Tales from the back of the boat – Taree.

Taree Tales from the Back of the Boat

You know when you get the funny scratchy feeling at the back of the throat? You just don’t feel quite right and you’re not sure what’s coming. More to the point you don’t want to think about what’s coming.

That was me the day before leaving for Taree for the first NSW round of the bream ABT year. After weeks of excitement and anticipation I felt like I was about to get the mother of all head colds and looking at the forecast of temperatures in the mid thirties all I could see was discomfort. Still, too late to back out, so off I trundled to what a fellow fisho described as “the second hardest tournament waterway in the State”. It was just getting better and better!

Awoken at 5am on the Friday it was Pre-fish Day and after a night of little sleep brought about by a combination of too much medication and more than a little excitement, my spirits lifted a little as the boat slid off the trailer into the calm Manning River and before I knew it we were shooting up river at sinus clearing speeds. Funny, even through bleary eyes and a foggy head I still couldn’t help thinking how much I’d missed the tournaments.

The one (and probably only if you listen to my boater) constructive thing I did the night before was to spool up a couple of Abu Cardinal 702LX reels I had the chance to give a whirl over the weekend

Ordinarily I don’t like using gear I haven’t got to know on comp weekends but after the first few casts I realized I needn’t have worried. The 702LX is a solid little reel and the fit on my beloved Pro-Tactics was spot on. My finger reached the spool nicely and the cranking was smooth and positive. The Carbon Matrix Drag was a big step up from the single oiled felt washer on my old reels and now I had a choice of drag settings other than on or off!

As usual with Abu’s there’s always a nice touch somewhere and on these it’s the engraved mark on the inside of the spool indicating correct spooling depth. The dreaded knots caused by over-filling never appeared and the Stren Microfuse peeled off without a hitch all day.

Pre-fish day was good, bream were in short supply but certainly could be seen and flatties kept the boredom at bay for most of the day. In fact the highlight of the day was fishing a small area of racks that provided me with a searing run that had the Carbon Matrix drag on the little 702 singing. Regaining some line and with the fish just off the boat we saw a huge flash of silver leaving me thinking ‘No not today…big fish tomorrow!’ I needn’t have bothered….getting some more line in saw a flatty running a good 80cm hanging onto my Gulp Shrimp. The flash must have been a big bream spooked by the commotion.
I went to bed happy that all my gear was working well, I was casting well and despite my head feeling like it was stuck in some lift doors I was positive about the coming weekend.

Day One saw me fishing various banks using topwater lures and un-weighted Gulp Shrimps and fish were coming thick and fast. Sadly they were all under size but it kept my enthusasium up. Still feeling groggy the morning was so hot and humid I probably spent as much time mopping my brow as I did fishing but the discomfort still took a step back every time a hookup occurred. Casting under trees and into mangrove roots the first legal fish came around 9am. A small topwater lure on 4lb Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon leader and 2lb Stren Microfuse was slurped off the surface and the Pro-Tactic/702 combo did the rest bring a nice 31cm bream to the net. My boater followed suit 5mins later and seemed very happy with the way the day was progressing. Sadly that was it for legal fish for me and although we continued to catch fish it was only my boater who managed to scrape his way to four fish. Just the one for me but happy I didn’t doughnut, I felt I’d fished well given the heat and went back to the ramp fairly upbeat.

Day Two say a dramatic change in the weather…it started cold and windy! The change had everybody re-thinking their tactics and I was soon reaching for the Gulp shrimps thinking it was going to be plastic time and probably deep plastics at that. Fishing a few different banks with my boater we picked up a flatties but spent much of the time grimacing at the wind. We decided to up stumps and try and find a sheltered spot with a bit of structure. As my fair weather fisherman side came bursting through I wondered if that was the right idea and maybe we should tough it out. As it was we found a nice stretch of bank just catching a gentle breeze and as the wind dropped and the sun occasionally came out it wasn’t long before we were getting a few hits to keep us interested. And it wasn’t much longer before the hits started coming thick and fast, not deep as I had thought but still in the higher parts of the water column.

Fishing a section of old oyster rack poles similar to the ones Berkley’s Scott Towner is fishing in the picture, un-weighted Gulp shrimps and small topwater lures were again getting hit by bream of all sizes and at times double hookups caused chaos on the boat as we both tried to steer fish over and around the obstructive racks and snags. One thing I was impressed with was the 4lb Trilene Fluorocarbon leader I was using. Often I had to let the Pro Tactics exert their will and often I was wrapped around some pole or other but the Trilene held firm and took a fair beating before being prudent I replaced the leader. You know it’s a good session when the cup of coffee and snack bar sat untouched on the deck for over an hour!

In the end despite the excitement I was only able to take two legal fish with me to the weigh in but it was just enough to hang off the top ten placings. Reflecting on the way home I was actually quite happy. I had fished reasonably well, cast well (didn’t donate too much gear to the trees and bushes!) and above all the Pro Tactics, the Abu 702’s, the Stren, the Trilene and numerous other Berkley bits and pieces had performed beautifully all weekend. The only issue I had was down to knots and a sneaky peak at Berkley’s Scott Towner’s rods soon saw that solved on the first night.

I made mention in the very first Tales from the Outside that one thing I’d learnt from Berkley Pro Team members was organization and integration of your tackle was vital to give you confidence in the tournaments and being in no shape to battle bream and my gear his weekend was a perfect example of that. In fact one of my boaters made a passing comment from the front of boat. “You like your Pure Fishing gear don’t you”. Certainly do my man, certainly do.

Until next time, good fishing.

Gatesy

Ps. Many thanks to my boaters for a great weekend, members of the Berkley Pro Team for their invaluable advice and the boys from bream.com.au for a great event and helping out with a few pictures.

Pps. Again for the record I have no agreement or affiliation with Pure Fishing and only ramble on ‘cos the kind folks at Pure Fishing let me. When they stop making gear that delivers the goods, I’ll stop rambling on…promise!