ABT GRAND FINAL 15-16 May- Diary/Trip Reports

[ELM]

Great view Matty, how was the head this morning

So how far to the fishing grounds, hope it's not in that pool in the photo, gunna get crowded if it is

Stick it up um mate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[madfishman]

Well while matty is sinking some more CC's...i thought i would put this up.

The apartment is awsome and we have two right next to each other with the NSW central coast guys in one next door, having a great time. Little bit pissed so lets see how i go with this update....

I can say it was a fairly productive day... i got a bag even not good size still a bag, but theres bigger ones out there.

Last night was mayhem, rods everywhere and lure exchange programs going between anglers.

this was last night.....



The Pre-Fish Induction with Steve from Hobie, massive effort, all 50+ Pro Anglers line up al;l ready to go, with support staff for help.



The arena for the tournament from the apartment view..



Matty pegging some rack fishin ...


1st Fish...not too big but legal.


I got a "few' fish and was really windy, 30knots plus at some stages, but theres been some good fish caught today from whispers, so i am happy to just be here and would be stoked to get a place.
A few storys to come from today keep tuned.

Plus in the last 2 days 2 50lb Jewies have been caught from the break wall..launch spot...

[bilby]

Maaaaate, i wish i was there, maybe next year, if i qualify.
Great stuff boys, go get em.
Bilby.

PS Put some laxitives in the food for the crew next door.

[mattyp]

Hey. Sorry for the delay with updates.
Too much happening in such little time.
What an awesome weekend and a few stories to tell.
Will put up a full report soon , but here's a snippet.

ScottyB (Ratdog) and Myself

[Donkey]

Nice one Matty. Can't wait for the full write up.

[madfishman]

Heres some more pics of the weekend, had a great time and one i wont forget for a long time, more than likely never.

a big congrats to the winners and a great comp.

heaps of drinking fishing and stories of the big ones that got away and the ones that didnt.

The fishing was hot and cold and when it was hot it was bloody hot, in one session on Sun mat myself and Kev, from newcastle, pulled 6 good fish from a series of oyster racks covered with about a foot of water.

Lost a few lures and dropped a few more.so when i had the camera ready no action, then it went of and didnt get any pics of the fish.

Top water fihsing for bream is the most entertaining fishing ive ever had, the boils , and the famous foster kiss made it all very exciting to be there.

Just waintng for the next season to come.

Got home on Sunday and woke up Monday with a cold so at home at the moment sweating it out.






the weigh in line up..




Day one weigh in line up.





This is how to make a pavlova on a fishing trip....dont ask...
Step one: Purchase a pav base, some cream and passionfruit tin.

if no wisk available pour cream into empty bottle, (obviously finish dry ginger ale bottle by puring 6 bourbon and dry's) and shake bottle like sh@t for a few mins then bingo, thick cream...






Cut bottle in half and empty all cream, whilst keeping an eye on the bottle of Canadian club..




Add the pasion fruitliberally, or just pour it on..




Add very cheesey grin and present.,,,,





we were pissing ourselves so much when scotty was making this delicious snack..



Couple of pics from forster.




A short vid in the room , we had an massive top floor apartment..notice scotty's knot goggles..

[mattyp]

Sorry for the delay

Thursday:
We arrived at Newcastle Airport and met up with Kev and Jase with our transport to get to Forster.
Arrived at Forster around 4ish and bought supplies for the w/end then off to our apartment at Sails Apartments.
Unloaded gear, cracked some cans before heading to Hogs Breath Cafe for dinner.
Back to apartment to rig our sticks, down some CC and dry and then bed at........well late.

Friday:
7:30am, pre-fish day started at Holiday Park next to launch area as we collected our boat for the w/end.
Pedaled up past the bridge and onto the paddocks where the oyster racks are. Flick a few surface lures with little interest from the Bream so push on towards Wallis Lake. Arrived at 'the step' and tossed some shallow crank and jerk bait lures around the shallow, ribbon weeded water and started to boat some fish mostly small, undersized models but also some legals including a 34cm to the fork. This is when my day change as I attempted to video the release the 34 model, I ended up releasing my new Panasonic HD camera in 8ft of water on a windy day. Spent the next half hour looking for it. Found it and spent the next 40min trying to fish it out with a jig head eventually hooking it and lifted it to the surface. Happy again.
Made my way back to launch spot with the plan to go back to the step on day 1 (Saturday).
Tied new leaders, drunk more alcohol then Chinese for dinner then more drink before hitting the sack.

Saturday:
After briefing from Simon(abt), we all took off at 7am and I headed straight to 'the step' and through cast after cast finding it very slow going with only a few undersize models finding my net. Moved up onto some nearby flats and through some surface lures and finally boating a 25.3cm model and placed it in the livewell. Several cast later I pulled in a monster Flatty on a surface lure with 4lb line. Picked up another just legal model then moved back to the weed to through some sub surface lures scoring my final Bream, again just over legal 26.5cm jobby. Fished my way back to launch with no upgrades.
Completed weigh-in and back to room for re-rigging and then pizza for dinner, drinks and planning an attack for day 2.

Sunday:
Final day and after finding it tough to boat some good models the day before, I decided to pepper the racks. After 3hrs fishing the paddocks for no gain, I started moving up stream towards the lake fishing some racks on the way feeling down with no fish in the well and eventually meeting up with Neil (madfishman). Neil tells me the racks he is fishing are going off, I move in to the right of Neil and this is when Forster's reputation come good. First cast of my surface lure and within seconds, boil behind my lure and it hooked. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and I'm trying to scull drag this Bream to the net and landed a nice 28cm model. Next cast. Boil....zzzzzzzzzzzz.......scull drag.......zzzzzzzzz.......bust off on the racks. Re-tied another 12lb leader while shaking. Tightened drag further. Cast....boil......wait......wait......BANG..zzzzzzzzzzz.....scull drag.....zzzzz.....scull drag......netted a 34.5cm blue nose. 2 in the well. Cast again....worked lure.....waited...waited....boil.......BANG......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....bust off on the rack! Then it all stopped. 4 casts and 4 hook ups. What a crazy 15 minutes! Neil bagged 2 as well. Spent another hour there for no action as though someone had flicked a switch. Fished our way back to weigh-in. When rack fishing is on, there is nothing like it....awesome stuff.
Completed weigh-in and packed in a rush to get back to Newcastle to catch a plane home.

Finished 29th and really can't complain about that. Well worth the learning experience and can't wait to get back there next series.
Special thanks to Scott Lovig Hobie for his support and Steve Fields from Hobie Aust. for putting on a fantastically run event and series.
Thanks to Jase for lending his car for us to get to Forster.

NO PHOTOS BUT IF YOU GO TO HOBIEFISHING THERE IS MORE THAN YOU COULD POKE A STICK AT.

[bilby]

Well done fella's, 29th best fisherman in australia i'd be stoked with that effort. I'm really saving hard to try and compete in as many events as possible next year, lets hope i qualify for the granny, as it would have been awesome, especially Scotty's pav
Cheers and see you out onthe water soon.
Bilby.

[Widsa]

Well done lads and thanks for the write ups.

Matty that video was super funny mate, glad you got it back!

I will be joining you boys next year in at least 1 event, hopefully more but we will see.
I will have to learn to fish for bream first!

Widsa

[fishsmith]

Top write up Matty..Look forward to the next series..