Fishing has promised to throw in an extra $1000 to the prize pool, if entries go over the 100 for the second year running. Atomic Round Two entries for Bemm are open, it’s going to be massive!

SPECIAL THANKS

The 2017 Daiwa round of Hobie Kayak Bream Series 9 could not have gone ahead without the generous sponsors who have supported Hobie Fishing over a number of years, Daiwa Australia, Berkley, Atomic, Lowrance, Rhino-Rack, Strike Pro, TT Lures, JML Anglers Alliance, Power-Pole, Mortgage Corp and ABT. In 2017 we would like to thank Pro Lure and Hobie Polarized for coming on board the sponsors team and assisting us in running the only true national kayak fishing series in Australia.

Thanks also to Alpine Country in Sale for providing dealer support at the tournament.

Thank you to all anglers for your interest and participation in the Hobie Bream Series. See you all at Bemm River.

DAY ONE REPORT – MARLO, VICTORIA.

Day One of the first round of Hobie Bream Series 9 presented by Daiwa at Marlo, Victoria is over with extreme early morning conditions forcing the tournament director, Steve Fields, to make the call to postpone the usual 7am start until 11am, for safety reasons. The tournament director also made the, hugely popular, decision to extend the session from its usual finishing time of 2:30pm until 5:00pm.

Fishing was unusually tough across the Marlo arena, which has the reputation as being among a short list of the best bream fisheries in Australia. A total 41.93kg of fish were caught and released on the day. With Day One leader Bogdan Zisu from Victoria bagging 3 bream for 2.54kg, holding second place is Paul Malov also from Victoria with 3 for 2.43kg and in third place is current number two in the world Richard Somerton from Victoria with a 3 fish bag of 2.27kg. The Atomic Big Bream is currently led by Matt Jorgensen from New South Wales with an solid 1.35kg Black Bream.

Conditions tomorrow will continue top improve and anglers will register at 6:00am for a 6:30am briefing, when the tournament director will announce the start and finishing times for the day. Around 4pm tomorrow we should know the winner of the first event on the extensive, national Hobie Fishing calendar for 2017.