gerg Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 (edited) As some would know, I've just returned from this year's ABT tour of Tassie. I'll preface this report with the fact that there were moments of magical fishing and others of complete and utter disaster. The comp fishing for me was a fizzle and a disapointment, nonetheless, now that I'm back, I'll say "bring on the 2010 tour"! I fished the tour last year as a non boater and have to say it was the best fishing experiecne I have ever had. The fishing was awesome, and the mates I made along the way ensured that there was never a question about whether I would go again this year, but rather, whether I would fly down and fish as a non-boater again, or if I could be bothered to tow the boat down and dive in the deep end. Well I decided on the latter, and now as they say, the rest is history. I travelled down with my Brother Chris, and left Sydney in the wee hours of Wednesday morning 25 Feb. The trip started badly, when the footpedal of my minkotta was rubbing on the boat cover and had worn a hole in it within the first hour of departure - I was spewing. We met up with another couple on the outskirts of Sydney to travel down in convoy. By Holbrook, we bumped in to the Berkley boys, Towner and Mango, and as you could imagine everyone was in really high spirits. We made the ferry and set sail for Tassie having met quite a few more guys travelling from SA, VIC and as far as WA. Thursday Morning saw us off the ferry at 7am and we made a bee line for Port Sorell with High hopes! 2008 saw several 5 fish bags weighing 10kg+ taken from this system. We only had a couple of hours to fish before we had to pick my family and Chris' girlfriend up from the airport at Launceston. We bumped into Steve Morgan on the water who had a 46 cm fork length fish in the well that weighed approx 2.25kg - what a monster fish. There were also stories from the previous day of Wayne Friebe's 46cm 2.27kg fish. Peteer Morgans 43cm 1.80kg and Steve Steers 45cm fish that went 1.98. However we went fishless - needing to be there about 2 hours later for the high tide. I'm sure Steve Morgan won't mind me posting his Pic taken from another forum. The first Comp was at St Helens on the east coast - a great flats fishery. I pre fished well, thought I'd cracked a bit a a pattern, and managed some really good fish. However, everything changed on the first day, with the wind swinging around from the opposite direction and my plans fell to pieces. Chris, fishing as a non boater did well though and absolutely smashed it on the second day,landing well over 20 fish and pusing him from about 20th position into 10th. After St Helen's, we dropped the family back to the airport and made our way to Anson's Bay just North of St Helen's. Again, we'd heard reports of great fishing up there with a fish around 1.9 kg being taken up there. Chris and I fished the flats on the incoming tide. It was cold and windy, but the fish came out to play. Chris got the first fish was 41.5cm and weighing in at 1.71kg was a chunk of a specimen and our biggest for the day. We managed to compile a 5 fish bag of 5.9kg in about 2 hours. Once the tide slowed, so did the bite and the size of the fish gradually got smaller. For me, this was to be the highlight of my trip. to be continued...HERE Cheers, Greg Edited March 11, 2009 by gerg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel99 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Wow mate that sounds brilliant! I'd love to enter a bream comp one day just for some fun. That first one is an absolute horse!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigtempo Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Yep im already making plans to go in 2010 BRING IT ON craig oh great report to lads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 WOW!! Great looking fish, boys - Steve's too!! Looks like you got into some nice fish anyway, so that has to be good. Can't wait for Part 2!! Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemo1203 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Top effort guy, they r some thumpers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slicendice Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 What a great report, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Some great bream there Greg Its also on my to do list after Scottie told me how good it was last year Ive caught a few black bream up here and didnt rate them much to yellowfin bream How do they go down there in the colder water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Great report Gerg. I like the good range of spectacles for the tournament, but not the black Sargent Bilko call the police model .....I do like the rimless pair and the polaroids though.... I would have to say you would have no trouble whatsoever getting sponsored by a group of optical shops Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerg Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 My advice is, if you think it will be something you'll enjoy, give them a go. I jumped in the deep end and started fishing the comps as a non boater about 2 years ago, not long after I first started fishing. Though the comp thing is not for everyone, for me they are heaps of fun and satisfy that competitive streak. I've learnt heaps, fished some fantastic waterways and met some great people. Andrew, if your thinking about it, do it! I don't think Tassie fished nearly as well this year as last year - perhaps the fish are wising up? And as you've read,I had some disastrous moments. Even still, Chris and I had some awesome fishing and caught some great fish. I think the Yellowfin hit more agressively, but bar a few, the blacks we caught down there ran pretty hard - especially in a foot of water... Cheers, Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 That is stonker town boys well done on a great trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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