The eighth stop of the Hobie BREAM Kayak Series saw the traveling tournament series hit South Australia for Adelaide's inaugural event, the Hobie West Lakes Hobie BREAM Kayak event, 7-8 February.
Day one saw 16 anglers hit the water at the break of day while day had 17 eager breamers sliding their kayaks onto the water in search of a tournament winning bag.
A man-made canal and pontoon laden waterway not unlike the Gold Coast presented anglers with a host of angling opportunities and chance to stamp their name in the record books as the winner of the first Adelaide BREAM event.
Multiple Hobie event winner Greg Lewis (3/3, 1.65kg) set the pace on the opening day of competition catch one of the only two full limits but it was on day two that West Lakes showed what it was capable of with Adelaide local Tim Moszekiari compiled a sensational day two bag (3/3, 2.39kg) to come from behind and steal the show from Lewis.
Focusing on pontoons early, Moszekiari used a jighead rigged green colour Squidgy Lobby to open his account, landing his first fish of the day within an hour of the start, and a fish that would set the tone for his day. Pulling the scales down 1.255kg it was the fish he needed to peg back Lewis' day one bag. The technique used to tempt his kicker fish was as straight forward as it was effective, as Tim explains.
"It was a simple technique with the Lobby, chuck it in next to the pontoon and let it sink to the bottom, watch the line for any bites, and strike if you got one".
With one fish in the well and the pontoons frugal in their willingness to produce additional legals Tim switch techniques and locations working over bait balls in the south reaches of the lake.
"You'll often find bait balls out in the open with bream hanging below them so I focused on these and worker the area over with bigger noisier lures", explained Tim.
Using lures more associated with bass fishing than breaming, a Cultiva Mirror Shad and Ecogear VT 65, Tim drifting his way through the area with the wind, casting his lure past the bait schools, before sinking it to the bottom then working it back to the kayak with a standard lift and drop retrieve.
With his second fish falling to the Cultiva and the third to the Ecogear Tim was back at the weigh-in station by 10am keen to weigh-in his limit and his ailing kicker fish. With a weigh-bag in one hand and a nervously working scoop net in the other Tim made the avoidable mistake many anglers have made over the years.
"The fished kicked, fell out of the net into the water, and before I could react he was gone and I was down to a two fish", explained Tim.
"I was dirty that I'd let it happen, I guess you could chalk it up to the inexperience of tournament fishing", explained a reflective Moszekiari.
With three hours remaining in the session he headed back out again in search of his last fish. Returning to his lipless bait ball pattern Tim had his final fish in the well within in an hour and was back at the weigh-in station to weigh his limit, again.
"I just wanted to get that big fish on the scales, weighed and back into the water. The last thing I wanted to do was to lose him", explained Tim.
With 2.39kg on the scoreboard it was up to the rest of the field to rise to the challenge. Day two however would prove the toughest day of all, with only eight fishing gracing scales compared to day one's 16.
In the end it was Greg Lewis' day one limit that came to the closest, with the NSW south coast breamer compiling his limit fishing the many road bridges and pontoons littered throughout the lake.
"It was a structure orientated pattern with the fishing holding tight to features and eating lures drifted down in front of them", explained Lewis.
Using a combination of Berkley 2" Gulp Shrimps in pepper prawn colour and PML coloured Tiemco Stick Minnows Lewis would cast his offering tight to structure then let it sink to the bottom, watching the line for any bites.
"Watching the line carefully and striking only when you saw it move was the key", explained Lewis.
If there were no bites he'd wind in the lure and simply cast at the next location. It was that simple. The technique saw Lewis with his bag by 8.10am and two upgrades by the end of the session.
"It worked a treat on day one with plenty of undersize, legals and bust ups but day two was a different story with the legal fish tight lipped and only undersize willing to fall to the approach", said the 2009 Glenelg River Hobie BREAM round winner.
The area lived up to its reputation for producing big fish with Steve Fields claiming the $100 Boss Hog Prize on day one with his 0.94kg fish, while on day two it was event winner Tim Moszekiari that value added his winnings by an additional $100 with his 1.255kg fish.
With fine weather, productive fishing and three South Australian Grand Final qualifiers emerging from the event the Hobie BREAM Kayak Series is on track to return to Adelaide in 2011. For more information on the 2010 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series visit www.bream.com.au .
| Gear Box | ||
| Angler | Tim Moszekiari | Greg Lewis |
| Rod | Daiwa Steez & Nitro | Millerod Custom XF Classic |
| Reel | Daiwa Emeraldas 2508 & Gekabjin 2004 | Shimano Stella 1000FD |
| Line | 10lb Fins | 4lb Daiwa Hi Vis braid |
| Leader | 10lb Berkley Vanish | 6lb FC Rock |
| Lure | Squidgy Pro Lobby, 1/6oz, size 1 Nitro jighead | Berkley 2" Gulp Shrimp, 1/50th, size 2 Nitro jighead |
| Cultiva Mirror Shad | Tiemco Stick Minnow | |
| Ecogear VT65 | ||
| Place | Angler | F1 | W1 | BH1 | F2 | W2 | BH2 | MF | MW | Cash | Prizes |
| 1 | Tim Moszekiari | 3 | 2.39 | 1.255 | 3 | 2.39 | $320 + $100 D2 Boss Hog (1.255kg) | Pflueger Medalist spin reel, Berkley lures | |||
| 2 | Greg Lewis | 3 | 1.65 | 3 | 1.65 | $200 + $250 1st Pro | Shakespeare Agility spin reel, Berkley lures | ||||
| 3 | Ben Harrison | 3 | 1.575 | 0.59 | 1 | 0.44 | 3 | 1.575 | $130 | Daiwa lure & shirt pack | |
| 4 | Liam Sulskis | 2 | 0.97 | 2 | 0.97 | $130 | Berkley lure pack | ||||
| 5 | Steve Fields | 1 | 0.94 | 0.94 | 1 | 0.94 | $90 + $100 2nd Pro + $100 D1 Boss Hog (0.094kg) | Berkley lure pack | |||
| 6 | Jake Underwood | 2 | 0.895 | 2 | 0.895 | $50 | Berkley lure pack | ||||
| 7 | Matthew Kris | 2 | 0.875 | 2 | 0.875 | $50 | Berkley lure pack | ||||
| 8 | Matt Petrie | 1 | 0.785 | 1 | 0.785 | Daiwa lure pack | |||||
| 9 | Scott Baker | 1 | 0.735 | 0.735 | 1 | 0.735 | |||||
| 10 | Robert Highet | 1 | 0.525 | 1 | 0.68 | 1 | 0.68 | ||||
| 11 | Neil Carstairs | 1 | 0.585 | 1 | 0.585 | ||||||
| 12 | Kelvin Huang | 1 | 0.515 | 1 | 0.515 | ||||||
| 13 | Jason Meech | 1 | 0.43 | 1 | 0.43 | ||||||
| 14 | Danny Allen | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | Douglas Evans | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | Mark Whitehead | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | Rob Taylor | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | Matt Lawless | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 14 | Steve Bayly | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 16 | 8.75 | 8 | 5.24 | ||||||||
| 0.546875 | 24 | 13.99 |
