Mark Lennox pieced together his vast knowledge to take out the Yamaha Clarence River BREAM Qualifier with a 10/10, 5.74kg limit. Grant Kime secured his ticket to the BREAM Grand Final by securing second place with a 10/10, 5.19kg limit, while Ian Miller showed he is as dangerous as ever taking out the Non-Boater division with a 10/10, 4.35kg bag.
Lennox fished on Browns Rocks but rather than target fish holding on the reef he targeted particular patches of fish holding on the areas where the reef would meet the sand.
Early in the session Lennox would target fish holding on these break lines in 5-12’ of water. For this depth, Lennox would use a 5g Yamba Blade in vivid yellow colour. Lennox would present this on a Samurai Reaction 201 rod matched with a Daiwa Luvius 2500 reel spooled with 10lb Unitika Aorka and 8lb Toray L-Hard leader. Lennox would cast up along the edge of the reef and impart a short sharp hop off the bottom and then allow his lure to settle on the bottom before repeating the process.
Using his side imaging sounder Lennox was able to pinpoint where the fish were holding.
“I had limited bite windows, so with the side imaging showing fish holding in the area it was a real confidence boost,” said Lennox.
Once the tide began to pick up Lennox would then move out to a deeper reef and sand edge in 30-44’ of water. Lennox used a 9g Yamba Blade in vivid yellow colour, with this heavier lure he changed his tackle to a Berkley Tournament Pro rod matched with a Pflueger Supreme reel spooled with 10lb Sunline Cast Away and 8lb Toray L-Hard leader. Lennox would again present a short sharp hop off the bottom.
“It was just like deep water bass fishing as you had to keep the lure tight to the bottom to get the fish to bite,” said Lennox.
Lennox didn’t just present his lures out of the packet, he would change his trebles, downsizing from size 12-14 lighter gage hooks.
“With lighter gage hooks I could bend the hook open when snagged rather than loose a lure,” said Lennox.
This change meant that he could make the most of his session and not spend precious time retying leaders and lures.
Grant Kime slowed down his presentation at the Clarence River and in the process took out second place with a 10/10, 5.19kg limit.
Kime also fished Browns Rocks but rather than fish the edges of the reef, Kime targeted the active fish holding on top of the reef in 8-10’ of water.
For this shallow work, Kime used a 70mm Smash Bait in cl3 colour (green) rigged on a TT HWS 1/20oz jighead. Rather than work the lure Kime used the natural flexibility of his Smash Bait allowing it to waft over the reef only occasionally lifting the bait to see if a fish had it or if it was snagged.
“I knew there were fish holding tight to the bottom and I thought if I presented something different to the fish it maybe the key to success,” said Kime.
The pattern held up until late on day two and rather than fall in a heap Kime moved off his shallow flat and targeted fish in the deeper water adjacent to his flat to fill his limit.
Kime switched from his plastic presentation to an Ecogear VX40 blade in 439 colour. Kime would cast his lure across the broken rubble and then rip the bait up off the bottom before allowing it to sink back to the bottom.
Kime’s tackle of choice for the weekend was a Gladiator Psyborg rod 7’2” matched with a Shimano Stradic C14 2500 reel spooled with 3lb Fireline and 5.5lb Gosen high stretch fluorocarbon.
“The high stretch fluorocarbon was a real advantage for me this weekend I could let the fish take the bait and then the stretch would set the hook,” said Kime.
Yamaha Pro Ian Miller showed he is always an angler to watch taking out the Non-Boater division with a 10/10, 4.35kg limit, and was the only non-boater to fill his limit for the weekend.
Miller spent both days fishing different sections of Middle Wall, fishing both the wash coming off the walls and the deeper structure. For this work Miller used a mixture of Squidgy 80mm Wrigglers and Lobbies in dusk and bloodworm colour rigged on Squidgy ball head jigheads in varying weights depending on the tidal flow. Miller would cast tight to the edge before imparting a slow lift and drop technique down the face of the rock wall, keeping the lure as close to the structure as possible.
Miller’s tackle of choice for the weekend was a Millerods Control Freak Grub rod matched with a Shimano Stella 1000 reel spooled with 2lb fluorocarbon.
“I had a great weekend on the Clarence. It was my first time on the system and it was great to be able to catch over 50 fish for the weekend and have a great time with my boaters while doing it,” said Miller. – ABT
Big Bream
Non-boater Vaughn Lewis locked up second place with his cracking 960g Clarence River big bream caught at 10.30am on day one. Lewis’ fish fell to a 3” Gulp Minnow in pepper prawn colour fished on a TT 1/6oz jighead near the Yamba Tavern.
Winning Edge
“With lighter gage hooks I could bend the hook open when snagged rather than loose a lure, this also allowed me to get my lure back in the zone as quickly as possible,” said Lennox
Winning Tackle
Shallow reef tackle
Rod: Samurai Reaction 201
Reel: Daiwa Luvius 2500
Line: 10 lb Unitika Aorka
Leader: 8 lb Toray L-Hard
Lure: 5g Yamba Blade in vivid yellow
Deep reef tackle
Rod: Berkley Tournament Pro
Reel: Pflueger Supreme
Line: 10 lb Sunline Cast Away
Leader: 8 lb Toray L-Hard
Lure: 9g Yamba Blade in vivid yellow
Results
Top 10 Boaters
Place | Angler | Fish | Weight (kg) | Payout |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mark LENNOX | 10/10 | 5.74 | $5,350 |
2 | Grant KIME | 10/10 | 5.19 | $2750 |
3 | Russell BABEKUHL | 10/10 | 4.96 | $2,050 |
4 | Daniel BROWN | 9/10 | 4.94 | $1,450 |
5 | Mark HEALEY | 10/10 | 4.90 | $1,000 |
6 | Chris WRIGHT | 10/10 | 4.83 | $900 |
7 | Tristan TAYLOR | 10/10 | 4.82 | $800 |
8 | Andrew HOWARD | 10/10 | 4.53 | $700 |
9 | Michael MAAS | 10/10 | 4.46 | $600 |
10 | Aaron SHARP | 10/10 | 4.45 |
Top 10 Non-Boaters
Place | Angler | Fish | Weight (kg) | Payout |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ian MILLER | 10/10 | 4.35 | Rapala Prizepack + 1st Hobie Bonus ($50) |
2 | Vaughn LEWIS | 8/10 | 3.78 | Shimano Prize Pack + $500 Big Bream (0.96kg) + 2nd Hobie Bonus ($35) |
3 | Rodney O'SULLIVAN | 7/10 | 3.73 | Strike Pro Prize Pack + 3rd Hobie Bonus ($25) |
4 | Darren BORG | 9/10 | 3.62 | TT Prize Pack |
5 | Simon JOHNSON | 7/10 | 3.49 | TT Prize Pack |
6 | Glen STURROCK | 7/10 | 3.23 | Fishtec Solutions Prize Pack |
7 | Mathew CAMERON | 7/10 | 3.12 | Damiki/Pontoon 21 Prizepack |
8 | Wayne BLUNDELL | 7/10 | 2.99 | Austackle Prizepack |
9 | Grayson FONG | 6/10 | 2.94 | Ecogear Prizepack |
10 | Ashley BRYANT | 7/10 | 2.80 | Tonic Prizepack |