Tournaments

It’s been four years since ABT has visited the Richmond River at Ballina in northern NSW, however history has a funny way of repeating itself, which it kindly did for Tristan Taylor who rode the sponsor karma wave all the way to 1st place in the Atomic sponsored round of the DAIWA Bream series.

This is Taylor’s second win on this arena, earning him back-to-back titles, as he won the last time ABT visited in 2017.

Anglers were forced to adapt for the weekend as the seaward boundary was moved upriver due to dangerous swells, eliminating the popular north and south break walls. This resulted in many anglers opting to fish the porpoise wall at the front of the system, with several good bags coming from the popular spot. This Tristan Taylor claimed his second victory at Ballina, earning him the status of back-to-back champion and pocketing $2,500 cash for his efforts. Luvias Lt 3000 with 10lb Unitika Aorika braid and 6lb Unitika Aiger leader, from his proud sponsors at Frogleys Offshore.

“At times, the swell washing over the rocks was like a horizontal waterfall,

Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

so I really needed that extra jighead weight to keep the lure in the strike zone, as well as to keep in contact with it on the bottom,” Taylor said. He focused his efforts along broken bits of the wall where the rocks had cracked and separated, washing out the

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview included Tristan Taylor’s 1st place bag and Blake O’Grady’s cracking 2.895kg day one bag.

O’Grady was leading after day one with the biggest bag for the weekend. Unfortunately, a tough Sunday saw him drop to 6th place overall. O’Grady chose to throw brown Cranka Crabs into the rocks

Tristan only landed a handful of bream each day, but they were the right ones. Boater and non-boater champions, Mick Thompson and Tristan Taylor, proved they deserved to be there on what was a pretty tough weekend for some.

along the porpoise wall, as well as an Atomic Crank 38 deep blank, which he custom painted, earning himself the $1,000 Atomic big bag.

TACTICS OF A TWO-

TIME CHAMPION

No stranger to the top of the leaderboard, Taylor – an Atomic sponsored angler – added 5/5, 2.375kg on Sunday to his 5/5, 2.610kg bag on Saturday to take the win over 2nd placed boater Darren ‘Dizzy’ Borg by a little over 200g.

Taylor made the decision to fish the inside of the porpoise wall all weekend, as opposed to the outside like most of the field.

Due to the relentless wind and swell, Taylor relied on a motor oil 2.5, ZMan Grub attached to a 1/6oz (and at times 1/4oz) Atomic Seekerz jighead, fished in as shallow as 3ft of water. To get his lure where it needed to be, he used a Samurai Reaction 201 7’ 2-6lb paired with a Daiwa sand from 2ft down to 3ft.

The bites mostly came off these sand blowouts, instead of the rocks on the outside, which many anglers targeted. “The key was I was getting a lot of those snowy bream coming in off the seawalls – that we weren’t allowed to fish this weekend – so they were still in really good condition as opposed to those upriver fish,” Taylor said.

Persistence was key for Taylor who, on both days,

1 Tristan Taylor 2 Darren Borg 3 Mark Saric 4 Steve Morgan 5 Nathan Gregory 6 Blake O’Grady

10/10 4.985 $2500

10/10 10/10 4.755 4.635 $1500 + $250 1st Mercury bonus $1300

10/10 10/10 4.620 4.480 $1100 + $125 2nd Mercury bonus $900

9/10 4.470 $700 + $75 3rd Mercury bonus + $500 YoloTek big Bream + $1000 Atomic big bag $500 cash

only had two fish in the well by 12pm and trusted his knowledge to capitalise on the bite period late in the session.

“There were a few other boats fishing the inside wall with me that came and went all day, I just knew I had to stay persistent and trust that I was going to get those bites.”

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

DIZZY DIVES

INTO SECOND

Darren ‘Dizzy’ Borg purposely did things a little differently to the rest of the field to claim 2nd place. Keeping it simple, Dizzy rotated between three spots at the mouth of the system in a range of deep and shallow depths to keep upgrading for Darren Borg loves two things - his Maroons jersey and catching big bream. Mick just fine, finishing the weekend catching more than 100 fish in total!

On the tackle side of things, Mick opted for a new Daiwa Infeet Z 6’8” 1-4kg with a 2500 Luvias LT spooled with 8lb Daiwa J-Braid Grand and a 4lb Daiwa J-Thread leader. On this combo, Mick threw a 2.5” Daiwa Baitjunkie Minnow in bloodworm colour with a 1/12oz #1 size TT Headlockz jighead, slow winding the plastic back across the mud and rock, incorporating small

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

I threw a crank, and vice versa. Just to give them a lure they hadn’t seen so much of,” he added.

Come Sunday, this mentality was much the

That’s the smile of someone who landed 10 bream for the weekend in Ballina.

most of the session.

Starting each day on the porpoise wall, he filled a bag quickly each morning switching between one of his own FB35 Deep Cranks, Berkley Gulp! minnows and Hurricane Crabs on 1/6oz. Heads fished deep.

“I kept an eye on what everyone else was throwing and made sure I threw the opposite, or something different. For example, if they threw a plastic, same when selecting spots. “I purposely fished where no one had been all weekend so I could target fish that were less pressured,” he said.

On the tackle end, Dizzy used a Samaki Zing Extreme V2 with a Jaguar 2000 sized reel, 8lb Fireline braid with 4 and 6lb Yamatoyo Leader.

BUILDER MICK BACK

ON THE TOOLS

‘Builder Mick’ Thompson took out 1st place in the non-boater division to take his second win from the back of the boat. Mick was lucky enough to draw good friend Grayson Fong (10th place) as his day one boater and together they put a beat-down on the Ballina bream, using an array of Daiwa products to get it done.

Pre-fishing with Fong on Friday, the pair had a solid game plan for Saturday to target the rocky, muddy banks upriver past the ferry. “We looked for any bank with a bit of wind pushing onto it,” Mick said.

Day two, Mick fished with Craig Templar (24th), whom he commended for going above and beyond to keep him in the top spot. They fished similar areas to his day one boater, which suited twitches to get a reactionary bite. In his words, “To prove to myself that I could catch them on something different too.” Mick caught his biggest fish for the weekend on an Atomic Crank 38 Deep in muddy prawn colour.

Micks’ advice to aspiring non-boaters is to, “Keep casting no matter what. You can’t catch fish if your lure is not in the water.”

Blake O’Grady’s 1.10kg Ballina donkey he caught on day one remained unbeaten all weekend, earning him the $500YoloTek Big Bream prize.

1 Mick Thompson 2 Blake Anschau 3 Elijah Simpson 4 Chris Lonne 5 Chris Curtis 6 Colin Wilson 7 Mark Mckay 8 Mark Lennox 9 Stuart Walker 10 Cameron Hall

10/10 9/10 6/10 10/10 9/10 8/10 7/10 6/10 6/10 7/10 3.900 3.750 3.730 3.585 3.500 3.190 3.15 2.565 2.390 2.350 Baitjunkie prize pack + Atomic Arrowz rod Baitjunkie prize pack + Atomic Arrowz rod Costa prize pack Prolure prize pack CRANKA prize pack TT lures/Procure scent/Zman prize pack EJ Todd prize pack Ecogear prize pack Keitech prize pack Samaki Prize pack

The picturesque landscapes of Cania Gorge have set the scene for heavy bags of big Aussie bass on the ABT circuit for many years. Although a dropping dam meant we didn’t see the 6kg+ bags of years gone by, the weights were extremely close, which made for some tight finishes on Sunday.

Never an angler to be counted out and always a threat on any venue, Matthew Langford stormed the pack on Sunday with a just-shy of 5kg bag to take the win over 2nd place Callum Munro by Matthew Langford and his never-say-die attitude made an enormous day two charge to jump 15 places and claim victory by just 55g.

Jacob Luck and Matthew Langford made the most of the shared weight format, joining forces to weigh 4.975kg on Sunday.

Second place Callum Munro showing he still has what it takes to cut it with the best of the best in his first event back as a boater since 2013. Could we be seeing Callum return as a regular on the ABT circuit?

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

only 55g. Keeping the top of the leader board in Queensland, Jacob Luck from Dalby took out 1st place in the non-boater division and his first ABT win.

LITTLE MAX, BIG RESULTS

After finishing the first session in 16th place with 3.210kg, you could be forgiven for not believing the scoreboard at the end of day two as Langford whacked 4.975kg on the scales climbing a whopping 15 places for a come-frombehind win.

On day one, Langford targeted the fish he found sitting out deep in pre-fish, however he quickly realised the quality of the fish were not up to the standard he knew he needed to win. A change to shallow edges late in the session saw some upgrades and planted the seeds of confidence for what was to come on Sunday.

“We spent about half an hour out deep at 4 Mile on Sunday and didn’t get a bite, so I said to my non-boater

(Jacob Luck) we’ve got to go swing for the fences and do something completely different,” Matt said.

The move from deep edges to shallow, rocky edges adjacent to the deep banks provided the big bites that he needed. As the session progressed and the technique was refined, the pair found that banks with small patches of weed were the key to finding big fish.

The technique? Using his Millerods XFLC and Daiwa TD Black 3000 combo with Yamatoyo Resin Sheller 10lb braid and 10lb Yamatoyo leader to deliver a 3/8oz Evergreen Little Max blade tricked up with a pair of Ecogear ZX assist hooks as far up into the shallows as possible.

“Just throw it up as shallow as you can possibly get it and give it a series of short sharp hops off the bottom all the way back to the boat. We were getting fish in a foot of water or less at times,” he concluded. WELCOME

BACK MR MUNRO

After an 8-year hiatus from the ABT circuit, Callum Munro was welcomed back with open arms taking out second place in the Boater division.

Callum leaned on 10+ years of knowledge and experience on the arena to clue onto the bite for the weekend.

On pre-fish, Munro mostly sounded around schools without casting and avoided all areas he knew he was going to catch fish. “I knew there was a lot of schooled fish, so I just spent pre-fish sounding around marking schools in 10-15ft. If I could see them in that depth, I was

pretty confident I could catch them”.

Saturday, he fished the schools, boating eight bass in the first hour before the school shut down and he headed upriver to fish a shallow technique he’d been saving just for comp day.

Like Langford, Evergreen Little Max blades in the copper colour

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

1 Matthew Langford 2 Callum Munro 3 John Noble 4 Tim Oakley 5 Mick Johnson 6 Brad Wickson 7 Mark Lennox 8 Malcolm Stewart 9 Gregory Burke 10 Tim Morgan

10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 9/10 8.185kg $2500 + $250 1st merc owner’s bonus 8.130kg $1500 + $125 2nd place Merc Owner’s Bonus 7.405kg $1300 + $75 3rd Merc Owner’s Bonus 7.400kg $1100 6.940kg $900 6.790kg $700 6.460kg $500

burned in 2-3ft of water accounted for all the big bites for the weekend. A Daiwa sponsored angler, he presented these lures with a Daiwa 7’3”, 2-5kg Daiwa TD Zero and TD Sol LT 2500D combo, 10lb J-Braid and 10lb J-Thread FC leader.

“I guess you’d call it shallow water dredging. I just burn them along the bottom, and you can feel them kicking up off the rocks and the bass just slam them. It’s a technique I’ve used heaps of times with awesome results.”

Sunday, Munro opted to fish the shallows upriver all day and consistently boated good quality fish, improving his 3.5kg Saturday bag by over a kilo with a stonking 4.630kg, falling just shy of fast finishing Langford by 55g.

Gracious in defeat, Munro added, “I definitely had my opportunities to win but I took a few chances, which is just how tournament fishing goes. And besides, if I was going to lose to anyone, I’m glad it was Matty. There aren’t many nicer blokes on the scene and it’s always a pleasure to see him do well.”

Now that’s what we call sportsmanship. First place in the non-boater division went to Jacob Luck who took away an awesome EJ Todd and 13 Fishing prize pack for his efforts. Hopefully we see Jacob in action again at the Grand Final in October.

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview JACOB ‘LUCKS’ OUT

Jacob Luck showed you don’t have to be from the big smoke or live five minutes from a bass impoundment to win tournaments. Travelling from Dalby in rural Queensland to fish, and ultimately win, his first ABT event as a non-boater. Jacob was fortunate – some may say ‘lucky’ – enough to draw Shaun Falkenhagen (16th) and Matthew Langford (1st) as his boaters for the weekend.

Due to the shared weight format, Jacob was able to add crucial fish to their bags each day to help secure the top spot, which didn’t go unnoticed by Matthew Langford who credited him for clueing them onto the blade pattern they used on Sunday.

Matching with Langford, his Sunday boater, Luck also threw a Millerods XFLC with a Shimano Vanford 1000, 8lb J-Braid and 10lb

Black Magic leader and that little Evergreen Little Max we heard so much about over the weekend, but in a 1/2oz version.

To any potential non-boaters thinking of taking the plunge in the near future, Jacob offers this advice, “Just get out there and have a crack. There’s a heap of good fellas there that are all willing to teach you something so get into it.”

Scan the QR code to watch the Non-boater Winner Interview

Mike Nelson is currently sitting in second place on the BASS Pro AOY table, only a few points behind Matthew Langford. The next round of Somerset Dam will determine the 2021 BASS Pro Angler of theYear.

Greg Burke took out the $500 Big Bass prize awarded by VMC with a solid 1.355kg model that ate a Bassman jig. The fish features in the day two highlights that you can watch by scanning the QR code hereby.

1 Jacob Luck 2 Tony Delahaye 3 Neil Tschutura 4 Kelvin Hatton 9/10 10/10 10/10 10/10

5 Andrew Carlyle

10/10 6 Rowan Jacobson 10/10 7 Troy Lowe 8 Aiden Bichel 8.110kg 7.525kg 7.400kg 7.355kg 7.260kg 6.935kg 6.775kg 6.375kg 6.245kg 6.050kg EJ Todd pack + 13 Fishing Concept reel Bassman Spinnerbaits pack Daiwa prize Maui Jim prize Prolure/TT lures/Zman pack Suffix pack Prolure pack Keitech pack Molix pack Ecogear pack

We were greeted by a cold but glorious morning for the start of third round on the Hawkesbury River. A total of 33 teams contested this round with some cracking fish landed. FIRST PLACE

At this point there seems to be no way of stopping Michael Colotouros, who seems to be winning any event he enters. He and team mate John Nicita from Team Phoenix Boats/All Clear took out first place and $1800. They bagged five fish for 5.78kg.

Michael explains their winning session:

“We started off the Big bream went to Michael Colotorous who weighed in a 1.68kg specimen.

Daniel Scott from Tempt Industries with Michael Colotouros and John Nicita at the weigh in tent. Dane Tomaszewski and Daniel Tribbia with part of their catch that won them second place.

Daniel Scott with Jarrod McBarron and Brendon Spinks from Team McBarron Construction, who took out third spot.

morning while the tide was low and fished some oyster leases around the Brooklyn area where we managed to get a few small fish.

“As the tide got higher, we started moving towards some banks as the fish were coming up to feed.

“Throwing lightly weighted Bait Junkie bloodworm grubs soft plastics on 1/20oz size jighead, between Berowra and Mooney Mooney, we got lucky and landed two giants over 1.5kg each. The biggest was 1.68kg.”

SECOND PLACE

Second place was won by Compleat Angler Gregory Hills/Garmin and consisted of anglers Dane Tomaszewski and Daniel Tribbia. They won $900 for their five fish bag weighing 5.42kg.

Dane takes us through their session highlights:

“Dan and I did not have much experience on the Hawkesbury River, so we put in some time two weeks prior which was roughly the same tides.

“With plenty of hours spent on Google Maps our main aim was to fish artificial structure. Finding where all the sneaky old oysters racks were hidden was key. Having a great session hopping from racks to racks, we came up with a plan.

“On the day of the tournament, the tides were not perfect for us for a morning bite, as we needed water in those bays for them to fire. We decided to head up to Berowra first thing to fish some deeper boats and pontoons.

“However, without even a touch we were a little nervous, but with the rising tide we knew we had our time coming.

“On the way out we decided to fish a rock wall that we had caught fish on two weeks before. It was 10.30 and we had nothing on board. We made a call and said we will fish another 10m and move on.

“Dan threw his Cranka Crab tight into the wall, then boom he was on! After some great angler skill on 4lb with the fish running along the rock wall, Dan managed to get him out and to the net. It went 41cm to the fork and weighed 1.38kg. We were happy to have one in the well. “We then headed to one of the main bridges just before the turn of the tide and filled our bag in a twentyminute chaotic period. With a decent bag we hopped around our run of racks trying to a short but stressful battle we netted another 41cm forker and this one pulled the scales down to 1.56kg.

“Full of hope we raced back to weigh in and our five fish weighed a total of 5.42kg, but it was only good

find that extra kicker. Just ten minutes before we had to up and leave, I punched a Gulp Crabby into a rack and, bang, enough for second place.

“It was a day of fishing we will not forget.” RUNNERS UP

Taking home the third place $500 cheque was McBarron Construction, with Jarrod McBarron and Brandon Spinks. They brought four fish weighing 4.19kg to the weighmaster.

Places fourth through to ninth all received Tempt products thanks to the event’s sponsor Tempt Industries.

Congratulations to all winners and a big thanks to all for supporting our events and to Daniel Scott from Tempt Industries for his continued support of our events. For complete results go to www. wsbb.com.au. – Alan Newton

There have been two rounds of the 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric series recently, with events at Clarrie Hall Dam and Maroon Dam starting with a whisper and ending with a bang.

ZX BLADES

ZMAN GRUBZ

CRANKA CRABS

BENT MINNOWS JACKALL CHUBBY

CLARRIE HALL

There were 31 anglers who attended the picturesque Clarrie Hall Dam, where the fishing was a little tough, but the fish were big. Mathew Flynn acquires another BASS Electric trophy to the collection with a cracking 2.93kg bag of bass, which included the BKK Hooks Big Bass of 1.52kg.

Mat found a productive spot up the creek running into the dam, which he turned into a 25-bass day! He used a gold Elitelure blade on a Lew’s Custom Lite Speed Stick and a Lew’s Custom Pro Speed spin reel.

He found the fish when practicing a few weeks

1 Mathew Flynn 2/2 2.93 $500 2 Chesley Lennon 2/2 2.68 $250 3 Blair Shapland 2/2 2.58 $180 4 Peter Woods 2/2 1.72 $100 5 Steve McLean 1/2 1.43 $90

earlier and they were still there come comp day. MAROON

Jake Schwerin continued to prove he’s the man to beat under the Scenic Rim with a narrow 10g win over runner-up, Tom Reynolds.

He threw a Jackall Squirrel 61 around weed towers initially and then an OSP Hi Cut spinnerbait to target fish that would come and school under the boat.

Jake Schwerin won the Maroon BASS Electric round by 10g over Tom Reynolds.

1 Jake Schwerin 2/2 1.28 $380 2 Tom Reynolds 2/2 1.27 $180 3 Charles West 2/2 1.10 $140 4 Mark McKay 2/2 1.09 $100 5 Peter Bostock 2/2 1.08 He threw them on an Edge Silver Widow 711 rod with a Daiwa Steez 2004 reel, Toray F4 braid and 10lb PowerGame leader.

Tom’s technique was also targeting weed towers, but with a 1/4oz

Once again MAFSA Inc ran the INDT 2021 World Sooty Championship at Eungella Dam on the May long weekend and anglers travelled from as far afield as Dalby and Mt Isa to compete. In all, 102 anglers nominated including a new record of 28 junior anglers.

The competition kicked off Saturday morning after the briefing with boats large and small powering off in search of the big sooties the dam is renowned for. Pre-fishing by a number of anglers indicated the fish were in the timbers rather than out in the open and that’s where most boats headed first up.

Within about 40 minutes, Aubrey Cormack from Mt Isa was the first angler in with a 390mm sooty to open the scoring. While initially Winners are grinners, Nick Moore (Senior), Cooper Slade (Junior) and Jai Hunt (Biggest fish) with event sponsor Craig Birkett of INDT and MAFSA’s Keith Day at the presentation.

2,000 sooties from Redgate Fish Farm all around 250-300mm mark were released late Saturday afternoon by junior anglers and other kids from the camp grounds.

a bit slow, it wasn’t long before other boats started to return with sooties on board. Friendly rivalry between long time friends, Nick Moore and Peter Behrens, kept officials amused with their banter while bringing in fish. Mick Slade was also scoring well and opened his scoring with a solid 460mm fish.

By session end at midday, 52 sooties had come in for scoring with Peter Behrens taking the lead with four fish for 1470 points, while Nick Moore and Mick Slade both had three scoring fish for 1145 and 1135 points respectively.

Junior Khadin Williams had the largest fish at 470mm but unfortunately accidentally broke his only two rods. Hearing this, long time competitor Geoff Busbridge immediately loaned him a rod and reel so he could keep fishing. 500 barra fingerlings were released from MAFSA’s transport tank during the lunch break much to the delight of all the kids who swarmed down to assist.

The afternoon session saw more action with boats coming and going and Trent Power moved rapidly up the board with several good fish. Meantime Nick Moore and Peter Behrens kept up their little personal ‘battle’ and both looked to reach their six fish so they could then upgrade. Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling, who was a guest angler, picked up his form and scored 1175 points for the session.

The lead changed several times and at the end of session two, Nick Moore had the top score with 2345 points just in front of Trent Power on 2334, and Mick Slade on 2310 points. Peter Behrens caught fish but not large enough to maintain his lead and dropped back to 4th spot on 2260 with Starlo rounding off the top 5 on 1913 points.

Big news for that session with all big and little kids assisting. These fish were around 280mm long and we expect close to 100% survival, despite some fairly rough handling from some of the kids! Check out MAFSA Facebook for some images.

Sunday morning was calmer early then blew up in typical Eungella Dam fashion, but the fish kept coming in a few at a time. Trent Power and Fiona Thomson in the Team up with Nick Moore winning out with 2512 points, from Mick Slade 2467, Trent Power 2334, Peter Behrens 2308 and Starlo 2303 points. Junior winner was Cooper Slade with 2643 points, followed by Balin Tweddle 2184, Darcy McFarlane 1259, Oscar Tweddle 796, and Jai Hunt 500 points. Significantly Cooper Slade outscored the senior winner by 131 points. A great effort from

From page 120 jighead and a 3” Keitech Swing Impact in bluegill colour. He threw it on TD Black Itchy Twitchy rod, Daiwa Tierra 2500 reel, 8lb J-Braid and 8lb leader.

All participants of the series get an invite to the BKK BASS Electric Grand Final at Lenthalls Dam, where the winner will take away a P-Series Blue Fin boat, MotorGuide Electric motor and Green Marine Lithium batteries, on a trailer and ready to fish. Starlo eventually placed 6th in the tournament and included his best fish of 405mm caught working a chatterbait along a weed bed.

Typical of the sooties caught at the tournament was this beauty caught by junior angler Darcy McFarlane.

though was the stonker of a fish caught by junior angler Jai Hunt who presented a very healthy 500mm fish for scoring. Jai was super excited about his fish, which took a white grub drifted down beside a tree. A fantastic catch for the young angler and it was definitely the biggest fish of the session. So far juniors had the largest fish both sessions!

Before dark, 2,000 sooty grunters purchased from Redgate Fish Farm were released into the dam Power tinny (complete with two dogs) thought they had hooked some good sooties but instead they had managed to land several barra, with Fiona landing one sooty at 410mm.

Meanwhile in the other top positions, Nick Moore, Mick Slade, Peter Behrens and Starlo all managed to increase their scores. But again another junior Cooper Slade outfished all the seniors to take out the biggest fish at 478mm.

Final scores were tallied young Cooper.

Presentations were made and Chairman Keith Day thanked all the sponsors, competitors and MAFSA members involved in making the INDT 2021 World Sooty Championship such an outstanding success.

Nick Moore donated his prize winning St Croix rod to Khadin Williams and Geoff Busbridge gave him the rod and reel he had loaned him to keep fishing. What outstanding gestures from these two long time competitors and an indication of the great spirit that permeated the INDT 2021 World Sooty Championship event. In addition, Starlo and 6th place getter Shane Snell re-donated their winning vouchers back to MAFSA Inc and Starlo contributed another $200 to MAFSA Inc. Again nice gestures by both anglers, which are appreciated by MAFSA members and those funds will help MAFSA provide ‘For A Better Fishing Future’ for Mackay district.

Full details of all our sponsors and the complete results can be viewed on MAFSA Facebook page. Further photos and video footage can be seen at Hooked On Mackay Facebook page, Starlo’s Fishotopia on Facebook and Instagram @starlos_ fishotopia. – Keith Day