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