Tournament Angler Guide 2019

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21 YEARS

S T R O N G

Australian Bass Tournaments

Guide

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Tournament Angler Guide

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Costa BREAM Series

Qualifier 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Grand Final Australian Open Queensland Open

Dates 20-21 February 23-24 February 23-24 March 30 April-1 May 4-5 May 6-7 July 7-8 September 19-20 October 29 November-1 December 19-21 March 20-22 September

Sufix BASS Pro Series

Qualifier 1 2 3 4 5 6 Grand Final Australian Open

Dates 2-3 March 25-26 May 22-23 June 13-14 July 10-11 August 14-15 September 23-24 October 26-27 October

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Location Marlo-Bemm River Gippsland Lakes Botany Bay Albany Blackwood Bribie Island Gladstone Port Stephens Gold Coast Sydney Moreton Bay

State VIC VIC NSW WA WA QLD QLD NSW QLD NSW QLD

Sponsor Costa Mercury Daiwa Power-Pole Okuma Nulook Floors Squidgy Bass Cat Costa Daiwa Nulook Floors

Location Clarence River Glenbawn Dam Lake St Clair Cania Dam Somerset Dam Richmond River Lake St Clair Glenbawn Dam

State NSW NSW NSW QLD QLD NSW NSW NSW

Sponsor Bassman Spinnerbaits Sufix Evinrude Bass Cat Ecogear Lews Sufix Rapala

Casino Outdoors and Disposals BASS Electric Series

Qualifier 1 2 3 4 5 Grand Final

Dates 9 March 13-14 April 30 June 28 July 8 September 28-29 September

Location Richmond River Toonumbar Dam Maroon Dam Lake Gregory Wivenhoe Dam Borumba Dam

State NSW NSW QLD QLD QLD QLD

Australian Open

12-13 October

Wyaralong Dam

QLD

Valley Hill

Zerek BARRA Tour

Event 1 2 3

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Dates 8 November 9 November 11 November

13-14 November

Location Kinchant Teemburra Peter Faust – Night Championship Peter Faust

State QLD QLD

Sponsor Power-Pole Edge Rods

QLD QLD

Samaki Wilson

Australian Open

10-12 September

Awoonga Dam

QLD

Venom

Dates 12-13 January 2-3 March 30-31 March 6-7 April 27-28 April 18-19 May 22-23 June 14-15 September 21-22 September 5-6 October 7-8 December

Location Bemm River Mallacoota Sydney Blackwood River Nelson Woy Woy Gold Coast Port Macquarie Albany St Georges Basin Marlo

State VIC VIC NSW WA VIC NSW QLD NSW WA NSW VIC

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2019 HOBIE KAYAK BREAM SERIES Presented by

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Event 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Australian Championship

WA BREAM Classics

WA BREAM CLASSICS

Event Kayak 1 Boat 1 Kayak 2 Boat 2 Kayak 3 Boat 3

Dates 3 February 10 March 19 May 9 June 6 October 20 October

Kayak Grand Final 9-10 November Boat Grand Final 23-24 November

Vic BREAM Classics

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Facebook: WA Bream Classics Location Murray River Swan River Swan River Murray River Moore River Blackwood River

State WA WA WA WA WA WA

Swan River Albany

WA WA

www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

Event 1 2 3 4 5

Dates 2-3 February 16-17 March 4-5 May 22-23 June 12-13 October

Location Glenelg River Mallacoota Gippsland Lakes Warrnambool Marlo

State Vic Vic Vic Vic Vic

Sponsor Glenelg Hopkins CMA Bayford Volkswagen Club Marine BCF Atomic

Final

23-24 November

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Tournament Angler Guide

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Guide to getting started in tournament fishing ABT

James Reid

So, you love to fish? You’re competitive against your mates, and you’re looking for a new way to explore your skills?

If that’s you, you’ll love tournament fishing. It’s a fast growing sport in Australia, and is popular with anglers

of all stripes. There’s more to it than just fishing – it’s also a great way to make friends all over the country. ABT has been running tournaments for over 20 years, and when you fish with ABT you can go to some of Australia’s most renowned fishing locations, all while learning new fishing techniques. You might think that fishing your first tournament would be

daunting, but it’s really not that hard.

The first thing to do is log onto abt.org.au and become a member for only $70 a year. Once you are a member you have the option to fish tournaments for bream, bass and barramundi from places as far as south Tasmania, all the way over to Western Australia, up to North Queensland and

At the end of the day, it’s all about having fun. A day with Anthony Wishey is always a barrel of laughs.

Top: Often the non-boater will take responsibility for returning the key tag to the board. Don’t forget to do it, or both you and the boater will cop a weight penalty.

Above: Just because you’re fishing at the back of the boat doesn’t mean you don’t catch quality fish, as Mark Saric found out at Lake Macquarie.

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everywhere in between.

Once you have signed up as a member, and have nominated which tournament you want to fish, you’ll need to decide whether you want enter the comp as a boater or as a non-boater. If you enter as a boater, that means you’ll need to bring your boat with you, and each day you’ll be paired with a non-boater. If you enter as a non-boater, you just turn up with your rods and reels, and a couple of tackleboxes with lures for your chosen species.

Each day you’ll be paired with a boater.

All competitors must bring a PFD, and have a fishing permit for that state, if required. Other items to bring are sunscreen, water, a packed lunch and a rain jacket, as you’ll be on the water all day, rain, hail or shine.

If you’re fishing as a boater, there are some specifications your boat needs to meet. It must be longer than 3.7m; have a minimum of a 20hp engine; working safety lights; port, starboard, and anchor light (all around white light); a working engine safety switch,

and a minimum 60L plumbed live well. An updated copy of the insurance information for your boat will also be required.

FORMAT AND GUIDELINES The night before each tournament day, ABT holds a briefing which runs through the rules and regulations.

This is also when we pair up the boaters and non-boaters.

These briefings will give you the opportunity to meet the people you’ll be fishing with over the next couple of days.

All anglers, both boaters and non-boaters, must

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au abide by all ABT rules and regulations, as well as state guidelines and regulations.

Now to the formats of tournament fishing.

First of all, let’s look at bream. Bream events have boaters and non-boaters, who each fish for their five biggest bream over each session (up to 10 fish per boat). Both boaters and non-boaters weigh in their fish separately, with each competitor scored individually on the weight of their own fish.

Bass tournaments are

different. Although they also have a boater and non-boater format, they have a shared weight system. This means that the boater and non-boater combine their catches and weigh them in together, up to a combined bag of four or five fish per session depending on the venue.

Barramundi is a teams event made up of two people per team. Competitors can catch and release as many fish as they like, with all fish recorded in the ABT Tournament Series App.

So there you go – a brief run-down into getting started in Australian tournament fishing. ABT’s website has all the rules and regulations for state fishing licencing, state to state size limits of fish, and a calendar for the dates and venues we will be at throughout the year. You can also access membership forms, entry forms and contact details.

We are always happy to welcome new anglers, and our competitors are always happy to help out new blood

There’s nothing like the anticipation at the start of the day.

That’s what tournament fishing is all about.

At all BREAM events, non boaters get a free Hobie jersey that earns them money if they’re wearing it when they win.

too. ABT’s motto is ‘who shares wins’, and that sums it up perfectly.

NON-BOATERS As a non-boater the are a few unwritten rules you should know, if a friend hasn’t told you already.

Briefing questions At the briefing, ask your assigned boater if they need a hand launching and retrieving the boat, even if you’re not sure how to do it.

These are valuable lessons to learn from boaters who have done this a thousand

times, and will help you in the future.

You should also find out where your boater wants you to meet them in the morning.

Ask how much room they have in the boat and how many rods and other tackle you are able to bring. Ask what patterns they pre-fished (i.e. techniques and lures).

This is more useful than just asking where they were fishing.

You should only offer to reverse the boater’s car or drive the boat off the trailer

if you are confident and have done this before. If not, maybe ask if there’s time for some pointers to benefit you and your boaters in comps to come. If your boater tells you that they have it covered and someone else is helping them, find out where they would like you to meet them and what time. Boaters are not babysitters; if they give you a time and place, don’t be late. If you’re unsure on the area ask to be shown, it’s better asking more questions To page 6

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and being in the right place and time than not.

On the boat Once you’re on the boat, treat it as your own and better. Remember that boats are worth a lot of money and are many people’s pride and joy. Once on the boat, ask where to put your rods and gear – don’t just leave it lying around.

When it comes time to fish, you should wait for your boater to be ready and let them get first cast.

They have a little more

going on than just fishing (e.g. changing sounder from GPS to sonar, getting up and choosing a rod, and dropping the trolling motor).

Stay on the back deck unless you’re told you can fish up the front with the boater. If you are asked up the front, never cast over their shoulders, and always let them have the first cast.

It’s a privilege to be up there, and if one boater invites you up there don’t expect the next one will.

Always wait for the invite.

Although most boaters

won’t accept fuel money, the offer is well appreciated and goes a long way with most boaters. If they refuse to take your money and you see them out for dinner, offering them a beer will be a good way to say thank you. Even just taking an extra drink or snacks on the boat is a good idea.

Weigh-in First things first – a good habit to get into is taking care of the key tag.

Do whatever you can to get that tag on the board before the session ends, even if that

Non-boating opens up opportunities to fish with some of the best anglers in Australia.

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Waiting for a weigh-in bag is where lots of anglers catch up and discuss the day’s catches and disasters. means doing a 100m sprint faster than Usain Bolt!

And no standing around telling fishing tales until the tag is on either. Plenty of non-boaters have been caught out like this over the years, and incurred a late penalty for both themselves and their boater. This does not get forgotten easily.

Once you have sorted the key tag out, the next thing to do is offer to collect a weigh bag for your boater.

If they want to collect it themselves you should wait at the boat to make sure it doesn’t float away and bang into other boats.

As you collect all your fishing gear make sure you

grab all your rubbish and food scraps and any leftover line or leaders you have cut off through the day.

Fair play When you’re paired up with a new boater on day 2 of the tournament, don’t tell them where you or your boater caught fish on day one. The key to being a successful non-boater is adapting and fishing the water that’s in front of you.

And don’t sulk! If the fishing is tough, don’t take it out on your boater or bag him out to other competitors. Word gets around fast; it will soon get back to your boater, and it won’t make you look

good either.

Remember it costs a lot of money to be a boater, with expenses such as boat maintenance, fuel, insurance and higher entry fees. Most boaters will not accept money, they just want a bit of banter, some assistance in netting fish and just having a good day.

As a non-boater you should take any tips and info you may receive. Always ask questions if you’re not sure what’s going on or how to fish the areas and conditions you are facing.

You will be surprised at how much information a boater may be willing to share with you.

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Tournament Angler Guide

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2018 BREAM AOY: Being a versatile breamer ABT

Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

2018 was a good year for me, culminating in my first national Angler of the Year (AOY) title for bream. With your best five of a maximum nine events counting towards the title, you have to be able to catch yellowfin AND black bream to be competitive, and that’s what makes it special. You need to be versatile, and it all comes down to how good your worst of those top-five events is.

Like every year, there are always a couple of breamers in contention come the last qualifying event. This year, it was Victorian Cam Whittam and I who were in a position to take the trophy.

Cam needed a 3rd or higher to overtake me on points, and if Cam came in the top three I couldn’t be more than

two places behind him to keep the lead.

Cam finished 3rd and I made 2nd. If Cam has caught a couple of my kickers instead of me, the result would have been reversed. That’s how close it was – and how close it usually is.

That South West Rocks event was the first time for the season I’d weighed fish on topwater in a qualifier. In fact, most of my bag came on a couple of topwater baits that I hadn’t even thrown at an event in 2018.

This comes back to one element that all breamers need if they want to be successful at the top level, and that’s versatility. And to me, being versatile doesn’t mean that you need to be great at every single technique in the book.

It means that you need to have a few tricks in your bag to make up a Plan B or Plan C when your favourite method isn’t working, or if it’s not appropriate for the arena you’re fishing.

Imakatsu Dilemma Popper (baitfish) 8

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Tiemco Red Pepper Micro (brown)

2018 TECHNIQUES When I tallied them up, there were 13 key baits that I used throughout 2018 across the seven arenas I fished (I missed the two Victorian qualifiers while working in the USA in February).

There was only one event where I boxed fish on only one bait (Mandurah, WA) – every other event featured two or more baits, and the Australian Open saw fish weighed on four baits, which makes sense across the two arenas of the Harbour and the Hawkesbury.

Not surprisingly, the

WATCH THE VIDEO

Cranka Crab was the most prolific bait, with 40% of fish weighed falling to it.

Still, that means that 60% of my fish for the year were fooled on lures other than crabs. In fact there were two arenas where I didn’t even fish a crab, and both of those scores counted in the AOY tally.

You might think you can do well in every arena on one type of bait, but the stats disagree. That’s why you need to be versatile.

Do you need to be good at everything? No way. I didn’t even tie on a Gulp

WATCH THE VIDEO

Crabby or box a bream on a blade this year. Other anglers are masters of these techniques and others. What you need to do is pick a few that you’re good at, and get better at them.

Importantly, get proficient at catching five legal fish on the toughest of days. Stefan Sawynok has statistically shown that the easiest way to perform better in bream events is to bring in a limit every time, no matter what the size.

Invariably, tournament days fish tough. The pressure, weekends and multiple days on the same arena make the fishing tougher than a Wednesday Warrior would encounter.

Catch ‘em when it’s tough and you will do well.

Let me run through the 13 baits and when I used them. It’s also well worth watching the video that accompanies this article on my YouTube Channel

(search Steve Morgan or scan the QR code hereby).

We’re going to go from top to bottom.

TOPWATER Imakatsu Dilemma Popper (baitfish) • Macleay River upstream sand/weed flats in <3ft of water.

If I could, I would fish topwater all day in every session. However, the fact is that it’s not always the best bait to fish. Topwaters for me work best in shallow, clear water over 20°. I had a handful of Imakatsu Dilemma Poppers for the South West Rocks event and they produced a mixed bag of bass and bream.

I fish these lures on 6-10lb braided line and a similar strength leader. I fish them fast enough so that it doesn’t really matter whether that leader is nylon or fluorocarbon.

You can walk the dog or gently pop the Dilemma

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au Popper, but remember to have plenty of pauses, because that’s when the bream like eating them.

The key to fishing topwaters effectively, either in a tournament or socially, is knowing when to strike.

Too early and you’ll spook the fish (or pack of fish) trying to clobber it. It’s better to wait a little longer and know – or see – that they’ve got it properly.

I fish this bait faster for yellowfin and slower for blacks.

Tiemco Red Pepper Micro (brown) • Macleay River, upstream sand/weed flats in <3ft of water.

When the Macleay got calm and the drizzle stopped, a more delicate surface presentation was required. My go-to topwater for finesse is a Tiemco Red Pepper Micro. These baits have a very narrow body and no real cup face to move

much water. You fish them with a gentle walk-the-dog retrieve and plenty of pauses.

If the bream are really finicky, I retro-fit some Ecogear or Atomic Trick Bitz assist hooks where the front treble sits, and leave the rear treble in place. If you’ve never fished assist hooks, you’ll find that they are stronger than they look. You can easily trust them as much as any treble on a bream lure.

O.S.P. Bent Minnow 76 (pearl) • Clear, oystery rocky edges in Middle Harbour.

The Bent Minnow has well established credentials in the bream community for excellent reason – it has an uncanny ability to attract and entice a bite from the bigger bream in a pack.

Although Bent Minnows look like a baitfish, I firmly believe that they mimic the action of a skipping prawn, and that this is what triggers the response. There aren’t

O.S.P. Bent Minnow 76 (pearl)

Duo Minnow 80SP (chrome) WATCH THE VIDEO

too many fish in a river that don’t want a live prawn, and the bream usually wants to be the first to get it.

Of all the topwaters, the Bent can be fished on the heaviest line and leader. And at mid-$30s a pop, that’s what I usually fish it on.

The other thing with Bents is that I love the original hooks.

If you wreck them, make sure that you replace them with ones just as light. Keeping this lure buoyant is what works for me, if not others.

SHALLOW HARD Duo Minnow 80SP (chrome)

• Derwent River, shallow, rocky edges early morning in <3ft of water.

There’s nothing better in bream fishing than a cracking Tasmanian black bream choking a shallow jerkbait in a couple of feet of water and peeling light, straightthrough fluorocarbon from your reel.

This year on the Derwent, I found that the Duo 80SP matched the baitfish size perfectly. It also combined a long casting ability with a bib that kept the lure shallow enough to fish over the mussel beds that bream

WATCH THE VIDEO

love so much.

Although I didn’t connect with enough big bream to make the top 10 (the Derwent was my worst event of the season at 13th), I’m waiting to fish this bait in that river on a big, high tide.

It’ll be epic.

You should fish the Duo with plenty of pauses. It suspends, which is exactly how black bream like it.

Jackall Chubby Shallow (black) • Lake Macquarie, clear windblown flats with sand/ weed in <3ft of water.

Adam from www. fishin.com.au put me on to this bait before the Lake Macquarie BREAM Grand Final in 2017.

“Use it on the flats, mate, it’ll work, trust me,” he said.

So I did, and it worked a treat. It has become my go-to crankbait for shallow, weedy water and there’s something about that black colour that just makes the

fish bite. Companies like Pro Lure also have variations of this theme, and all seem to work well.

Like all shallow, clear water techniques, the bite seems to get better as the wind picks up. Don’t be scared of the wind on the flats – it’s your friend.

This bait really produced for me at the Lake Macquarie Qualifier in 2018, including a 37cm fish on the final cast of the session on the Swansea Flats. I fish it on 2lb straight through fluorocarbon and a slow actioned 7” rod.

DEEP HARD Duel 50mm Shad • Derwent River, shallow oyster reefs in <4ft water.

There’s an oyster reef in Morilla Bay on the Derwent where I once caught 13 kiloplus bream in a row on the final day of one of the old Super Series events. Those events cut the field down to To page 10

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From page 9

the top 10 boaters (only) and let you loose on the third day of competition.

At one of the first events I had a Power Pole on the boat and it seemed every time I moved the boat a couple of metres, there’d be another cracking fish to slam the bait.

Back then it was a Daiwa Double Clutch, but this year, I used a smaller but still deeper diving Duel Shad 50 in the same spot. I didn’t catch 13 in a row, but I did catch my two biggest bream in an ordinary Derwent bag on this bait. You just wind it down to depth and rip-pause it. The big blacks will clobber it as it sits there.

On those oyster reefs, I use this bait on a braid/ leader combo. It’s one of the few places that I do this, as

sometimes the fish need to be bullied out of evil country.

It’s fun fishing.

Jackall Chubby Deep (brown suji) • Macleay River, deeper edges along weed in 4-8ft of water.

I never really clicked with Jackall Chubbies until this year. It seemed that everyone caught plenty of bream on them all over Australia – except me. I was much more confident with the Atomic Hardz 38 Deep.

However, after success with the shallow, black Chubby and a string of non-boaters doing well with Deep Chubbies in the back of the boat, I was tempted to give them another try.

This bait came good at the right time. I tied it on in the upper Macleay River after a slowish morning on the

Duel 50mm Shad

WATCH THE VIDEO

Jackall Chubby Deep (brown suji)

Fredrickton flats with way too many bass between the bream. And in three casts

Jackall Chubby Shallow (black) WATCH THE VIDEO

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on the deeper bank, I boxed my last two fish, including a low 30s kicker that sealed the AOY deal.

Now that’s a way to come good!

I used the bait on 2lb straight through Yamatoyo fluorocarbon on Duffrods’ versatile Broken Bones 852MP rod with a slow, steady wind.

With all bream crankbaits I slow roll the lure until the fish hooks itself. It may take many nips and bites before it

WATCH THE VIDEO

loads up solid.

Atomic Hardz Crank 38 Deep (ghost gill brown) • Paralleling Sydney Harbour bridge pylons in 8-30ft of water.

This is the bait that won me the BREAM Grand Final in 2009 on Sydney Harbour, and it’s still my go-to boat for crankbaiting river edges and bridges. There’s something about the colour of the GGB (have a look at it under a UV torch) and the sound (yes, I To page 12

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swim in pools with them to listen) that ticks all of the boxes for bream.

I’m not shy to up the line size a little when cranking bridges. The fish seem so fixated with pinning the bait against the structure that 6lb fluorocarbon is no problems at all.

Make sure that you cast as close as possible along the pylons and bring back the bait with the current.

If you’re really clever, you can rig two baits and tune them to swim left and right to really bang the structure. I, however, like one, straight-swimming bait and clever casting.

Final tip for bridge crankbaiting? I use a specialised trout rod – as strong as I can find. The parabolic bend helps hook-ups and also helps to keep the hooks in place when you’re trying to wind

Tournament Angler Guide them out of the nasty stuff.

STICKBAITS Tiemco Stick Minnow (007) • Ripping over flats and sinking around structure in 2-12ft of water.

This is one of the baits that has stood the test of time for me. There’s a Tiemco and an Austackle version of this bait, and they both work equally well. Sometimes the Tiemco version suffers a ‘drought’ of supply.

There are two places that I fish the Stick Minnow. The first is on shallow, weedy flats. Casting it with the wind as far as you can on 2lb fluorocarbon and a rip-pause retrieve has caught me plenty of big bream over the years in a couple of feet of clear, weedy water.

The other scenario is around boats and pontoons in the same areas. There’s no better finesse presentation when bream are keyed onto

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WATCH THE VIDEO

Tiemco Stick Minnow (007)

shrimp and baitfish.

And yes, there are times when bream will 100% eat the Stick Minnow in preference to a Cranka Crab.

You just need to let the fish tell you what they’re up to on the day.

The key to fishing a Stick Minnow vertically is line management. You must lay down the line as straight as you can immediately after

Atomic Hardz Crank 38 Deep (ghost gill brown)

the cast, and then feed it a little slack. The hooks are so sharp on these baits that the bream will hook itself, and all you need to do is start winding when you see the line moving irregularly.

PLASTICS Ecogear Grass Minnow M (okiami) ‘pink grub’ • Georges Bay, St Helens, burn and kill over shallow flats in <2ft of water.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Another bait that’s stood the test of time is the okiami coloured Ecogear Grass Minnow M on a #1 worm hook. This is a killer search bait for practice days, and also a gun bait for when bream are feeding on prawns.

Most people don’t believe how fast I’ll fish the bait until they see it (there are some great examples on the accompanying video). I burn the bait fast, making it skip and jump on the surface before killing it dead and letting it sink a little. If there’s a bream (or a pack of bream) following, they’ll normally charge it when it stops.

I fish a pink grub on 6lb fluorocarbon and 6lb braided line, because you need the lack of stretch to set the hooks solid, and the floating braid doesn’t hurt in the presentation.

Having a big bream bow-wave a pink grub is one

of the best things in bream fishing. I recommend you try it at least once a season!

Ecogearaqua 50mm (salt and pepper) • Slow sinking and sight fishing around pontoons and boats from Sydney to the Gold Coast.

If sight fishing is my favourite breaming technique, then the Ecogearaqua is one of my favourite tools to do it with. It’s a versatile, castable, snag-resistant bait that both black and yellowfin bream find hard to resist.

My favourite combination is the 50mm version of the bait (rather than the 40mm) fished on a VanFook Magic Beak no. 1 hook on 6lb Yamatoyo Chinu Harris leader, and whatever 6lb braid came in the most recent ABT tournament giveaway.

Rig the bait from either end (you swap ends when the bait tears after catching a

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fish) and skip cast it to where you need it to be. It skip casts really well. The white bait sinks slowly enough so that you can usually watch the bream swim out, inspect it, and eat it on the drop if you’re fishing structure.

Make sure you set the hooks hard when you see the bait go down the piehole.

You’ll lose more fish not setting hooks hard enough rather then setting too hard.

Another variation is to fish the bait like a pink grub for the first half of the retrieve.

Skip it across the shallows to attract attention and then kill the bait and watch it get eaten on the drop.

Either way, you get to watch the bream eat it, and breaming doesn’t get better than that.

ZMan GrubZ 2.5” (gudgeon) • St Helens, Tasmania, casting to irregularities on flats in <3ft of water.

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au I’ll admit it – I’m never the instigator of a solid ZMan session. It’s usually my non-boater who switches me onto the pattern by giving me a flogging with these baits. In 2018, legendary non-boater Stuart Walker did that for me.

We were in the racks at St Helens and had worked out a pattern where we fished outside the racks on the flats beside. As we all know, Stu is a gun with the ZMan, and he was using custom-coloured 2.5” GrubZ that he’d concocted over the previous weeks. It involves putting some gudgeon colour GrubZ in with some motor-oil ones, and letting the colours leach together.

Fished on a 1/16oz jighead, the bream were quite receptive to the presentation, which we made on light braid and 4-6lb leaders. Aim for the irregularities on the flats, and hang on.

My preferred retrieve

Ecogear Grass Minnow M (okiami) ‘pink grub’ was pretty slow, with small twitches and hops.

ZMan Slim SwimZ (motor oil) • Mandurah, WA, casting to docks and pontoons in the Murray River and canals, 2-8ft.

Crossing the country, the ZMan GrubZ is often the favourite because it’s immune to the toadfish, or ‘blowies’ as the locals call them. I’ve seen blowies strip a Gulp from a jighead, bite for bite, in a couple of seconds.

Ironically, Mandurah was

Ecogearaqua 50mm (salt and pepper)

the only qualifying arena where I didn’t catch my limit for the year on either day, but I ended up winning the event.

The choice bait for here was a ZMan Slim SwimZ in Motor Oil rigged on a very small no. 4 hook and 1/24oz jighead made by Albany’s Jim Allen.

The black bream in this system loved the slow drop of this bait beside pylons and under pontoons, with nearly every fish I hooked eating the bait on the drop.

WATCH THE VIDEO

I fished the Slim SwimZ on a 7’8” rod and 4lb straight through fluorocarbon. If I wanted to impart action to the lure I’d use a shorter rod, but the pitch-and-drop technique really suited this longer rig. It also cushioned the fish, with that small hook being the only connection.

CRABS Cranka Crab 5.9g (olive) • Boats in shallow, clear water, or any bridge, anywhere!

I weighed 40% of my year’s fish on Cranka Crabs.

Nearly all of these fish took the heavy, olive model, or a different colour that I’d sprayed olive (thanks to Jamie McKeown’s painting tips).

If you watched my livestreams or highlights, you’d notice that a crabon-a-bridge was a pretty common way for me to start a tournament. There’s a good reason for this: bridges

WATCH THE VIDEO

often hold some of the biggest bream in the system, and the opening morning of an event is often the easiest time to catch them.

I nearly always fish them on straight-through fluorocarbon – anywhere between 2lb and 8lb depending on the structure (always erring towards the heavier line), and a 8’6” Daiwa ‘crab rod’.

One of my discoveries this year was some 8lb Sufix fluorocarbon that’s no problem fishing a small crab on. It’s strong and has little memory, and it often gives me the advantage in bridge structure.

As always, crabs are best fished slow. I mean really slow. Boringly slow. And let the fish load up before winding the hooks in.

The final tip I’ll give for crabs is to take plenty of spare hooks. Big bream To page 14

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Tournament Angler Guide

From page 13

have a habit of crunching the floating trebles flat, and a quick replacement will keep your catch rates high.

I avoided using crabs in the first few years after Steve Steer invented them, and it hurt my results. Make sure that you have a few in your box.

ON THE SIDELINES If I was to pick a reserve bench, there’s be a few baits

in there that have killed it for me over the years, if not in 2018. In this selection, I’d include: • Ecogear SX40 (brown/orange) • Daiwa Presso Minnow (chrome) • Ecogear VX35 blade (in black) • Daiwa Double Clutch 75 (ayu).

All of these lures have won me events in the past,

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ZMan Slim SwimZ (motor oil) and all deserve a place in a breamer’s box.

I hope that gives you an insight into what you need to do to be a versatile breamer. If you get your favourite selection

and get good at fishing them, it will get you better tournament results this season.

WATCH THE VIDEO

ZMan GrubZ 2.5” (gudgeon)

WATCH THE VIDEO

Cranka Crab 5.9g (olive)

WATCH THE VIDEO

THE STATS

Fish Max Bag Place Crab Aqua Deep Shallow Pink Deep Shallow Topwater ZMan ZManSlim Stick Swim minnow Grub

Fish Weight jerk jerk grub crank crank jighead jighead

St Helens 10 10 8.59 4 1 9 Derwent River 10 10 7.65 13 4 3 3 Gold Coast 10 10 4.89 4 2 8 Mandurah 5 10 3.05 1 5 Lake Macquarie 10 10 7.45 2 8 2 SWR 10 10 5.13 2 2 2 6 Hawkesbury 10 10 5.97 6 5 3 2 Aus Open 15 15 9.65 7 11 1 2 1 Percentage 40 15 3.75 3.75 1.25 2.5 2.5 10 11.25 6.25 3.75

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Tournament Angler Guide

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Digging into jigging HUNTER VALLEY

Peter Phelps

The skirted jig has certainly exploded in recent years, and any serious freshwater lure fisher should not be caught without one.

Skirted jigs can be seriously addictive to use, and can catch fish when other techniques fail.

This article is a follow-up to my beginner article on wp.fishingmonthly.com. au, so I will assume you

have the fundamentals of fishing a jig already, such as the correct rod, reel and line set-up. You may even be catching fish on jigs already. In this piece I will take you through some of the finer details of fishing jigs, and how to get the most out of them.

THE ADDICTION Originating in the United States, the skirted jig is gaining popularity very quickly here in Australia. The jig has changed Australian bass fishing in a similar way to

what the Cranka Crab did for bream fishing. It’s a technique that when used in the right hands in the right circumstances, catches bass better that anything else. If you enjoy watching American bass tournament fishing, I can tell you there’s nothing more satisfying than feeling a fish pick up that jig and waiting a moment before swinging hard, dreaming of being KVD or Gerald Swindle!

The notion of catching bass on jigs certainly isn’t new in Australia.

The author with a bass. A well placed cast was all that was needed to undo this fat bass. It took a skirted jig on the drop cast tight amongst some timber.

Top: Two jigs showing the differences with rigging the trailer. The top option is great for skip casting and slowing the fall. While the bottom is chunk rigged. Great for deep water, forcing a reaction strike and making your trailer last a long time.

Above: There are thousands of plastic trailers out there. They all work at given times. Keep them simple and break them down into action or plastic movement.

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There are bits and pieces of information that can be found dating back years and years. However, there was a particular day when it all just clicked and made sense for me. It was October 2013 and I was fishing Lake Glenbawn. I had caught fish previously on jigs, but it was random and seemed inconsistent.

That day it was the typical NSW impoundment bite that you get in spring – bass and yellowbelly aggressively hitting moving baits, like a spinnerbait or lipless crankbait early. The fishing was hot but, as per usual, around mid-morning

it died right off. At this time you’d typically try to scrape together some more fish by targeting deeper water, but usually the bite wouldn’t pick up again until late afternoon.

On this day I opened my tackle storage and started scrounging through boxes, looking for that magical lure that might catch a fish, as we all do from time to time. I came across some round ball finesse jigs I had purchased from the United States a long time before. Throwing a plastic craw on the back, it was instant action! I missed a fish on the first cast, and

then worked on refining it over the next few hours.

Bass started to come at a steady rate, including some absolute tanks in the middle of the day.

This was my light bulb moment. There was a sensation of adrenaline rushing over me, and everything just made sense.

I now knew that there was a lot more to fishing a jig than just some random fish every now and then. I remember thinking to myself, “I’m not putting this jig down ever again” and I barely have since! There is always one rigged ready to go on my boat, if I feel the

opportunity arises.

Since that day I have caught bass on a jig on almost every waterway I have fished, from deep water flats in Queensland impoundments to the skinniest water you can find in a tiny creek. While the skirted jig was initially used to imitate a yabby, there are tons of variations on how you can use them – from swimming jigs higher in the water column to mimic a fish, to skipping them into the heaviest cover you wouldn’t be able to place any other lure. We Australians have only just begun to scratch the surface on how to use them.

WHEN TO USE JIGS When it comes to picking what lure to use, I first look at whether I want a moving bait or a stationary bait. Whether I choose a moving bait depends on the cover where I’m fishing and the main food source (e.g. with boney bream and heavy cover like timber, I’ll pick a spinnerbait).

Shallow water Australian bass are typically willing to move around and away from cover in low light scenarios, whether it’s a river or lake. In low light or windy conditions, you will find a moving bait will get eaten.

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au As the moving bait bite dies off, the fish generally pull tighter to cover, or move deeper. It might seem as though they’re feeding less actively, but they have probably just changed what they are willing to eat.

This is when the skirted jig comes into play. It’s great for its weedless and snagless capability, allowing you to fish it super slow in the heaviest of cover, right in front of a bass’s nose.

DIFFERENT JIG TYPES There are several styles of skirted jig, and each is suited to a different type of cover.

The football jig is shaped exactly as it sounds – two rounded cones meeting in the middle of the hook eye.

This keeps the jig upright easily, with typically a vertical hook eye.

These jigs are usually heavier, and are better suited for deeper water.

The football head shape frequently gets wedged in branches of trees, so rock, sand and muddy bottom are better suited for this jig. Surprisingly, bass don’t mind picking up a heavy jig and swimming away with it. I’ve caught fish in 50ft of water on the bottom and had them picking up an 1oz

A fairly large meal in a 5/8oz jig with a 4” craw plastic trailer does not deter even the smaller bass from getting it down the hatch. jig with no worries at all.

Casting, flipping, swimming, Arkie, finesse or round style jigs come in a million varieties, with different hook bend degrees, hook size, skirt strand counts, skirt materials, lead, tungsten, weights, colours – you name it. You can really get lost, over-complicate and confuse yourself. The best thing to do is keep everything simple when it

comes to selecting the right type. Choose your weight based on the depth you are fishing. As a guide, I’d go 1/4oz for 0-6ft, 3/8oz for 0-12ft and 1/2oz for 10-20ft of water. These style heads are better for coming through thick cover. The cone shape head and typical vertical hook eye allows the jig to slide between weed and over timber with ease.

When in comes to

colours, I keep everything simple as well. In clear water I like natural colours like black, brown and green. In stained or dirty water, I choose a colour that contrasts nicely like white, black or chartreuse. I don’t get fussed over matching the trailer exactly with the skirt I am using. The fish don’t seem to care. If they were that smart, we would never catch them.

CHOOSING A TRAILER Plastic trailers are very important, as these are where all the action comes from. They give the jig a profile, they affect the fall, and give it a texture that the fish can feel and bite down onto and hold.

When choosing a trailer, there are a few factors to consider. Generally, my craw trailers fall into two styles – a straight craw and a flapping craw.

Flapping craw A flapper style can give a lot of action and slow the fall as it swims on the way down. I prefer these styles if the fish are active and willing to eat the jig with no fuss at all.

I’m a fan of the flapper style on football jigs for deep water and covering water quickly. When I’m using a heavy football jig like a 5/8oz or heavier, I drag it with a sweeping motion to the left or right.

I focus on pulling the jig along the bottom, bouncing off cover and causing the craw to flap along the bottom.

Commonly in the warmer months when the fish are actively targeting jigs I will go for a flapper.

They are also great for To page 18

Tournament winning rods and baits for Australian Bass.

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Available at tacklelane.com.au abt

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Tournament Angler Guide

From page 17

swimming the jig up off the bottom. There may be thick weed beds around and the jig might not be getting any attention on the bottom because the fish can not find the jig. Swimming it just up and through the gaps in weed can get some bites.

Straight craw I like to use a straight

style craw during a more timid bite, such as during the cooler months, or if the fish are under pressure or a weather change has come through. Straight craws have no action at all, and require the rod tip to be twitched to get them dancing around. I like to fish them slowly.

Typically with this retrieve I am targeting

abt.org.au

specific cover (e.g. a laydown, standing tree or a hole in the weed), and in this scenario I let the jig land nice and softly next to the targeted structure. A lighter jig like a 1/4oz or 3/8oz is ideal. After waiting a moment to see whether a fish has picked up the jig, I pull the jig forward ever so slightly. Usually

Jigs showing the fibre weed guard differences: Bottom jig with a splayed apart guard gives the jig a softer guard. The centre jig is a standard brush guard straight out of the packet. The top jig with a pushed forward brush guard gives the jig a more rigid guard for fishing heavy timber and weed.

Jack Maunder was new to catching bass on a jig not that long ago. A quick lesson on the boat about rod setup and retrieves had him landing bass in no time flat.

the rod tip bending and the jig being dragged forward an inch is enough to make the skirt flare and move the craw legs. This movement alone is enough for a timid bite; there’s no need to aggressive work the jig.

If I haven’t got bit after two or three little movements with a 3-5 second pause in between, I burn the jig back in again and cast to the next specific target.

These two trailer

styles and retrieves are my main stayers. I throw in variations like pausing longer or dragging quicker to mix things up if I’m not getting bites.

Remember that is just a guide rather than a hard

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au and fast rule. I’m sure if you have the patience and soaked a jig next to a laydown long enough, a fish would come along eventually.

RIGGING Next is the rigging of the trailer. If you’re fishing in a river with heavy cover and overhanging branches where you need to skip cast, make sure you choose a bulky body style plastic.

This body adds to the surface area and allows the jig to skip on the water’s surface a lot easier. The bulkier plastic also slows the fall for landing next to those prime laydowns and not spook the fish.

When I want to fish the jig deeper and give it less resistance through the water, I go to a chunkstyle rigging. Instead of threading the craw all the way down the shank of the hook onto the plastic

keeper, I cut the craw head off and thread it straight onto the hook. This allows the jig to sink quickly back towards the bottom. I use this for fishing deeper water or forcing a reaction bite on the fall.

Rigging the plastic chunk style also stops the trailer from tearing on fish.

It simply slides down the shank after hooking the fish, and lasts multiple fish.

Trimming the skirt is another thing I like to do, especially with a flapperstyle craw. I make sure the skirt is not too long to affect the craws legs from swimming. I trim back just behind where the legs attach to the bottom of the trailer. Typically I’ll make a jagged cut and maybe leave a couple of stands long to imitate antennae.

There are no straight lines in nature, so I cut my skirt accordingly.

WEED GUARD The fibre weed guard or brush guard is a funny topic. I have spoken to a lot of anglers about this topic, and some feel the need to remove the weed guard totally or trim it right down. They say they do this for timid bites, or to prevent the fish from feeling the weed guard and spitting it out.

I feel this is unnecessary. Cutting down or shortening the fibre guard makes it stiffer and harder to bend over, thus requiring a harder hook set. The ideal brush guard length is to the barb of the hook when it’s bent over.

If I really want to make the guard softer to push down, I pull apart or splay the guard to create a V shape. This leaves the guard intact, and it still has its snagless capabilities while being softer to push

down. If you want to make the guard softer again, take one strand, bend it out and trim it off directly at the head of the jig.

You must be careful when making the guard softer, as if it’s too soft it will remove the feature that makes the jig so different from other lures.

There would be nothing worse than making an accurate cast only to have the jig lodge into some structure because the weed guard is too soft, causing you to miss an opportunity for a bass.

Conversely, if I want to make my weed guard stiffer I will push it forward towards the hook eye. Fishing around thick weed or using a heavy jig in deep water around timber requires stiffer brush guards. Bend the guard to a near 90° angle to the hook shank. This will give more room for the guard to bend or flex before the jig becomes hung up in weed or timber.

TRYING IT FOR YOURSELF In every scenario, you want to be able to make every cast count with your jig. You want to fish it as slow or as fast as you require without wasting casts. Remember that the fish believes it is eating a crawfish or yabby, and it’s expecting to pick up something heavy and sharp with nippers. Once you have fished a jig for a while you will come across fish that pick up your jig and spit it out multiple times. This is the fish trying to kill the craw before it eats it. There are tons of examples of this in videos from bass in the United States.

Of course, just when you think you have the fish worked out, they up and change on what they were

Blue bird skies and clear water pulled the bass closer to cover. This is when the skirted jig really shines.

As more anglers start using jigs, we will learn more ways of catching fish on them. doing before. Each year has been different, and as more anglers come to use jigs we will learn more ways of catching fish on them. I’ve had many conversations with anglers about how they have caught fish on jigs, and thought to myself “I probably wouldn’t have thought to try that”. It’s great to see people thinking outside the box and pushing the theories behind it all.

Hopefully this article has given you an insight

into the how and why of fishing a jig. For me, fishing a jig for bass isn’t about colours, specific trailers or brands, as the fish don’t discriminate.

What matters is what you are doing with your jig, in what depth and next to what kind of structure. It’s about the jig being completely different from a moving bait. I hope this gets you thinking along the correct train of thought for your future bass fishing trips.

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Tackling a new venue ABT

Joey Urquhart & Jamie McKeown

It’s one thing to explore a new waterway when you’re fishing socially, and quite another when you’re in a tournament situation and the pressure is on. However, plenty of tournament anglers succeed on waterways that they’ve never fished before, and you can too. Read on to discover the strategies used by two successful tournament pros: Joey Urquhart and Jamie McKeown.

JOEY URQUHART It’s been 10 years since I competed in my first ever ABT BASS event, and over this time the tournament scene has evolved, with new venues each and every year. These venues present competitors with challenges that they might not have faced before.

Through this article, I will delve into how I approach a bass tournament on a venue I haven’t visited before the pre-fish.

Hopefully these tips will help you the next time you visit a new area.

Mapping Earlier this year I won the BASS Electric event at Wyaralong Dam, which is a relatively new dam and has no real information available on how it fishes yet. I knew I had to do my homework before I showed up on pre-fish day if I wanted a chance of winning.

The first step that’s crucial to your preparation for a new venue is researching maps, whether it’s Google Earth or social maps. This gives you a good look at the venue without actually being there, and it’s the best way

There’s no doubt about it, when you meet Archer, you’ll have a momentous experience.

Top: This beast unveiled Wyaralong’s secrets, and set up Joey Urquhart’s win at the dam. Sometimes it only takes one fish!

Above: Regardless of the weather or number of boats on the water, if you have confidence you’re far more likely to succeed.

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to get a look at the different structure that’s in the lake. A great way of seeing what’s under the water is to look back on previous years of Google Earth where the water level may have been lower when the images were taken. It sometimes will unveil rock piles or trees you otherwise wouldn’t have known were there.

Once I have a lay of the

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au lake I dissect it into different areas I would like to look at in pre-fish. These areas I pick are usually based on what I think look good, and which look like similar areas I would fish on similar venues.

I then mark these areas into my GPS and use different map icons to separate the areas, allowing me to clearly separate different structure types. I put these locations in

Some venues have hundreds of kilometres of edges to fish, and the thought of having to survey so much water can be overwhelming.

order from my favourite to least favourite, to eliminate time wasted on pre-fish.

Because I fish out of one of the smallest boats in the field, I often look for small feeder creeks and harder-toget-to areas that the larger boats can’t reach. Having previously found these via mapping, it allows for more fishing time come practice, and less time roaming around aimlessly.

Rigging up Now that you have a firm grasp on the areas you would like to fish, it’s time to work out a technique and what lures you’re going to throw. I look at the time of year the tournament is being held, and rely on my knowledge of what techniques work on other venues at this time of year.

I then prepare my tackle, covering the most obvious techniques. At Wyaralong Dam, I chose to rig my rods with a reaction bite approach, which consisted of lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and some larger topwater lures.

I always rig 2-3 rods with the same lure I think will be the best choice, as the last thing you want to be doing on pre-fish is searching for lures in your tackle trays and wasting valuable time.

I always allow a few spare rods to tie on what I

call the ‘out of the square’ lures. These are lures that you know work, but not necessarily at that lake and at that time of year. Still, they could be the thing that could make the difference.

I had one of these lures tied on at Wyaralong Dam; it was a medium diving Japanese crankbait that proved crucial in my win.

Arriving at the venue It’s now time to head off to the tournament, and I always pop into the nearest tackle store on the way. Don’t expect to have everything handed to you on a golden platter, but with most purchases will come some tips or tricks that may help you on the day. Because these snippets of information are very up to the minute, I find they are more useful than looking at previous results from the same venue.

However, while getting advice can be useful, I advise against spending a lot of time listening to other people’s stories, as this can cloud your judgement and become very confusing. In any case, it’s more rewarding finding your own honey hole.

I sometimes watch videos of the venue, but I watch them to see what the lake looks like more then to look at the techniques used To page 22

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Tournament Angler Guide

From page 21

by the angler.

Once you have reached your accommodation, it’s good to drive to the ramp to make yourself aware of how everyone will launch the following morning for practice – plus it’s nice to finally get a visual of the lake.

A valuable piece of advice is to stick to your plan with your previously rigged rods. After talking to friends at your accommodation you will have other ideas running through your mind, as those guys may have been there themselves before. Stick to your plan for the practice day, because you will regret changing it if it all goes pear-shaped!

Pre-fish It’s now pre-fish morning and it’s time to put all your research to work.

I usually head for my furthest location so I can fish it at prime time, then bounce from spot to spot, rotating through my chosen lures. As a rule, if 10am comes and I am yet to find any decent signs of fish, I generally pick up one of my out-of-thesquare lures and run and gun random spots, trying to make something happen. This year at Wyaralong Dam it was 9:30am and I hadn’t seen any signs of fish, and I did exactly that – and pulled a

2kg+ fish straight away. I moved down the lake and found an area that looked nothing like where I had caught my previous fish, but I liked the look of it anyway.

Before long I pulled another big fish. That area turned out to be where I would win the tournament, and I only achieved it by adapting throughout the day and not getting stuck in a rut.

If your pre-fish didn’t go to plan and you have absolutely nothing to go on for the first day of the comp, my advice is stay confident.

At no stage should you think you can’t work them out, and definitely never give up.

Tomorrow is a new day.

The tournament begins Tournament morning is now about to start and the rest is now up to you. If you found some sort of pattern the previous day, stick to it, although if things aren’t going to plan by mid-morning, I would definitely abandon that plan for the moment.

Try to scrape something together somewhere else to settle your nerves and keep yourself in contention.

You can never win a tournament on the first day, but you can definitely lose one. Don’t try doing what the rest of the field is doing if you’re not confident in it. At the end of the day

abt.org.au

Jamie McKeown knows that prior research is important. It’s not enough to just rock up and hope for the best! confidence is the key, and you’re far better sticking to something you know you can catch fish on.

I hope some off these tips will help you out the next

Aberdeen Fishing & Outdoors

time you’re in an unfamiliar area, and see you putting some fish in your livewell.

JAMIE MCKEOWN Tournament fishing a new venue can be daunting

to say the least. There are a lot of important factors to consider. However, with a computer and some spare time you can cover off on most of them.

WHO CARES ABOUT LIVE SCANNING SONAR?

I started fishing the ABT BREAM tournaments in 2012, and back then all venues were new to me.

I soon learned that just showing up and trying to find good areas during a 1-day pre-fish wasn’t good enough.

After having a few expensive lessons, I have learned to start my preparation for new venues months before the actual tournament is scheduled to run.

The first part of my preparation, and most important, relates to safety.

I don’t want to run my boat into submerged rock walls or trees, or injure my non-boater or myself, so I start by going onto www.abt. org.au and finding out where the launch and weigh-in sites will be. Then I go to one of the many tide and weather websites and see what the moon phase will be, and check the tides for the date of the tournament. This is not only for planning safe navigation areas, but also for planning areas to fish. The last thing I want is to get stuck on a flat with a good limit in the livewell, and not be able to return in time for the weigh-in.

Once I have done all of this, I the research and download a map (if available) from C-Map Genesis Social

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Maps. It usually provides a very detailed map of the arena, but the downside is that it’s only for Lowrance users. An alternative is to use the Navionics app on your phone. On this map you can view depth contours, channel markers and any unsafe ground. The app is not free, but $26 is a lot cheaper than having to repair a destroyed prop or hull.

After I have worked out safe navigation areas, I start

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au researching where I want to fish. I want to catch fish in areas that best suit my skills. For me it is pointless trying to reinvent the wheel for myself, and attempt to catch fish on a technique I have never used or have no confidence in, so I look for areas that suit my style of fishing.

My first port of call is Google Maps. It usually has pretty good up-to-date maps and resolution so I can see

Having a good pre-fish day allowed Joey Urquhart to put together a winning bag of 3.37kg at Wyaralong Dam.

bridges, weed flats or rocky points that I can look at on the pre-fish day.

Once I have picked out some areas, I look to see whether there has ever been a tournament held on the arena before. There usually has been, and if you do a bit of digging you can usually find the results. I like to research these results, and try to find an event that was held around the same time of year as the tournament I’m planning on fishing. This way I can work out average bag weights, and see if I’m headed in the right direction with areas I have already identified on Google Maps.

This search can be expanded depending on how much spare time you have, but this is why I start my research months before the tournament.

I then turn to social media, I use Facebook to find fishing groups or pages that have been started in the area to get an idea of how the arena is currently fishing. After all, searching old tournament results may only tell you how the system used to fish; so much could have changed since then.

I then search YouTube to see if there are any videos that locals may have posted, and also go back through old AFC DVDs. This can

sometimes give me an idea of lure patterns and colours.

The information and lures may be old, but the bream haven’t changed too much as to what they like to eat.

This brings me to pre-fish. Depending on time, money and distance, I try to plan a pre-fish about a month out from the tournament. I try my hardest to plan the trip on the exact same tide and moon phases the tournament will be on. This way I can take my time sounding around, marking safe or unsafe areas on my GPS, and of course fish the specific areas I have already identified. I don’t have to be concerned with stinging fish that I may want to be catching the following day in the tournament, I can work out if spots will replenish, spend two days fishing instead of one, and determine whether I have to go completely back to the drawing board and work out new areas.

I use a lot of technology in my research and preparation prior to ever seeing a venue, but after arriving and getting on the water, a lot comes down to instinct. Some areas may look a lot fishier than Google Maps can ever give justice to, and I’d be stupid not to have a cast, even if it’s just for 10 minutes.

It’s important to be able to

Mapping unveils hidden gems like creeks and drains that would normally be hard to find. adapt to any conditions or situations that may be thrown your way. Combine the knowledge you have gathered through technology with your past experiences and instincts, and you have a

recipe for success. Preparation can be time-consuming, but let’s face it – with the cost of fuel and accommodation, it’s always nice to try and drive home with a cheque in your pocket!

Bent Minnow or Imakatsu Popper – that’s the Dilemma!

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TAG 2019

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au

The early days of ABT FMG

Bob Thornton

This year Australian Bass Tournaments celebrates 20 years. Two decades has seen the company go from strength to strength, helping to shape the fishing, boating and tackle industries in Australia.

These days each event sees a flotilla of sleek looking fibre-glass bass boats, each armed to the teeth with the latest and greatest tackle and gadgets, and some

of the anglers have even appeared on television.

In the beginning though, things were very different, and the road hasn’t always been a smooth one.

It’s hard to believe that the first proper ABT event was held on Lake Moogerah in Queensland’s South East 20 years ago in 1999. There were 31 boats bobbing around the ramp before a very chaotic and smoky shotgun start. There were few fibreglass bass boats, no Jackalls, no Squigies and no UPF 50+ fishing shirts –

just a fleet of tiller-steered tinnies with an assortment of Aussie-made lures, and lots and lots of sandals and short shorts. Peter Keidge won that event. He was throwing spinnerbaits.

So much has changed in 20 years, with many waves of innovation and development flooding the fishing world. Lots of these big changes came about as a result of that first event, and the many that followed in the years after. ABT truly changed the face of Australian fishing. And Set ups in the late ‘90s were simple, but still attracted plenty of competitors, as can be seen by all the cars in the carpark in the background.

Top: Early on almost all the boats at BASS events were aluminium punts with an average of 30hp. Bow-mounted electric motors were still seen as a novelty. Above: Tim Morgan dominated the early BREAM series, and was at home fishing the Gold Coast waters in the early 2000s.

24

TAG 2019 abt

although plenty of others have tried to emulate ABT and failed, ABT remains the leader in the field.

THE VERY BEGINNING In 1998, two members of the Moreton Bay Game Fishing Club (MBGFC), with help from the club, decided to run a two-day freshwater tournament at Maroon Dam in South East Queensland. This was to be ABT’s trial event. Steve Morgan and Steve Bain had both travelled and fished in tournaments overseas, and had an idea to start a tournament series like the ones they were exposed to in the USA, Japan and South Africa.

Gordon Macdonald from

Brisbane won that event, and said the competition really opened his eyes.

“I’d fished a few tournaments with the club [MBGFC], but this was a totally different format,” he said. “There were three sessions over two days of fishing, it was cast and retrieve only, and we were required to bring our fish in live, which was very different to the tournaments I’d fished before that.”

This event also employed a system that paired those who had boats with those who didn’t, otherwise known as a boater/non-boater format, which comes from the American system.

On the day, Gordon decided to try a slightly

different approach to the rest of the field, choosing to throw spinnerbaits.

“No one else was really throwing them,” he said.

“Many people were just casting the bibbed lures they would have usually trolled with” “I knew people in the US were using them to catch their bass, and I’d been experimenting with a few myself.”

“Back then, Kokoda spinnerbaits were about the only ones you could get here, so that’s what I used.”

Spinnerbaits was the first of many crazes that started with ABT tournaments, and countless events since then have been won by casting and retrieving these curious

contraptions.

Queensland’s Harry Watson of Jackall fame was the first BASS Pro Grand Final winner in 1999, winning himself a trip to fish a BASS Event at Lake Orroville, California. Brett

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au Thomson from Queensland, a man well ahead of his time as far as fishing techniques were concerned, won the first Angler of The Year title that same year.

These names will always be remembered by those who

Brett Thomson, pictured here in 1999, won the first two BASS Pro AOY titles (1999 and 2000).

fished the early tournaments, but there was so much more to come.

LEARNING TO CRAWL It wasn’t long after the BASS Pro series kicked off that ABT introduced a BASS Electric series, for those who fished in the many electric only impoundments scattered throughout Queensland and NSW. As the first few seasons of the BASS Pro and BASS Electric series travelled up and down the east coast of SEQ and NSW, certain switched-on individuals began to emerge at the pointy end of the leader board regularly.

John Schofield from Brisbane was one of those anglers, and he, like many others had participated in the 1998 trial event and got a taste for it.

John has scored many event wins in both the BASS Pro and BASS Electric series, and his signature technique was fly fishing with a fly that he created.

The fly is well-known not just in tournament fishing circles, but to the wider fishing community, and even overseas. The Bass Vampire fly, so named because of John’s then job of driving trucks for the blood bank, has over time

been reproduced into many different sizes and variations, much to John’s delight.

“The Bass Vampire came about because I really liked my fly fishing, and I actually dreamt it!” he said. “I woke up, and the dream had been so clear that I was able to draw it on a note pad, and then I eventually sat down and tied it up.”

In John’s time fishing tournaments, he got to witness the changes in the fishing, tackle and boating industry, and the trickle down effect the tournaments were having on the general public.

“I can remember before the tournaments took off, you’d pull you’re boat up to the ramp at Boondoooma Dam, and there would be people holidaying, or famers just out for a fish, and they’d have a sinker and live shrimp hanging from their rods,” he said. “As time went on, these same boats would have ice jigs, Sliders, and then eventually Jackalls replacing the sinkers and shrimps.”

“I can also remember in the early days a few 70-boat fields of mostly mostly tiller steer engines, which were a cross section of outboard brands, but after a few anglers got Mercury sponsorships, all of a sudden 60-70% of boaters were using Mercury outboards.”

Ex-tournament director Simon Goldsmith fished the BARRA trial event at Teemburra in 2004. Most of the fish were only small compared to the 1m+ beasts that come out of this waterway now.

BREAMIN’ With the success of the BASS Pro tournament series, introducing a new series seemed like the next logical step.

BASS tournaments in America were centred around a species that exists

in every state in the USA (except Alaska), and this is why the species is so popular and marketable. The two Steves put their heads together to find a species that was as accessible as bass in America, and after To page 26

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abt

Tournament Angler Guide

From page 25

much consideration, it was to be the humble bream that would make ABT a truly national tournament series.

Although only a small fish, they exist in every state and territory (except ACT) and appeal to a wide range

responsive bream are to lure angling, and was able to dominate the scene in the early years. Tim won the first ever BREAM event in 2000, which was held on the Gold Coast.

“I don’t think there was a huge amount of people

abt.org.au

Tim was also in the interesting position of being both an angler and a sponsor, as at the time he was working for BLA, who import Humminbird products.

“To be competitive, we wanted every advantage we could get,” he said. “For

Stessl tournament boats were considered state-of the art in the early days.

Jason Wilhelm had a huge influence on techniques for impoundment barramundi, and won several events on his home lakes and further afield. of tactics and techniques – although most Australian anglers did not know this – yet!

Tim Morgan was one man who knew just how

using lures for bream,” he said. “I think ABT really helped bream to become not only a bait species, but also a lure species in people’s minds,” he said.

example in the early days we used floats to mark our spots, but with the advent of GPS technology [which Humminbird provided] our fishing became much easier.”

“Tournaments have definitely raised the bar of tackle used in Australia, and helped many of these products to enter the market.”

Anglers like Tim, as well as others such as Mike Delisser, Mick Lee, Andrew Howard and the Metcalf brothers Chris and Michael were all continually pushing the envelope, and paving the way forward with their breaming techniques and sharing them with others.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what those first few series were like, you can find out by watching Breamin’ I & II, a DVD that covers the 2001 ABT BREAM series! This really helped get tournament fishing out to a wider audience, and featured

some then revolutionary techniques, and guitar music from none other than Tommy Emmanuel. If you ever get the chance, it’s still worth the watch today.

The ABT Bream series has to date travelled to six states in Australia, and given away many amazing boat/ trailer prize packages to those lucky enough to win a Grand Final.

GOING NORTH With the BREAM and BASS Pro series roaring along, it was decided that in 2005, following a trial event at Teemburra Dam in 2004, that ABT would include a impoundment barramundi series to their calendar. This created a lot of excitement within the fishing community,

but it wasn’t without its hurdles in the early stages.

Jason Wilhelm, who was living in Gladstone at the time, was an angler who had been bitten by the impoundment barra bug a few years earlier. Excited by the prospect of a BARRA series, he jumped at the opportunity to throw his hat in the ring when ABT finally came to Lake Awoonga, his favourite barra dam at the time.

However, the first draw event didn’t really go to plan, because while the boater/ non-boater format had been popular with bream and bass anglers, it just wasn’t going to work with the barra community. Where the teams format was successful, the To page 28

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From page 26

first event had three boater entries, and after that the format was canned and reverted to the teams style.

“I suppose because impoundment barra fishing was in its infancy, lots of people tended to want to fish with their mates, and they were very guarded on their methods,” Jason said.

“The logical choice was a teams event, but I really hope ABT can revisit the boater/ non-boater format further down the road – it’s probably a matter of waiting until the less experienced have caught up.”

The early BARRA

tournaments were run in a format that permitted two anglers to fish together, but they were competing individually. Some early problems with this format saw the BARRA Tour eventually became a series of team events.

Just like with The BASS and BREAM series, the BARRA events encouraged considerable growth in the impoundment barramundi scene, and Jason witnessed this growth first hand.

“Everyone had to up their game, and there’s no doubt ABT influenced a lot of now readily accepted techniques,” he said. “Fast

frogging is a good example.”

And even though BARRA events didn’t use the same boater/non-boater format that encouraged the sharing of knowledge, many barra anglers were still happy to share some of their techniques and develop the fishery. The process was slower than with BASS and BREAM, but it was ticking along.

“In my experience, the top barra guys did pass on their techniques and embraced the ABT’s ‘who shares wins’ mantra,” Jason said. “A lot of anglers just weren’t fishing as competitively as they would

The late Dave Irvine (front) and Gordon Macdonald (rear) work some of Moogerah’s standing timber with spinnerbaits in an early ABT event.

have in the BASS and BREAM events.”

While Jason was a force to be reckoned with early on, there were others that had him constantly looking over his shoulder, such as Jason Medcalf and the Taylor brothers Kerrin and Cy. While it’s evident the BARRA series is still lagging in some ways behind the other series, its continual growth is promising for the future, with each year’s series teaching the angling world more about these incredible fish.

AFC It would be remiss of not to mention the Australian Fishing Championships (AFC) series that kicked off in 2004. Co-developed by ABT (which also acted as a feeder series), AFC got the best bream, bass and barra tournament anglers in Australia, put them head to head, and aired it on Channel 10 – back when there were few options on the box.

The classy production would thrust tournament fishing in Australia to an even wider audience than the magazines and newsletters ever could. The series saw anglers like Harry Watson, Jason Wilhelm, Matthew Mott, Darren Borg and more become household names in the wider fishing community.

abt.org.au

Harry Watson won the first BASS Pro Grand Final in 1999, and was known for consistently catching fish of this calibre. That’s one young Hank!

AFC is still running, and although running independent of ABT, it still brings the exciting antics of tournament fishing to Australian and Asian living rooms.

THAT’S ALL HISTORY These little bits of history formed the foundation for the

ABT we see today, and all this happened in the first 5-6 years. Thinking about what lies down the track is exciting, and while many things are uncertain, one thing that isn’t is that ABT will continue to help develop the fishing, tackle and boating industry in Australia.

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Tournament Angler Guide

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