My Sydney Abt

[The Iceman]

Well that was one tough comp First up friday night at the briefing I drew Todd Young in the loomis skeeter for the saturday and his father Brett Young in his 460 topender on the sunday Both very knowledgeable and great company

Unfortunately I didnt weigh a bream on either day though plenty were caught all undersize to the ABT length of 25cm to the fork of the tail It was very tough with not many five bag hauls on either day The bycatch made up for the lack of weighable bream with plenty of flatties including two 70cm models and some big whiting up to 40cm We fished a mixture of flats using HBs and deeper water along shorelines and under boats using SPs mainly shortened zoom brush hogs for me which caught several flatties and undersize bream The winner in the boaters section was Andrew Howard from Taree and the winner of the nonboaters was Craig Johnson from Berry

Congratulations to Dave Gibson and Tony Steiner from this site who both made the top ten prize winners list Wheres your reports guys

[Chef]

Tough is an understatement.

We fished Saturday starting on the boats in Lane Cove but after catching half the pinky population for the entire harbour we left the boats in the hope a tide change later may improve them.

We then moved to the flats with lots of Bream caught, however all were about 1cm from being put in the bag.

From here we hit the shore line and pontoons hoping the incoming tide would bring them in. We caught a few, two in particular that were dropped and two in the bag.

Hit the boats again but nothing happening with bream, lots of flatties and other by-catch but where's the bream.

Day two saw us hit the Eastern side of the bridge and some great fish caught in beautiful rain & windy conditions. We saw many bream over the kilo but no matter how much we negotiated with them they were not playing ball. Put two nice fish in the bag early and heaps of by-catch. Michael caught a great kingy between boats that took him for a nice long run on 4lb line only to get snapped off a meter or two from the side.

We then hit some legal marinas and boats but the wind was up too much, and the rain - well it was wet as usual.

All in all it was a great weekend with some really nice guys, and as usual i came back with a head full of new found knowledge.

Lookout Berkley Summer Series here we come.

[snag]

Thought id come down the weigh-in with my daughter on sunday and wasnt the weather sh.t.

As you said andrew not many 5bags came in and even a few fish shrunk and where knocked back before being weighed-in.

The main thing was you had fun and hopefully learnt some new things.Better luck next time.

[gerg]

I had a very interesting 2 days.

This was my first ABT and won't be my last. Saturday, I got paired with Richard Potter and had my first ride in a skeeter. It absolutely blew my mind - this is a very nice boat and a real pleasure to fish off. Unfortunately, we got to our first spot in middle harbour, in under 15 minutes mind you, only to discover that the electrics had spat the dummy - no electric motor all day. We headed back and drifted the flats in Iron Cove and Hen and Chicken for lots of undersized fish and by-catch. I managed to pull one fish just 25 to the fork with an hour to go. I was almost embarrased to weigh it but it became a valuable fish on day 2. I must say a big thanks to Richard, despite the technical problems, I learnt heaps from him.

Day 2 paired with Neil Kelly and a second skeeter. The weather was ordinary to say the least and the wind picked up very early. It was decided that we should hit the flats and try to use the wind to our advantage. We spent most of the day in Hen and Chicken bay for 1 fish in the well each and and countles flatties. We made a move to Five Dock Bay with about 2 hours to go peppering flats and banks. With about an hour to go, I managed my PB bream at 34 to the fork (38.5 tip) on SX-40 colour 302.

I was completely surprised when my 3 fish for the weekend put me into 8th place. Funnily enough, the 25er on Saturday was the difference between 8th and about 20th. Thanks to Richard and Neil for having me aboard and sharing their knowledge.

Cheers, Greg

[The Iceman]

I had a very interesting 2 days.

This was my first ABT and won't be my last. Saturday, I got paired with Richard Potter and had my first ride in a skeeter. It absolutely blew my mind - this is a very nice boat and a real pleasure to fish off. Unfortunately, we got to our first spot in middle harbour, in under 15 minutes mind you, only to discover that the electrics had spat the dummy - no electric motor all day. We headed back and drifted the flats in Iron Cove and Hen and Chicken for lots of undersized fish and by-catch. I managed to pull one fish just 25 to the fork with an hour to go. I was almost embarrased to weigh it but it became a valuable fish on day 2. I must say a big thanks to Richard, despite the technical problems, I learnt heaps from him.

Day 2 paired with Neil Kelly and a second skeeter. The weather was ordinary to say the least and the wind picked up very early. It was decided that we should hit the flats and try to use the wind to our advantage. We spent most of the day in Hen and Chicken bay for 1 fish in the well each and and countles flatties. We made a move to Five Dock Bay with about 2 hours to go peppering flats and banks. With about an hour to go, I managed my PB bream at 34 to the fork (38.5 tip) on SX-40 colour 302.

I was completely surprised when my 3 fish for the weekend put me into 8th place. Funnily enough, the 25er on Saturday was the difference between 8th and about 20th. Thanks to Richard and Neil for having me aboard and sharing their knowledge.

Cheers, Greg

I wondered what was going on with Richs boat We were near you in the purple skeeter on saturday up the back of Hen and Chicken Neil is a nice guy Ive fished with him socially down in St Georges Basin

[gibodfisho]

Thanks Iceman, was rapt to get my first CASH pay out and to have two good days of fishing with two nice guys, I could not have been happier. Saturday started with a good fish on a hull then a procession of 24cm throw backs. Moved up to a flat, worked it for a little while but not enough water on it. A marina was next and it was very quiet, could not see any bream but was lucky to stumble onto what the fish wanted on the day. Proceeded to catch 2 legals and a heap of throwbacks. Worked a rocky shorline next using same technique bagged out with a couple of small upgrades. Used Hidden weights and Gulps pretty much all day. Sunday was much different Hulls did not work for me, the marina produced only 1 fish and the conditions were getting worse. I think I was lucky to get 2 more fish in spots I had not tried before. Plus there was more pressure from other competitors for the same runs. Returned to weigh in drenched but happy to be in the top 10. Cheers Dave

[The Iceman]

Dave those hidden weights in gulps seem to be working well Were you using 2in gulp shrimp?

[gibodfisho]

Dave those hidden weights in gulps seem to be working well Were you using 2in gulp shrimp?

Yeah they are working well, hope they can do the job in Forster this weekend.