The Tweed Experience

My catch cry following the Tweed has to be FINALLY!
After many close calls over 5 years of trying I finally cracked a maiden win on the ABT Bream Circuit. The win was a welcome relief as it seems the more often you get close to a victory without securing the title – the more the sport becomes a mind game.

This year has been good to me. I have managed to find top ten spots in all the comps fished this year and have no issues with riding the form wave while it is available. Tournament fishing like any sport has it’s share of form highs and lows. One of my lessons this year has been to forget about tournament performance when on the water. I have made a habit of trying to forget about other anglers and get back to fishing for the pleasure of catching fish. The change in approach has meant that I invariably start to listen to the voice of instinct. This voice is the one that pops up when you pass a bank – and whispers ‘Nige, that bank looks good – maybe you should fish it?” or “How about trying something completely different like this lure in this colour?”. This voice forms the instinct that typifies your fishing during social hours and can easily be overlooked during the pressures of a fishing tournament. As it is with form – when things are working for you it is often because your instincts are tuned in – so in a away this is a two way street, but listening to the voice has certainly paid dividends for me this year. The opposite of my run of late has to be that of team mate Steve ‘The Wizard” Wilson. Steve is a great angler who is suffering the ill fate of a form slump at present. After the Tweed round he spoke to me and mentioned he doesn’t know what is going on – only that he knows by sticking at it, things will slowly come good again. I sympathise with him and am picking that it won’t be long before you see him back in the placings!
The results of my approach at the Tweed can be found on http://www.bream.com.au/ – so I am not going to rehash too much of that detail here.
Leading up to the Tweed event I had heard the fishing was tough. The pre fish day undertaken in sobering cold, wet and windy conditions confirmed reports. That voice in my head popped up early in the day following several short bites and told me that it might be worth tying on some stinger hooks for competition hours. The prefish day showed fish to be scattered and hard to tempt. The one plastic the fish seemed to be happy to have a go at was the impressive banana prawn coloured gulp shrimp. The press this lure has received lately is well deserved! I found fish in several places on the prefish day but only in one location was I confident that I could get a few legals if allowed to fish the spot on my own. I left the water at lunchtime Friday and headed home to tie up stinger rigs and think about a sound game plan.

I read a book recently that states when fishing – “Care and Attention breed Success”. The night before tournament days I place a lot of stock in preparing gear to precision. Things have to be well organised and each detail needs to be thought through. Every knot is retied and made to count. The boat is organised so I have plenty of easy access to all the hooks and lures I might need. With tough bites being the norm in tournaments these days finesse approaches are required – I have not looked back since opting for lighter line classes and super sharp hooks like those found in the Nitro Finesse range of jigheads.

The Polycraft was ready to go come tournament day 1 and I had a plan to hit my preferred bank straight up. Following the start I arrived to find only Steve Morgan fishing the bank and proceeded to pull three fish from the bank prior to the bite slowing at 7:30am. All fish were taken on the stinger hooks rigged in the tails of 2 inch Gulp shrimp in banana prawn colour. It was very tough to find fish through much of the rest of the day. Retrieving small hard bodied lures around weedbeds near the top of the Terranora Arm produced a few fish that allowed me to fill my bag prior to weigh in. At 1.97 kg’s the bag was far from big but enough to keep me in the top ten. The Tweed has always been a Voodoo arena for me on day 2 and I went into it with no high expectations. I decided to go straight back to my favoured bank and aim to get one maybe two fish from it prior to the bite stopping. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found the bank with no boats on it having arrived. I fished the key parts of the bank very hard and was able to pull one, two and then three fish off the first two drifts. I couldn’t believe my fortune and the fact that no other boats had arrived! At the top of the third drift, another boat pulled up and I made the most of my last drift by landing two legals and filling the limit prior to 7:30am. Another drift produced no fish and I realised the bite was over. Fishing the bite time hard had definitely provided benefits in that many other anglers found it hard to land legals following that early bite. Once again the stinger hooks paid dividends and provided 4 of the 5 fish landed.

I went into the weigh in having only upgraded one fish following the intial flurry of legals. A nerve racking weigh in proceeded and I managed to secure the maiden win by 50 grams with a small 1.94kg bag.
I always drive home from a tournament thinking about what I’ve learnt about my fishing in general. Lessons from the Tweed include trusting my instincts and spending a lot of time painstakingly preparing gear prior to fishing sessions and tying on rigs such as stinger arrangements on to jigheads. The retrieve used included a very slow lift and drop of my soft plastics along bank side drop offs. Any indication of a bite was met with a lift of the rod and in many cases a shy bite resulted in a fish having mouthed the tail of the plastic and ultimately the stinger arrangement. I also thoroughly enjoyed the company of my non boaters Bill and Wayne which made for light hearted and successful fishing.

The next few weeks include a hectic schedule of AFTA Trade show, Gold Coast ABT and Brisbane Boat Show - so should be a fun month. I am looking forward to all the new toys on display at the Trade Show! John Bell assures me the Berkley Stable have some great new product arriving so keep an eye out on tackle store shelves. Until next time..

Happy Fishing,
Nige

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Good mate, Pro Team Member and Rally Driver Guru – Michael Guest rang me recently to tell me he was racing near my home in Noosa. He asked if I wanted to go for a spin during the testing day prior to the Imbil Coates Rally. I can’t say I’ve ever done the rally thing before so I was pretty keen to see what Guesty gets up to when he isn’t fishing. The only catch was my wife was very pregnant at the time which meant I couldn’t go too far from home…Guesty assured me he could get me back in record time if it was required!
I found the rally testing area easily enough and got into the atmosphere of lots of fast cars doing the test thing prior to a big race. Guesty took the car for a few quick laps to get the feel of the track and then it was my turn to get buckled up in the passenger seat and go for a ride. Now to give you some perspective of the surroundings – we were driving through some forested areas on small dirt tracks that I wouldn’t drive 50km/hr on in my 4WD. The track was pretty hilly in places, you didn’t have to go far to find dense forest and there were volunteers on every corner – I was definitely in rally country!

We checked in with the organisers, waited for the track to be cleared and then Guesty let the Subie go….I was too afraid to speak for the first lap! We hit 160km/hr pretty quick in the piece and then hit the first peak where we spent what seemed minutes in the air. The rest was literally a blur! The precision with which these guys drive their cars through the dirt is pretty unbelievable – Guesty worked bloody hard for the few laps we fitted in and I imagine they earn their dollars when taking on 35km’s of full on race stuff.
The testing of the cars is a critical part of the racing scene and I was impressed to see how clinical Michael was with testing the car and ensuring everything was right for game day. And I was most impressed that I didn’t die on my first excursion into the world of rally.
Driving home I thought about the preparation that Guesty was going through and it made sense to me that he was as good an angler as he is a rally driver. I am reading a book at present titled “Heaven on a Stick” by Chris Hole and it states somewhere in the book that angling success is often achieved through “Care and Attention”. I know that the careful preparation and research Michael puts into his rally driving, he also undertakes prior to fishing – and it is one of the reasons that he catches his fair share of fish.

I timed the rally driving day to perfection because the following day I got a phone call from my wife telling me to get back home quick! In the early hours of the next morning – another angler joined the Webster family in the way of a very little Abigail. I again realised how large and well communicated the fishing family is when messages poured in over the next few days. A big thanks to everyone who passed on their' kind well wishes.

All in all it was a big few days – I didn’t die on the rally track (lost a few years but didn’t die!) and a new arrival to the family made it safe and sound. I wonder what’s in store for next week - other than a severe lack of sleep…

Happy Fishing,

Nige

Headland Winter Snapper

There is a lot to love about winter in SE Queensland. Cool dry days, westerly winds and plenty of fish on the chew! One aspect of the winter fishing that I enjoy, is the fact the snapper tend to sneak closer and closer to the rocky headlands that abound our coastline. What this means for anglers that are prepared to fish those wash zones around the rocks is that you could be in for some knee rattling action! Any angler that has targeted snapper close to the stones will attest to the fact that they know how to find their’ way to safety in record breaking time!
My ideal tackle for this type of fishing includes a 6’6 – 8 to 10kg Dropshot Rod matched with the 806 Abu Cardinal. My reels are loaded with 20lb Stren Superbraid or Stren Microfuse and combined with leaders of 20 to 30lb Berkley Vanish. I use Nitro jigheads in ¼ to ½ Oz size for most of my headland exploits.
My plastics of choice at present include the 6 inch Gulp grubs in New penny, Nuclear Chicken or Camo. The 7inch jerkshads are also a great bait in these areas, but there is something about the fluttering action of the grubs in wash zones that I believe snapper find irresistible!
To start your fishing – first establish that you can safely get a boat near enough to the headlands to fish effectively. If you cant – DON’T be tempted, just find somewhere else to fish! My approach to fishing the headlands includes targeting the points of the bays along a headland. You will often find that the sections of rock that run out into the sea as part of a point will typically include an extension of the structure at depth. By this I mean there is a fair chance there are more rocks running out into the sea beneath the water you can see off a point. What this means to me is that snapper may be feeding anywhere from 100 metres off a rocky point to right up in the wash zone around it. To begin your fishing – simply start a 100 metres or so off the chosen point and start casting your plastic along the line of the structure. Having cast out, keep your line tight and allow the plastic to slowly flutter to bottom. If the lure isn’t slammed on the way to the bottom, allow it to hit bottom and then hop the lure off the bottom before retrieving any slack and then allowing the lure to sink back to bottom. Repeat this process back to the rod tip. By working the water in this fashion – gradually work your way into the rocks to the point at which you can cast into the wash zones around the rock.

This style of fishing is not for the faint hearted. It requires some team work in that one angler is often required to operate the boat while the other fishes tight against the rocks. When fish are hooked don’t try to muscle them – it nearly always ends in tears! Try instead, to lead hooked fish away from the rocks by driving the boat slowly out to sea. You might be pleasantly surprised by how many fish can be saved from the rocks in this manner.

Winter is upon us and the snapper are out there now – I can hear them calling, so go get amongst em!

Happy Fishing,Nige

Carried by the Missus!

I am fortunate to live close to a dynamic fishing store that is managed by some proactive and knowledgeable anglers. My local “Hooked on Angling” Store in Tewantin is always offering some great new experience for keen anglers. One of the activities the store has been promoting of late is the organising of local lure fishing tournaments. Last weekend a group of local anglers went toe to toe in a grandslam type event. These tournaments allow angling teams to accumulate a score including total centimetres of fish caught which can be further bolstered by bonus points for a diverse range of species landed. The event is a catch and release type tournament where fish are caught, measured, photographed and then released. Scores are tallied at the end of a five hour session to establish winner’s rights.

Having missed the past two tournaments due to commitments, I was eager to fish this one. My only catch was in finding a crew to fish with me. At last notice my wife put her hand up to fish in Team “Family Berkley”. My wife is 9 months pregnant and I know she is a very competent angler – however the fact the 2 year old would be required to tag along became a handicap that I am not that familiar with in the tournament arena. To top it off, the family weren’t that keen on the cool 6am start so we settled to fish the last half of the tournament session.

We hit the water around 8ish and started fishing a bit after, with our chosen location a stretch of water that holds shallow coffee rock structure. The water was dirty following recent rains and the tide was a run out to make life more difficult. We opted to fish with 2 inch Gulp shrimp rigged on 4lb stren leaders and 1/30th Oz Finesse Jigheads. By drifting with the tide, waiting for the plastic to get to bottom and then hopping the lure over the rocky substrate we soon started to get a few bites.

Steph was quickly on the scoreboard with a 26cm fish and went on to lose two more good fish soon after. I realised I had to get cracking and scraped on to the board soon after with a Qld legal 23cm fish. Steph then cracked on with a couple more fish up to 28cm which took my last two fish of the session by several centimetres. We got destroyed by a couple of really good fish which could have been late season jacks that wanted our shrimp a lot more than us!

Although we weighed only one species for the event, we realised at the weigh in that it had been a tough day for all. We snuck into the top three (thanks to being carried in there by the missus!) and thoroughly enjoyed our little session on the water. A key to our success was not so much the dynamite New Penny and Banana Prawn Gulp Shrimp, but the huge pack of Allen’s Snakes that kept the 2 year old subdued for long enough for us to catch some fish. That was until the sugar rush kicked in!!!

The other teams had spent most of their time down the lower end of the system due to the dirty waters. Fishing in deeper sections of the river with vibration baits and soft plastics had scored a variety of species including trevally, whiting tailor and bream.

The top eight included:
Champion Team – Jeff Adams and Nick Abbott
Runners Up – Brett Stiles and Chris Bland
3rd – Stephanie and Nigel Webster (and Lachlan)

4th – Mick Geary and “Banger”
5th – Justin McMahon and Russ Shanks
6th – Matt Cockram and Jamie Anderson
7th – Andrew and Jason Eagle
8th – Trev Davies and Glenn Duncan

I am looking forward to the next tournament very much as I will be hearing about my wife’s fishing abilities until I am able to pip her catch in the next one!

Happy Fishing,
Nige

Berkley Pro Team wins Dave Irvine Snapper Classic.

For the second year, Berkley Pro Staffer Michael Guest has again placed outright champion angler at the Dave Irvine Memorial snapper classic.

Guest and team members Mark 'The Captain" Phillips, Blake Hughs and Brian Perry were more than sucessfull in catching 16 of the total 56 snapper caught. "The Captain" placed runner up champion angler and the team placed as champion team in a field of 60 plus boats and over 160 anglers.

This tournament in memory of Dave Irvine of Environet fame was run over the Queens Birthday long weekend out of Coffs Harbour. The weather was against all and Saturday was cancelled in the face of 30 plus knot winds and three metre seas. Sunday was marginal but the boats fished one super session from 5.30am to 1pm and the Berkley boys were last home to take the coveted "snapper on a stick" trophy.

This tournament is unique in that every snapper is released, with anglers having to measure, digitally photograph and submit the memory card from the camera for points. The total length is deemed as the winning catch.

On the day Gulp 7" jerkshads were the baits of choice. The biggest snapper of the weekend went 86cm, with bigger fish smoking anglers in the rough and tumble seas.

The Berkley Pro Staff were on hand to "show and tell" and the public participation was excellent. Young Matt Mckewan had the misfortune to break his only snapper stick on the Saturday. The pro Staff were happy to give him a new IM 7 Snapper spin stick to continue with and we wish Macka pictured here with his busted rod but great fish, every success for the future.

All in all a great weekend even if the weather was not that flash. Plenty of return entrants for next year which is going to be bigger and better according to organisers, Paul Hayman and Scott Amon.

If you love snapper, this tournament is a "must do" and with thoughts of tying "Guesty" down for next year, maybe someone else may get a look in!

Brisbane River Bruisers

At this time of year, I love to get into a bit of saltwater action. The calm days that come during winter are ideal for fishing from small boats. This means that a lot more anglers can get out and enjoy the excellent winter fishing on offer.
Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River would have to be two of the best places to visit. They hold a range of species including bream, flathead, tailor, snapper, threadfin and tunas. All this great fishing can be experienced from a small tinnie only minutes from Queensland’s biggest city.
Here’s what happened on my last Brisbane River trip.
The tide was low around 7.00am and we weren’t expecting too much action until the flow picked up. After ten minutes of fishing alongside a loading dock, the unexpected happened and my lure was nailed. I had been hopping the plastic from the shallow water back into the deep but on this cast; the plastic was snatched on the drop after it had landed. The fish came easily to deeper water before tearing the 20lb Spiderwire Stealth from the spool. The fight went on for around 10 to 15 minutes. Then the beast lay beside the boat – a 120cm threadfin salmon. What a great start to the day.

We fished the same area hard but there were no more strikes. The plan was to head to the mouth of the river and look for some water starting to run back in. We had our sights set on snapper but as we arrived there were scattered birds diving into bait schools in the middle of the river. On closer inspection, we noticed the odd slash as bigger fish were tearing through the bait schools and pushing them to the surface. There was only the odd fish busting the surface and they were very hard to target especially with all the boat traffic using the river mouth.
When three fish broke the surface moving in our direction, I fired a long cast right in front of them. The lure was only a 15g chrome slice but the 14lb Fireline allowed it to fly the required distance. A few seconds let the lure to sink before the reel bought it up to warp speed. A dozen cranks and it was on. A big tuna was torturing the drag on the reel. It went on to fight deep below the boat before being persuaded to come to the surface. At around 8kg it would have to be one of the biggest mac tuna I have ever caught. All this had happened inside the mouth of the river.

The snapper proved to be tough and we gave up on them after a couple of hours fishing. There was still enough run in the making tide to chase some of the river’s big bream. We headed further upstream towards the Gateway Bridge fishing different spots on the way and catching a few bream. On our travels, we stumbled on a drop off that had current pushing against it and nervous bait skipping around on the surface. The first cast was chased by hungry bream until one finally took the bait. This continued each cast. After multiple double hookups, we’d racked up over twenty bream from the one spot. All of them were over legal size and some were crackers. The school must have been huge.
In a five hour session on the Brissie River I’d had a ball. There had been plenty of action and some big fish early on in the day that really topped it off. I can’t wait to get back and have another go.

If you’re going to the Brisbane River or Moreton Bay then here’s some tackle I’d recommend. You need to cover all bases as there’s such a wide range of fish species.

Outfit 1 – Berkley Dropshot 2-4kg 7’ spin rod matched with an 802 Abu Cardinal reel spooled with 4lb Fireline and fitted with an 8lb Vanish leader.
Uses – Casting light lures for bream, flathead and other smaller fish.

Outfit 2 – Berkley Dropshot 4-8kg 7’ spin rod matched with an 804 Abu Cardinal reel spooled with 20lb Spiderwire Stelth or Stren Braid and fitted with a 40lb Vanish leader (spare spool fitted with 10lb Stren Microfuse and 14lb leader).
Uses – Casting lures for snapper, threadfin salmon, tuna and other bigger species.

Outfit 3 – Berkley Dropshot 8-12kg 6’10” spin rod matched with an 806 Abu Cardinal reel spooled with 14lb Fireline and 17lb Vanish leader.
Uses – Casting metal slugs and high speed spinning for pelagic fish.

Hollowbelly's are getting closer!

Recently, we posted a blog about a fantastic new bait that is set to light up soft plastics fishing. This bait is know as the Berkley Hollowbelly. The home page to our website has a video clip showing the attributes of these baits.

Originating in the US of A and used predominantly as a large mouth Bass bait over there, since hitting the US market under a variety of brands and shapes, these new baits have seen unprecedented catches of exceptionally large Bass.

Demand still outstrips the capacity to supply for the US market! The US bait packaging contains hooks that we deemed to be to light for the Saltwater species that will hang themselves on these baits in Australia. Consequently, we asked the manufacturer to supply without light wire hooks and just send us the baits in a clam pack.
This has now been agreed to and we have orders in for the six colours {five pictured, pearl white will also be available} that will be available in Australia.

The great attribute of these baits is the lifelike look and the softness of the bait due to the hollow construction. There are so many angling situations that these baits will cover from freshwater trout in impoundments , big flathead in estuaries, bass fishing, cod, barramundi in both deep and shallow situations, all the tropical critters that eat softies and many more.

We have used the brains of Matt Fraser of Nitro jig fame to build a set of worm hooks and new jigs that will allow these baits to be fished light and shallow or heavier and deeper. The pics attached show the best methods of rigging. These jigs are suited to Aussie fishing conditions.

We expect that the first hollowbelly baits will be available by the end of August, ready for the coming season. Two sizes, 4inch and 6inch in the same six colours. The weighted worm hook is the Jungle hook in 6/0 sizing, available now, with a 4/0 size coming shortly. The button jigs are under test, more to follow on these.

Good things come to those who wait. The wait is not long now!

Dinger.
Ps, I'm of to the NT testing these and several other hot new items shortly. Photo's to follow.

PPS, they worked. Barra, Threadfin, Golden snapper Saratoga, all scoffed them down.