Abt G.f Forster

[Luke K]

Good evening all,

Well where do I start?

Firstly I would to thank the support of all Fish Raiders.

A big thanks to all those who put the event together. It ran very smoothly.

And a special thanks to Roberta for all her efforts in taking some great photos and her spirit of competition.

My prefish on friday had an interesting twist. I had not paddled further than 200 metres when my rudder decided to play up. It wasn't long before I started to go around in circles. So I paddled back to the start where the beach crew kindley fixed the problem. I was very lucky it happened now and not in the actual competition.

The prefish was good and I managed to find where some fish were and found a few feeding patterns too. I did not try to hook to many fish as that would be pointless and may damage chances on competition days.

Day1.

The weather was not very good for my liking. The wind was blowing from the S.W at about 35km/h and this made things very difficult for my kind of fishing. I tried to find some protected water, but it was very difficult to find. I decided to hit man-made structure such as boats, pontoons and oyster leases. It was in these areas that I found some good fish, not massive but legal. I ended up in 7th place after the first day. I thought that this should put me in good stead for day 2.

Day2. The weather was a little better as the wind had dropped. But fish didn't come easy for me, they were either too small or too big. 10lb leader and mainline was not enough for the Forster monsters. To give you some idea, I landed a 870gram fish on day 1 in the leases without too much hassle but I could not stop these fish on day 2. I suspect they could have been 1kg plus fish. Anyway I only weighed in 2 small fish on day 2 and fell quite a few places all the way down to 26th.

Although a little deflated with my results on day 2 I thoroughly enjoyed the G.F. Next time I fish leases I might just up my leader to 15lb.

If you wish to see the results and a more thorough report please read Roberta's entry.

Here are some pics of one of my better fish and some of the territory I fished

Regards

Luke

[roosterman]

well done luke on getting into the gf.

pitty the fishing was not better on day 2 as you were in with a good chance against some seasoned veterans.

those leases are a minefield and last i fished them a few yrs ago it was devastating seeing big bruisers in clear water and constant bustups as they head straight back under boards and oyster racks...

better luck next time and im sure the experience has added to yr arsenal of tactics..

cheers...steve.....

[arpie]

Hi Luke

Shame you couldn't land those big bruisers - you would really have been 'up there'!!! Even Max (Dan 'bubba' Frost's Dad) reckon he uses 20lb leader to manhandle the monsters out of the racks ..... plus using the leccie as well!!

I know that 2nd pic well (as does Yakfisher/Tristan!) We both got dusted there when he was up late last year!!

I snaffled some of your 'preferred colour' from Adrian, but only caught on the Banana colour! (Littlies, too, but legal, so happy!)

That wind was a shocker! I never go out when it is that bad!! Maybe I should, from now on!!

Look forward to catching up next time you are up - we can try some 'new tactics' around the leases!!

Well done, LUke

cheers

Roberta

[Hodgey]

Congratulations on reaching the GF Luke. What a bloody shame you dropped the bigger models, but I guess if you're hooking them in that sort of territory, then you need a lot of luck to go your way to get them out.

Great to read that you enjoyed the event. It would have been a great experience, with exposure to some of the best lure fishos in the country. Well done mate

Cheers

Hodgey

[iggy]

G`day , top effort mate well done,bad luck on the big ones but hey that`s fishing ,

[Luke K]

Thanks Steve.

Your right, I will be much better prepared next time.

Looking forward to catching up with you and Geordi for some black fishing.

Regards Luke

Thanks for the encouragement Hodgey and hopefully I can pull out next time

cheers

Hey Roberta,

I would love to come up again soon and have a crack at those leases with you.

I think heavier leader is the go for sure. Daniel Brown said he was using 15lb and he won the comp.

That say it all I reckon.

See ya soon

Luke

Cheers Iggy