The first two rounds of the Daiwa-Hobie Kayak BREAM Series provided quite a contrast in results for competitors. In Round 1 held at Mandurah WA, anglers reportedly fished in the toughest bite in the history with only eight fish hitting the scales in the opening round held during the Club Marine Mandurah Boat Show on 9/10th October. Round 2 at Ballina in NSW thankfully saw the bream come to the party.
Mandurah produced crystal clear water, blue skies and light winds and anglers battled hard to crack a consistent pattern, with only two fish hitting the scales on the opening day of competition.
Day two offered and delivered more with overcast and windy conditions delivering anglers a more consistent bite pattern and a much welcome glimpse of the quality fishing that Mandurah has to offer.
Mastering the challenging conditions and bite the best was Shane Owen (4/6, 2.59kg) of Perth with the 20 year old breamer capitalising on a small pattern he identified late on day one and turning it into a limit producing, tournament winning pattern on the final day. Owen was not alone with his insightful day two pattern with event runner up Brett Ozanne (1/6, 0.635kg) taking his unproductive day one approach, modifying it and turning it into a fish catcher on the final day.
Victory though belonged to Owen with the tournament young gun fishing the pontoons and jetties close to the start line on day one before changing tact and heading up stream to the canals in search of legal fish.
Fishing the pontoons, boats and jetties in the canals Owen keyed in on particular pieces of structures as the hot ones to target.
Using a cut-in-half 6″ Berkley Gulp Worm in natural colour rigged on a 1/28th oz, size 2H TT jighead, Owen had a presentation that proved to be just the ticket for clear water shut down breaming.
For Owen it was a dream start to his kayak career, with the WA breamer securing a Grand Final qualifying berth and adding his name to a growing list of event winners including current Daiwa-Hobie Angler of the Year Greg Lewis, Scott Lovig, Daniel Brown, and Jason Meech.
Owen added to his rewards for the weekend, picking up the $100 Boss Hog Prize thanks to 935 gram kicker fish.
For event runner up Brett Ozanne it was a great start to the two WA rounds in the series with the kayak fishing fan overjoyed to have qualified for the GF.
Rewarded for his patience and focus Ozanne landed the second biggest fish for the tournament and found himself $230 richer as a result. The lure that delivered him his Sunday pay day was a gold coloured 1/12th TT Ghostblade, with the retrieve comprised of a slow sink, and a short, quick twitch followed by another pause.
Runner-up Brett Ozane.
Placings: 1 Shane Owens; 2nd Brett Ozanne 1 0.635 1 0.635 $230+ Atomic & Berkley lure pack; 3rd Alan Durkin 1 0.495 1 0.495 $130+ Atomic & Berkley lure pack
Round 2 Ballina NSW
Ballina lived up to its reputation producing wet conditions and plenty of fish in the first east coast round of the Daiwa-Hobie BREAM Kayak Series, 9/10th October.
Constant rain, fresh in the river and howling winds tested anglers’ commitment with Brisbane breamer Will Lee (6/6, 2.69kg) rising to the challenge to secure his first BREAM Kayak win.
Fishing the rockwalls and jetties near the Ballina RSL on day one Lee used a soft plastic approach, fishing 80mm Squidgy Wrigglers (evil minnow) rigged on 1/16th TT jigheads, casting them tight to structure and fishing them with a lift n’ drop retrieve.
“It was standard plastic pattern, a lift and drop with the fish hitting the plastic as it wiggled back down”, explained Lee.
The approach delivering Lee his limit by 10am and a solid, still in the hunt 0.96kg limit.
“I only wish I’d landed the big fish that bricked me. If I got that I would have been a lot higher than 8th place at the end of the first day”, explained Lee.
With more freshwater in the river on the second day Lee went looking for clean water and headed straight to the southern rockwall at the mouth of the river. It was here that he struck paydirt. The approach he used to catch his fish was in vast contrast to the day before, with Lee swapping from soft to hard and fishing a combination of the deep Atomic Hardz Cranks (muddy prawn) and Daiwa Double Clutches (lazer ayu).
Throwing the Hardz up into the wash Lee used a slow rolling retrieve bumping the lure across the rocks and into the path of feeding bream. With his limit in the well Lee made a switch, cutting of the Hardz and tying on the Double Clutch.
“I wanted a big lure that would perhaps pull bigger fish”, explained Lee.
nd that’s exactly what it did, with the Double Clutch producing two upgrades and upsizing his bag to a tournament winning one. While the clutch got him across the line it was the kicker fish (0.89kg) in his bag that came on a Hardz that value added his winnings as the event’s $100 Boss Hog.
Claiming his best result to date in the Daiwa-Hobie BREAM Kayak Series was event runner-up Jonathon Chen of Canberra. For the 21 year old environmental heath student it was a dream start to the season, with a shallow water crankbait his path to tournament success. Chen caught all his fish slow rolling brown stripe and orange coloured Jackall Chubbies. The remainder of the tackle he used to catch his fish included a Shimano Rack Raider rod, Shimano 1000 Sienna reel, 4lb Berkley Fireline and 6lb fluorocarbon leader.
Placings: 1st Will Lee 3 0.93 3 1.76 6 2.69 $600, $100 Boss Hog (0.89kg), $100 1st Pro + Ballina Lakeside Holiday Park Voucher; 2nd Jonathon Chen 3 1.09 3 1.14 6 2.23 $350; 3rd Nicholas Meredith 3 0.92 3 1.18 6 2.10 $190.
The next round of the 2010/2011 series is in Sydney on November 21 at Hen and Chicken Bay Visit www.bream.com.au for more information.
