3B Crank, Scum Dog Bitza – One lure one comp four days

How i made the shootout in the ABT Gold Coast super series – The Wizard
Now i will tell you i never planed this to happened ( thats using surface lures) its just a story on the way the competition panned out for me.
Talking to John Bell the week before the comp. John told me they had sent some samples of the new 3B Crank range of hardbody lures.

These lures are designed by Adam (maddog) Royter  so i knew they would have been field tested and would perform perfect for the bream i would be chasing.
Now there is the deeper diver to the topwater and everything between so they have got everything covered.
The lure that took my fancy was this small topwater  lure  called a scumdog  it looked the perfect size for bream in our canal systems and the colour was perfect  a nice shade of pink  which Berkley have called Bitza. Now i only had one so i was going to look after it.
The breamin on the coast has been quiet of late and the most reliable place here is the the Gold Coast canals. I knew that a lot of guys would be fishing the Bay Islands up into Moreton Bay, but studying the forecasts i thought they might struggle to pull good bags for the 3 days so my plan was hatched. I would fish the canals for the whole comp and hope i could get an above average bag for the 3 days and sneek into the top ten for the last day shootout.

Thursday Prefish
Worked the middle reaches of the Nerang River canals. Fishing was tough until i started using the Scum Dog in Bitza colour and started to catch a few fish with a couple going about 700g to 800g this will be the area that i fish tomorrow. The technique that was working was to cast towards the shore at a 45 degree angle past the pontoons and work the Scum Dog  in a slow walk the dog retrieve about a metre past the pontoon and stop the lure dead and wait, teasing the bream with the odd movement then wait for that spectacular smash off the surface ….. more fun than a ride at Movieworld.

Day 1
Straight back to the same canal system fishing a rising tide. Fishing was slow for a while but picked up as the tide approached high. All fish were caught using the Bitza Scum Dog. 5 fish for 1.79kg not as big as my pre fish day but still an outside chance in position 19th.
Day 2
This was going to be a big day. I just had this feeling that today would be a good day. Then i was thrown a curve ball. Some boaters had pulled out and i was asked if i could take 2 non boaters. Well as most people know 3 in the boat fishing pontoons was going to be tough as we would be competing for the same fish. This was going to be a test of skill and technique would the Bitza Scum Dog be up to the task??  I fished the middle reaches of the Nerang again and continued using the same technique the interesting thing was with 2 extra anglers copying the same technique it was the Bitsa that reigned supreme upgrading numerous times with my non boaters trying everything in their tackle boxes to no avail. All fish today caught using the Bitza Scum Dog.  5 fish for 2.48kg. As i had thought, the anglers fishing the bay struggled and i had snuck into the top 10 for the final day shootout.  8th position. Bitza you beauty!

Day 3 Top ten shootout
This day turned out to be calm and sunny and i knew it would be a hard day. Back to the middle reaches of the Nerang. The Scum Dog had an upgrade of Owner trebles and i was ready. The fishing today was tough the canals that i was doing well in the day before were glassy calm and the fish were very spooky so i had to move to canals that were facing a different way to get a breeze to ripple the top. The fish in these canals were smaller so my bag was smaller for the day. And im afraid to say the bay fired for some today…dammn. All fish were caught on the Scum Dog Bitza. 5 fish for 1.72kg  Final position 9th.

Wrap Up
So there you have it 4 days fishing the one lure from start to finish changing the hooks on the 4th day. I caught about 60 Bream for the comp not including the one Mangrove Jack half a dozen whiting and numerous Trevaly and the lure is still good for another 60 or more.
Can’t get a better praise for the Scum Dog Bitza. I had better order some more when they become available.
One lure One comp. Four days
Wizard

The 3BCrank Scum dog colours range