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Flash Mobbs takes first win
  |  First Published: November 2013



Wade Mobbs, a 16-year-old student at St Paul’s Port Macquarie, has had a dream debut to his kayak BREAM career with victory at the Daiwa-Hobie Gold Coast Canals qualifier.

Mobbs (3/4, 2.03kg) targeted bream in Lake Intrepid using surface and subsurface presentations before reverting to plastics to find his third and final legal fish.

“I started in Lake Intrepid casting an Atomic Shad 38 Deep parallel to pontoons,” Mobbs said. “I kept the rod tip relatively high as I only wanted the lure swimming just beneath the surface. This technique accounted for my first fish which came around 8am. I then switched to a surface presentation using an Ecogear PX45, and half an hour later had my second fish.”

Mobbs then struggled for the next three hours, finding only undersize fish in the clear sunny conditions. Moving out into the main channel area of Mermaid Water canals, he switched up his technique to try to elicit further bites.

“I switched to a cut-down Gulp Craw rigged on a 1/28oz TT HWS size 1 jighead,” he said. “I cast to likely looking edges, rocky points and the bottom of submerged boat ramps. I continued to catch undersize fish, but off a rocky point I hooked and landed my third legal fish. A few more undersize fish came and went and I lost a possible fourth fish – but that’s fishing.”

“The action with the plastic was just to deadstick the lure and wait for a fish to pick it up and swim off with it. I concentrated on the line to see the tell-tale little tick that indicated a bite.”

At the weigh-in, Mobbs’ quality 3-fish bag always had him in contention, and ultimately he was able to seal the deal against a number of seasoned kayak anglers.

“It was great to fish well at this event,” he said. “My first bream kayak event has gone as well as possible and now I can look forward to the Grand Final later in the year. It is going to be an amazing challenge, but one I very much look forward to.”

Maas crabs his way to second

Stephen Maas (4/4, 1.95kg) used his experience and a new lure to secure second place. Maas also targeted fish in Lake Intrepid to fill his tournament limit.

“I went to the back of Lake Intrepid in order to find my fish,” he said. “I initially went with a confidence plastic, the 100mm Squidgy wriggler in bloodworm colour, and had a fish early off a pontoon.”

Maas then made a switch which ultimately had him challenging for the victory. Maas tied on a Cranka Crab and targeted the back posts of jetties in shallow water [1ft deep]. The bream quickly responded with three small fish falling to the lure straight away.

“Most of the bites came on the drop,” he said. “If no bites came, a slow winding retrieve put the lure into action and prompted any fish to come and investigate.

“This was the first time I have used the Cranka Crab, and my confidence just grew and grew as the session went on.”

Maas made a move back to the main channel area where the upgrades continued to follow.

“I caught an upgrade which was then followed by two more in succession,” he said. “I was using the Cranka Crab in tough country, skipping it into dark holes and managing to retrieve it with no issues. The snag resistance was amazing and allowed me to fish without altering my aggressive approach.”

Soo close, but no cigar

Kendall Soo (3/4, 1.81kg) finished in third place at the event. Soo’s 3-fish bag was anchored by a large bream that went on to take out the Boss Hog for the event. Lake Intrepid again proved to be the tournament hotspot, providing Soo with the fish to take a podium finish.

“I used a combination of lures including the 3” Gulp Craws, OSP Bent Minnows and 2” Gulp Crabby,” he said. “I had my first fish at 9am, second at 9.30am and final keeper at 10.30am. In all, six fish caught with three legals.”

Soo’s bream came from around pontoons and deeper water. With visibility heightened due to clear water and sunny conditions, the bream were especially flighty as the session wore on.

“The bream were visible on the flats and pontoons so stealth was the order of the day to get the bites on offer,” he said.

BIG BREAM

Kendall Soo took out the Boss Hog prize with a cracking specimen of 1.08kg. The bream fell to a Berkley 3” Craw in camo colour rigged on a 1/28oz jighead.

“The bream ate the lure on the drop in 2m of water,” he said. “It presented as dead weight with sporadic headshakes, so I initially called it for a flathead. Fortunately luck was on my side and I landed the kicker fish.”

Facts

Winner’s tackle

Rod: 7’0” 1-4kg Howler custom rod

Reel: Daiwa 2000 Freams reel

Line: 8lb SAS braid

Leader: 3lb Sunline FC Rock leader

Winning Notes

Adapting to the clear conditions, rotating through different lure presentations and persisting when the bites were hard to come by.

Facts

Kayak BREAM Series: Daiwa Hobie Gold Coast Angler Results

Place Angler FishWeight (kg)Payout
1Wade MOBBS3/42.03$400 + Prize Pack
2Stephen MAAS4/41.95$225 + Prize Pack
3Kendall SOO3/41.81$150 + Prize Pack, Boss Hog $100 (1.08kg)
4Steve CRAWLEY4/41.72$100 + Prize Pack
5Mathew CAMERON4/41.7$100 + Prize Pack
6Guy STRUTHERS4/41.66$90
7Justin DESMARCHELIER4/41.54$80
8Michael MAAS4/41.44$70
9Daniel KOPACZ4/41.38
10Tarrant Trent DROLLET4/41.36

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