Victorian Matt Petrie secured victory, with over 700 grams separating him from his nearest competitor. Petrie's 3/3, 2.38kg limit on day 2 of the tournament secured the win, and his kicker fish of 1.10kg claimed the Boss Hogg big bream cheque for day two. In all Petrie secured over $900 worth and cash and sponsors prizes for his efforts.
"Late on Saturday I identified a location near Pipe Clay Point that I thought would produce some good fish. I arrived there first thing on Sunday, after about 45 minutes paddling, and began to work the area. It was about 4-5 feet deep with scattered weed on the bottom and around the size of a football field. I had my first fish by 7.30, which was the largest of my limit, and had the other two by around 9.45. I caught a further two fish in the session but neither were upgrades", explains Petrie.
Using a Berkley 2" shrimp in Pepper Prawn rigged on a 1/12oz TT jighead, Petrie would cast in the area and slowly retrieve using small hops. Petrie describes his technique, "The key was small hops as opposed to big erratic lifts. And also keeping the lure moving, so the bream had to make a decision on the spot whether to react or not".
Petrie's tournament outfit consisted of a 7" Nitro Bream Finesse rod teamed with a Daiwa Steez spin reel spooled with 6lb Sunline PE braid and 4lb Sunline V Hard leader.
Having previously competed at the Mooloolabah and Gold Coast rounds, Petrie was elated to secure his maiden victory. Asked to identify what was the key to his victory Petrie replied, "Persistence. Having identified an area, I went about covering it thoroughly. Knowing the fish were in the area made it easier to just concentrate on where the lure was going and what it was doing".
Jason Meech secured second place with a 3/3, 1.62kg first day limit. The only angler to catch 3/3 for each session, Meech targeted the mouths of small feeder creeks at the back of Narrabeen Lake. Using his Humminbird 798 with Side Image Technology, Meech would sound up areas of scattered weed in 2-3 foot of water. "Any deeper and the fish would not be receptive", explains Meech.
Using a Smith Camion shallow diver lure in black colour, Meech would slow roll the lure back to the kayak. Meech dissects his time on the water, "Most bites would come as soon as the lure hit the water. The bream were more active on day one when I boated around 30 legals. Day two however was tougher with no upgrades. Each day the bites came progressively with no specific window of opportunity".
Meech's outfit consisted of a Samaki 1-4lb 7"10' rod teamed with a Daiwa Luvius 1000 reel spooled with 4lb Daiwa TD Sensor braid and 3lb Sunline FC Rock leader.
Apart from Petrie, who secured the day 2 Boss Hogg cheque, the other Boss Hogg winner from day 1 was Dave Hedge. Hedges .96kg bream easily accounted for all challenges on a tough overall first day, and helped secure him not only the $100 cheque, but also overall third place in the tournament.
Travelling to the back of the lake system, Hedge used a Smith Camion crank bait in shallow water to attract the bream. Casting tight to a weed bed on the bank, Hedge would slow roll the lure with lots of pauses.
"I had picked up a couple of fish that were undersize before this one got on. It was my first legal of the day, and by chance was the largest fish for the session. It was a good result."
Whilst a number of anglers decided to option-up, only one managed to produce fish. An elated Carl Dubois managed to secure the PRO category with a single fish on day 2. With $300 for his efforts, Dubois is certain to chance his arm again in a future event.
Twenty eight fish hit the scales for the two days of competition with ten fish on day one bettered by a more productive 18 fish on day two.
The next round of the 2009/2010 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series sees the tour travel north to Buds Beach, Gold Coast, Qld, Nov 14-15th. For more information on the Hobie BREAM Kayak series visit www.bream.com.au or phone ABT (07) 3387
0888.
| Angler | Status/PRO | F1 | W1 | F2 | W2 | Boss Hog | TF | TW | Payout$ | Prizes | ||
| Matt Petrie | K | 3 | 2.38 | 1.1 | 3 | 2.38 | $800 +Day 2 Boss Hogg ($100) | Daiwa Advantage 703 MLFS 3 piece, Daiwa shirt and hat, Prize Pack | ||||
| Jason Meech | K | 3 | 1.62 | 3 | 1.52 | 3 | 1.62 | $500 | Team Daiwa TD Sensor braid, Berkley tackle bag, Prize Pack | |||
| Dave Hedge | K | 2 | 1.36 | 0.96 | 2 | 1.36 | $300 + Day 1 Boss Hogg ($100) | Berkley tackle bag, Berkley Fireline, Prize Pack | ||||
| Jason Reid | K | 2 | 0.82 | 2 | 0.82 | $300 | Berkley tackle bag, Team Daiwa leader, Prize Pack | |||||
| Kevin Winchester | K | 2 | 0.78 | 2 | 0.78 | $200 | Berkley Tec Scissors pack, Prize Pack | |||||
| Terry Grima | K | 2 | 0.68 | 2 | 0.68 | $150 | Daiwa reel cover, Prize Pack | |||||
| Jason Price | K | 2 | 0.68 | 2 | 0.68 | $150 | Berkley Gulp Tub, Prize Pack | |||||
| Bill Woods | K | 1 | 0.46 | 1 | 0.46 | |||||||
| Craig Grech | K | -0.1 | 1 | 0.44 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| David Gwillim | K | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | |||||||
| Rowan Stanek | K | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.4 | |||||||
| Stewart Dunn | K | 1 | 0.28 | 1 | 0.28 | |||||||
| Carl Dubois | K/PRO | 1 | 0.36 | 1 | 0.36 | 1st PRO ($300) | ||||||
| Peter Woods | K | 1 | 0.34 | 1 | 0.34 | |||||||
| Huan Tran | K | 1 | 0.32 | 1 | 0.32 | |||||||
| Mitchell Flavell | K | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | 0.3 | |||||||
| Alan Parkinson | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Brian Rutledge | K/PRO | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Craig Coughlan | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Dave Gleeson | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Dave Tindale | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Derek Steele | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Gary Cooke | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Greg Lewis | K/PRO | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Jarrod Murfett | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Jonathan Chen | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Josh de Groot | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Ken Riley | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Les Simmonds | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Luke Kay | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Michael Passau | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Neil Carstairs | K/PRO | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Patrick Curran | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Ross Corner | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Scott Baker | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Scott Carmody | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Steve Fields | K/PRO | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Steve Mastrosimini | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Wayne Robinson | K/PRO | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| William Keeley | K | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Marcel Chaloupka | K | -0.1 | 0 | -0.1 | ||||||||
| Michelle Carmody | K | -0.1 | 0 | -0.1 | ||||||||
| Gavin Joyce | K | -0.2 | 0 | -0.2 |
