The 2015 Hobie® Kayak Bream Australian Championship Begins!

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia – Friday October 23, 2015

The 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Series Australian Championship presented by Daiwa got off to an excellent start this morning. 49 anglers from across the country arrived at the Atomic event site, for today’s Lowrance Navigation and Pre-Fish Day.

Heavy rain and winds over night were not enough to dampen the spirits of our anglers who prepared for their first session on the tournament arena. The Lowrance Navigation and Pre-Fish Day provides an opportunity for competitors from far and wide to check out the venue and formulate a plan of attack, as well as a chance get accustomed to the event kayaks prior to Saturday and Sunday’s competition.

Hobie Cat Australasia have supplied 50 identically rigged 2016 Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayaks, complete with Lowrance Sounder, Power-Pole Micro Anchor and the New Hobie XL Live Wells. Competitors collected their key tags, welcome packs and official tournament jerseys before getting their event kayaks ready to go.

The day kicked off with an official briefing, and a demonstration of the Rhino-Rack Nautic Kayak Loading System. Once again Lowrance has upped the ante offering up two **Lowrance Sounders**. One for the angler who maps the largest area over the three days of the competition and one for the winner providing he maps the location for upload to Insight Genesis.

By 2:00pm all anglers were back at the Atomic Event Site with mixed reports. Some found good fish while others were playing their cards closer to their chest. All said that the wind made for some heavy going getting back. Winds are forecast to drop considerably tomorrow which will make for easier going on the legs but will also make for some interesting fishing.

Defending 2014 Hobie Kayak Bream Australian Champion, Chris Burbidge from Victoria, was happy to get out on the water.
“It’s an awesome venue. Where we’re staying and where we’re set up is fantastic. This my first real time fishing here so I did the usual research on Google Earth just to find some spots that looked inviting and suit what I like to do. I got one small bream today as well as a few rattles and bumps. I found some fish on the sounder so that’s probably where I’ll start. I’ll fish reasonably deep to start with and get a bag and then hopefully build on it from there. ”

When asked if he was feeling confident coming in to the tournament, as defending champion, Chris said…
Not really. I generally don’t. I certainly wasn’t last year in Western Australia when I took out the title. But… Once you find an area that you like, the confidence starts to build and then if you get a couple of fish you’re away. ”

Angler of the year Simon Morley was also pleased with the day’s research.
I’ve fished here a handful of times, It’s a great spot. I found a little pattern today that will hopefully work. We’ll just see how It goes tomorrow. With a bit of luck I’d love to take out the Championship and Angler of the Year, Burbidge did it last year, but we’ll just see how it goes.

Tonight our championship hopefuls will review what they learned on the water and formulate or modify their plan of attack that will see them through a big, competitive day when the tournament kicks off in ernest at 7:00 (AEDT) tomorrow morning.

Today was a great opportunity to get a closer look at the tournament arena. Tomorrow it’s game on!

The 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Series Australian Championship would not be possible without the great support of our tournament sponsors Daiwa, Lowrance, Berkley, Rhino-Rack, Atomic, Strike Pro, TT Lures, Ecogear, Austackle, Power-Pole, Yamatoyo, Mortgage Corp, Hogs Breath Cafe and ABT.