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Bing Lee BREAM Australian Open Final Results & Story
#153 - 0--bream--Bing Lee BREAM Australian Open Final Results & Story--2006-02-08 15:29:19
#Breamers,
Here's the final results and story. - In one of the most exciting BREAM events in ABT history, Team Bing Lee comprised of Grey Lee and Patrick Debattista saved their best to last to last, weighing in a sensational final day bag of 5.03kg to claim the 2006 Bing Lee BREAM Australia Open title.
For event sponsor Greg Lee from Bing Lee and Patrick Debattista, it was an eventful day that was littered with multiple big bream captures and a final result that saw them leapfrog from 10th place at the start of the day to 1st at the end.
One of 20 other teams to grace the waters of the Sydney Harbour, Lee and Debattista’s $10,000 winner’s cheque was due reward for their compiled limit that saw them deliver a 14/15, 10.55kg tournament bag to the weigh master for three days of tournament fishing.
Targeting their much loved Lane Cove River, Lee and Debattista spent their three tournament days pitching and casting lures to bream holding on the boat hulls and moorings.
“With our boat positioned parallel to our moored target we cast our lures tight to the hull, with one of us presenting it to the front and the other to the back”, Lee explained.
“Then it was just a matter of letting the lure sink to the bottom and watching for any tell-tail ‘tick’ of a bream taking the lure”, he added.
While simple in explanation their technique generally required a few more important factors to maximise success and the chances of catching the all important kicker fish.
“The presence of current was very important”, Lee explained.
“The adage of no run, no fun was definitely true, and when ample shade was thrown into the equation the likelihood for success was high”, he said.
All this came together on the final day with Lee and Debattista striking gold on one boat in particular.
“One of our favourite yachts proved to be the money boat”, Debattista explained.
“The three biggest fish in our bag all came from it. Once we put the last one in the well, we just sat down and looked at the limit we had. We couldn’t believe it. It was one of the magical moments that comes along so rarely”, Debattista said.
The gun lure for Lee and Debattista, like many these days came in the form of a Berkley, with choice and success alternating between, a 4” Berkley Gulp Turtleback Worm (colour- pumpkinseed), a cut down 6” Gulp Worm (colour- pumpkinseed), and a 3” Power Bait Hawg in watermelon colour.
Rigged simply and effectively on a range of Nitro jigheads, Lee and Debattista modified their presentation by alternating between sizes, including 1/24, 1/16, and 1/12 oz.
For Lee his choice of tackle used to present his offering included a quiver of Millerods, comprised of 6’9” Bream Buster Millenniums and the new 6’3” Wharfie.
All matched with Shimano Stella 1000s and spooled with 4lb Berkley Fireline and 5lb Fillingmill flurocarbon. Debattista’s tackle showed a similar style and included 7’ Nitro Powerbream and 6’6” Finessebream rods, Shimano Stella 1000 and Daiwa Certate 2000 reels, 4lb Berkley Fireline and 5lb Fillingmill flurocarbon.
One of the notable additions to their lures was the liberal application of Megastrike scent to their Berkley Hawg plastics.
Post victory Lee and Debattista were willing to divulge how it all happened.
“Knowing our daily run of locations intimately was crucial”, they explained.
“We knew which boats held the bigger fish, and what time, tide and conditions had them at their best”, they added.
“Having this information as a guide and a little bit of luck saw it all come together”, they concluded.
Playing an important role in the events of the final day was the events’ runners-up, Team Shipton Trading/ TT Lures, comprised of Mark “Mango” Mangold and Scott Towner.
Firm favourites leading into the event Mangold and Towner lived up to their predicted form, heading into day two in 3rd position and heading off 1st on the third and final day. In the end their performance was enough to keep all teams at bay bar one. With Team Bing Lee’s giant final day bag relegating them to second place and thoughts of what may have been.
Success was still there for them though, with their $2,750 prize cheque coming from a well calculated game place formulated in the weeks leading up to the event.
Fishing the middle reaches of the harbour as part of their plan Mangold and Towner hit a milk run of locations each day, targeting bream holding on a range of floating, fixed, natural and manmade structure types.
“Hitting spots at the right time was important”, Mangold explained.
“Ample tidal flow on the harbour like in most places is important. So we tried to hit our locations when the current and fishing was at its’ best”, he added.
Once at their chosen spots Mangold’s and Towner’s presentation took a fairly standard approach.
“Getting the lure tight to the structure and in the right spot to best get the lure down to where the fish were holding was crucial”, Mangold explained.
Then we just simply retrieved it back with a run of the mill hop n’ drop retrieve”, he added.
The approach proved productive with the pair working an area over thoroughly before moving onto another location to repeat the process. The end result saw the team compile a 15/15, 10.47kg limit for the event, finishing only 80grams adrift of the event winners.
Like Team Bing Lee Mangold and Towner’s choice of tackle strongly featured Millerod rods, with the pair using an assortment of Wharfie (6’), Classic (6’9”), XF (6’9”), and Brawler (6’9”) models. Shimano Stella 2500 reels were the choice of reel for both anglers, and were used spooled with 6lb Berkley Fireline and 6lb Berkley Vanish.
Lure choice as always was crucial, with Mangold and Towner using an assortment of Eco Products Clionext when fishing boats, and Berkley Bass Minnows in watermelon colour in all other locations. The use of scents featured strongly with the pair apply both shrimp flavoured Yum scent and the new Dizzy wax to their lures.
Self proclaimed shattered men at the end of the final weigh-in, Mangold and Towner will no doubt take away strong memories from the 2006 event, that are sure to see them return next year with a fire in the belly and a desire to capture their first Australian Open victory.
As one of the premier events on the BREAM tournament calendar, the tournament is set to become even bigger and better in 2007 when the Bing Lee BREAM Australian Open once again comes to the waters of Sydney Harbour. For information on the event or the 2006 Ford Courier BREAM Series, visit www.bream.com.au or phone ABT on: (07) 3268 3992 (b/h), or 0427 32 64 64.
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