Bennyg78

Hi @R E G I C Y C L E I am a bit OCD with keeping my lures in good knick, this is what I do after a session: I usually put them all in a tub with hot water and dishwashing liquid and let them soak for a good 20 minutes then I give them a wipe with a chux and let them air dry out and then put them back in the box I usually put a silica pack or two ( the stuff that comes in shopping parcels to help keep moisture out) in each of my tackle boxes to help keep it dry. Some other people use dry rice. Hope this helps. Ben

Great read @Little_Flatty How addictive is that topwater hit? Well done on catching a couple this morning, I hope I see a few more topwater catches soon!!

Nice looking Bass!! well done on a successful session!

I can see the treble!

Hi Raiders I thought I'd fill you in on round 2 of the AFT comp at Tunks Park.Grab a coffee, beer or some other beverage and have a read The competition was held on Saturday 20th January. The AFT comps are designed to be shorter and faster events giving you around 6 hours of fishing time (launching at 6 am and back by 12), so you can be back home with the family after lunch. The format is all about catch, photo and release of your 3 longest bream- so its all about the length. At the conclusion of the fishing time allocated everyone submits their photos to the admin who then verify and input it into their spreadsheet. The great thing about this comp is even undersized fish count, and every fish even a tiddler could make a difference. The competition is points based with the top 3 taking out $$ prizes, I think first place took home around $500. The points you earn accrue towards your overall position in the series. My aim is to keep accumulating points in this series as the top 30 will be invited to the grand final at the end of the series The area: Tunks park is a busy little boat ramp situated in Cammeray and a good launching point for all those that fish middle harbour and wanting to venture out past the heads. The area offers an immense amount of structure such as marinas, jetties pontoons, shallow bays and the spit bridge. These are all great opportunities for the up and coming bream angler, sometimes this is the problem as you have so much choice in the area. I had fished the area from Tunks Park a few times previously with what could be described as mixed results, one very good session and one average session. What I needed was a plan as I knew this comp was going to draw a few more anglers and I really like to have my own space to fish. The Plan: I really wanted to get away from the pack and fish my own space in this comp we had 38 anglers competing which isn't a lot when compared to the hobie comps which draw fields of close 100 anglers. So my game plan was to pedal from Tunks Park down past spit bridge and work topwater early as we were just coming off the top of the tide at 6 am and then move to structure fishing some of the marinas, the bridge and pontoons. I had to be mindful of time as I knew its fair pedal down and I wanted to cruise back home and now bust my ass on the way back Comp day? Well as soon as the start signal was waved, I took off with only one other competitor in line with me. We were both moving between 7.5-8 km/h, which doesnt seem that fast but trust me your legs know about it after 30 minutes. Luckily the other competitor, headed left towards Sailors bay and I went right continuing under the bridge. I pulled out my rod already rigged up with a bent minnow and began casting in a shallow bay that had some significant oyster/rock bars still covered in water at this time. On my third cast , I begin working the lure twitching and pausing and then think its got snagged. I then feel this snag run and pull some line hard, I am holding my rod up at an elevated position and away from all sharp boundaries( sometimes very tricky in a kayak). After a few runs, I net this fish and its a horse of a bream, I didn't have my scale but man I reckon this thing would have been 1KG. I line it up on the measure mat , and its just short of the 40 cm mark. I photograph the fish and release it. This is a great start, I have my first fish before 7 am I a thinking I am on here! I then continue to cast the bent around missing a few more fish - dammit!, I decide to leave the area with thoughts of hitting it again in an hour. I move to a nearby marina throwing some soft plastics and a the muss lure with no success. Moving back to my shallow bay it seems the fish have moved deeper but i need to decide to stay in this area or begin my journey back fishing the structure on the way. I decide to fish the spit bridge and see if I can pull a fish off one of the pylons using the muss. Now if you have never seen the spit bridge from the water level, if caked in barnacles, oysters and other sharp things. Its kinda like an add for a razor company if you ever need one. Now casting into that bridge I had 8 lb leader on the muss which wasn't enough as I ended up losing about $40 worth of lures on those pylons without a fish too boot! So after the bridge not working for me, I decide to move to some jetties and pylons. I also realise I have dropped my scissors in the water somewhere- darn it!. Now I have to use my teeth and a rusty old bait knife to cut my lines when changing lures. I switch to a Daiwa flickbait on a 1/20th jig head, this lure has become a favourite of mine and seems to work with how I fish it. On second cast I hook up to a pinky, this happens again a few cast later. I run into another competitor, who said hes not had much luck on the pontoons, I decide to keep at it and get hit hard with a good run, I net this fish and its a healthy 28 cm. My mood lifts as I now have two fish towards my bag and measurement. I keep working my plastic along pontoons and bang I get hit and start winding and working in, I see the fish come to surface and its darting from side to side and then it happens PING! leader snaps down near the lure and bye bye fish number 3. Upon reflection this is my fault as the jetties and pontoons I was throwing into were very much covered in oysters and barnacles. Anyway times a ticking I decide to pedal over the side and hit a few pontoons and jetties but the wind is picking up making it hard to position yourself well in the kayak. I start to cruise back with the occasional flick to no avail. Soon I am back at the ramp, and get the yak out of the water as Tunks Park is a busy place and I don't want to be in boaties or kayakers way. How did it pan out? Well I entered my two fish for a total of 68 cm, this actually got me to 12th place out of 38 competitors, first place went to Ryan Honeybrook with a whopping 117cm 3 fish bag. I guess I'll ponder the what if? with that 3rd fish that would have placed me in the top 3,but thats fishing! The great thing about fishing these competitions is its a very good learning platform and I have some more lessons to apply for next time. Next round is in March at Tuggerah lakes. If anyone is interested in fishing kayak comps or has any questions feel free to ask or message me I am only more than happy to help I Hope you enjoyed the read. Cheers Ben

Nice little session on a hot day @DerekD

Hi @linewetter I told you a session with @DerekD will improve your fishing skills and enjoyment as a consequence of it! Looking forward to many more posts about your fishing and perhaps catching up in the future.

They do work, its usually down the operator(angler) to set the hook well! Have a look on youtube for steve morgan fishing ecogear bream prawns and you'll see they can work.

Awesome report @Little_Flatty All your talk of flats and whiting has my topwater thoughts triggering!! My uncle owns a little accommodation place at pindimar it’s a nice spot

The dark side is soo good 😉. Plus I’m a sucker for a good marketing campaign and hype! @linewetter if you tee up a catch up with @DerekD I can bring a few different rods for you to have a look at. I have a few which are longer 1-4, 2-4 kg models and then Derek has a few as well.

Hi @linewetterThe base Infeet models are really good value as are the atomic arrows rods. I do have a bias towards the Infeet models being a Daiwa fan boy. You might find some tackle shops have a run out on the older 2020 models as the new 23 models are arriving in stock. If your landbased it might pay to get a longer rod 7-8 foot rather than a shorter one to cover more distance. As @big Neil says you might need a smaller reel to pair it Happy to talk more about specific Infeet models if you want to message me

Well done @R E G I C Y C L E I really need to get into the freshwater kayak fishing

I also think gosling creek houses trout and bass, as well as lake canobolas.

What a cracking session!! I Love the topwater estuary season!!!

Well done @AlbertW now you need to go and buy every topwater lure til you end up so confused by which one to tie on 😜 keep it up!!

Hi all I thought I'd do a write up of a recent comp that I took part in and also to let people know more about this competition series that's being run around Sydney area for kayak fishos. So a couple of Sydney guys have organised a series called the Action Fishing Tournament series around mostly Sydney and central coast areas. The cost of entry is cheap($60), and its a one day 6 hour event ( your wives/partners can thank them later). The event is strictly catch photo & release( this means all sizes are measured) targeting the humble bream; with the total length of 3 bream measurement from head to tip to give you your total score to compete against others. As the events are shorter and numbers are capped at 50 per event its a great way to experience a fishing tournament. The full list of rules and regulations are on their facebook site here. They would love to see a few more anglers so get involved! ( I am also happy to answer any questions) Anyway onto my report! So round 1 is on the glorious Georges river, the launch point is at Holts Point Place Boat ramp at Sylvania waters. Great launch area as it gives you so many options like Wooloware Bay, the canals, towra flats, the bridges, kogarah bay and so on and so forth. The race brief took place at 5:45 am with the competition taking place between 6am-12pm. On Launch we had the dead of the high tide and it wouldn't begin running out until around 7.30-8am. I had two plans in mind and was still quite undecided until the day of the comp on which to execute; Plan 1 was to hit Towra Flats and work the weed beds and sand flats with topwater 🤤, crankbaits and other shallow lure presentations. Plan 2 was to play on one of the bridges for a bit and then head down Kogarah bay. I decided to hit up Plan 2, due to the fact that a strong southerly wind was forecast and it was due to kick in from about 8:30 am, this worked to be a smart decision with many others going to woolooware bay an strugglng in the windy conditions. I first hit up Tom Uglys bridge throwing the muss and cranka crab on a number of pylons but it was very quiet, I thought maybe due to being no current there was not much activity. I earmarked the bridge for a later return ( more on this later). I headed down the western side of Kogarah bay throwing a pro lure crank-shallow up against the rock walls and soon managed my first bream a little 20 cm model. Photo taken and back in the drink. During this time I catch a 3 undersized flatheads too and release them. I throw some different soft plastics under various structure but the only thing taking them is more flathead! damn it. I then lose my crankbait on a reef and change over to the same crankbait but in black. I am now on the eastern side of Kogarah and success another little bream to add to the comp this ones a tad smaller at 18.5 cm, but Ill take it. By this time its about 10.30 am and I have to make a call to either fish the marina or go back and hit the bridge pylons. I choose the Bridge! Over I go to work a couple of sections with the muss lure. Throwing the muss is tricky as you want to get the lure to waft down the water column as close to the structure as you can with out a whole lot of rod movement. This involves lots of casting if you don't get it right. But when you do get it right... Its a big whack!! and thats just what happened, the fish took the lure and pulled me straight toward the pylon and I was fighting him hard. I was determined to bring this fish to the boat. Anyway this fish wasn't coming in easy and I had my rod and reel working hard but finally got the bream in the yak. I swear he felt like a 40 cm model but went 35-36 cm. After that effort it was time to pedal back to the launch for the finish so I decided to troll ( yes you can also troll in these comps) with my black crank bait on the way back. I tell you what I have found a new way to catch flat head as I hooked about 3 more of them on the way back. At the Weigh in/Measure in we all give our phones and photos to the admins running the comp and they enter our numbers into their spreadsheet. To my suprise I managed to jag a 6th spot out of 30 or so anglers. This gives me some good points towards the series and hopefully qualifying for the Grand final where the top 30 anglers are invited to compete. I hope to see some of you at the next round at Tunks Park in January!

I use Fluro and it works the topwater lure fine.

Well done Rob! great job on those bream, Keep up the work! I have no doubt we will be hearing many more reports from you

Being one of these kayak fishers without the data here's a few anecdotal opinions: I think as others have mentioned the silence plays a big part of it, although alot of areas the fish become conditioned to the noise anyway. Being on a Kayak vs a boat you have to be more thorough covering n area, its not like you can just motor off to the next spot on milk run. Once you have mapped out a plan you live by the sword and die by the sword, sometimes this mean covering every piece of structure in that plan which can pay dividends. as @XD351 mentioned I can get into oyster racks, mangrove systems and other skinny water that a boat will never get too, Even working around jetties, pontoons and wharfs theres a lot more moveability. Actually should compare the ave weight of the bream in some of the hobie rounds vs ABT. comparing the hobie Woy Woy round May 20-12 to the ABT hawkesbury round May 6-7 (top 10 boaters. The average weight of the fish for the yak fishers was 0.84 kg vs the top 10 boaters in the hawkesbury ABT round was 0.67 kg

I’m definitely looking at some of those Infeet baitcasters

Hopefully putting this in the right part of the forum I wanted to tee up a fishing session with @DerekD as its almost the top-water season (so close) and we both enjoy casting light lures along and seeing them crunched! Anyway Derek being Derek offered me & @AlbertW a chance to learn using a baitcaster set up, now I had been always curious but cautious of using one seeing many disasters of bird-nests at the reel, but you don't grow if you don't learn! For this session we were using Derek's baitcaster Barra rod with a curado as the reel and a 30 gram garfish stickbait! So we all met on a sunny morning on Sydney's north-side, here the lesson begins: Derek first talked about how a baitcaster works vs spin set up Then we got learn about the different drag settings and how to apply each and what they could be used for We then got to casting, working on different inertia settings on one of the drag systems. The casting requires a similar but different way to cast the lure. There were some mistakes made (mostly by me) but the benefit of this was learning how to unravel the birds nests (not so bad). Both Albert and I practiced some different casting techniques and playing with the inertia control from higher to lower settings and when you whip that lure out there on the low inertia settings it does fly! Albert definitely getting the better distance than me. So after feeling a tad anxious and cautious about baitcasters I am now pretty confident in using one, which now leads my mind on a path for using some in the finesse range or on for the bass. I am pretty sure @AlbertW learnt a few things too, check out the photos of him casting. Thanks again @DerekD for furthering my angling education and probably draining my bank account in the future 😉!

Well done @DerekD !! Well deserved recognition for a guy who puts many people onto the path of fishing with lures. I wouldn’t have gotten into any kinda lure fishing without him, and from there he has helped me get into kayak tournament fishing. He’s also good to chew the fat and discuss different fishing viewpoints with and there’s always more to learn from him

I just prefer the a different feel

I have a a veritas 2-4 kg I have used it once and definitely not my jam, I’d sell it to you for $80 if you want it.

@faker Watching Steve's videos are great but there's a few things to be mindful of: - hes been fishing bream tournaments for years and hes a gun at it! Trust me I have lost many lures trying to emulate his techniques( hello crankbaits stuck on yachts!) - and yeah your not on a boat, but there are some areas you can still work very light leader. A few things for you to think about if you want to really target bream (and you really have to commit to targeting them by applying line lure and plan to catch them): As @dirvin21 says long casts are a must especially if you're just looking to cover ground with a lure, for good quality bream you really need to think about how and what you're casting at. what are you casting at and what prey are you trying to mimick. In my really limited comp experience its all about finesse and accuracy. You might have to mix up your presentations to get the best bite; this could be a change in type of plastic or just a different weight jighead to affect fall rates to find what they are eating. try a few different locations usually quieter places and early mornings are good times to try for don't be upset if you donut, I have donutted double day comps! but you learn from your hard days as much as your easy days