The ABT Quintrex Hawkesbury River Super Series BREAM Event was held in superb, sunny conditions on May 25-27. Taking home the $10,000 oversized cheque was local Jack Olmos, averaging over 4kg bags across the three days of competition.

The 28 year old Tackle Store Manager scored the heaviest bag of the tournament on the first day with 5/5, 4.7kg, giving him a hefty lead. Maintaining the lead over duration of the competition Olmos scored a whopping 15/15, 12.21kg.

Olmos used a Team Daiwa IMZ 6’10, 4-8lb rod matched to a Daiwa Airity 2000 reel spooled with 6lb Rapala HTZ braid and 4lb Yamatoyo fluorocarbon.

Fishing shorelines first because of the morning fog, Olmos concentrated on scoring fish in the dirty water. He then moved to boat hulls and pontoons in the Berowra area, choosing to use R2S lipless Baby Vibes in the blue/green colour, with upgraded VMC size 12 trebles.

“I would let the lure sink with the current and watch for hits,” Jack explained, “and sometimes the fish had it in its mouth when I twitched the lure, which would set the hooks,” he continued.

This technique definitely proved fantastic for large bream. On the final day in front of the crowd as Olmos transferred the fish from the livewell to the weigh bag, it seemed every fish was a kilo-plus monster. There was no doubt as to who was to be the winner.

Claiming second place for the weekend was Clayton Gusmerini with 15/15, 11.23kg. Coming in second last year at this event, Gusmerini decided to head back to the washy headlands to score some of those large bream waiting to spawn.

Using a Daiwa Battler rod and Certate custom finesse reel spooled with 6lb Berkley Fireline and 8lb Yamatoyo fluorocarbon, Gusmerini choose to rig Berkley Gulp Shrimp and Minnow Grubs on Nitro 1/16 jigheads all weekend.

Mixing up the colours, he added Dizzy wax to each rigged plastic, believing that it scent that attracted the bream.

“I would simply throw in towards the rocks and slow roll the plastic back out,” he said.

“I probably got smoked by 20 horses over the weekend, it was phenomenal. I have my own technique and it’s a fine art,” Gusmerini continued.

Catching his first yellow fin bream on the Friday was winning non-boater James Graham from Western Australia. Armed with a Strudwick Softbodz Finnesse Pro and Shimano Stradic 1000 spooled with 4lb Berkley Fireline and 4lb Linesystems fluorocarbon, Graham fished hard up against boats in the Brisbane Water and Pittwater areas. He used Yum curl tail grubs in orange/red and Gulp Shrimp in molting on 1/12 size 4 Jiggy Jigs jigheads,

Watching the line for bites and flicking the plastics, Graham explained that the bream would follow the lure down to the bottom. Here he would whip it along the sand to entice the fish to suck the lure down.

“I would quite often cast the lure 7 or 8 times in the same spot before getting the fish, as I felt them hanging onto the tail, rather than eating the whole jighead,” he said.

With so many kilo plus fish being weighed on the weekend, it was amazing to see non boater Ian Seeto set the mark on day one and claim the GoSo $500 cheque. Fishing with Jack Olmos, Ian caught the bream on ‘the old faithful’ Berkley 3” Minnow Grub.

With entries coming in thick and fast for the Shimano Clarence River event on June 8-10, it is billed to be a massive show, with the Reef Science on display at Centenary Drive Park.

Find all the info at www.bream.com.au.