Over the weekend of August 16-17, the host township for round 12 of the Hobie® Kayak Bream Series presented by Daiwa was the Queensland tourist haven of Mooloolaba, situated on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.

Mooloolaba’s river, estuary system and canals are teaming with yellowfin bream, making it a perfect location to showcase a Hobie Fishing Series tournament.

Unusually wet conditions for the Sunshine Coast tested the anglers on day one but around 50% of the competitors returned home with full bags of four bream, including upgrades.

Day two conditions were an improvement over the trying weather of Saturday with patchy light showers and some dark clouds surrounding the arena providing cover as the anglers crossed the Power-Pole starting line. By 10.30am however, the sky was a brilliant blue with glassy conditions on the water in the canals, around the marinas and the trawler wharfs.

Luke Rogan from Brisbane has been close to taking out Hobie Kayak Fishing Series rounds in the past but it was round 12 and his ability to adapt to the changing conditions that saw Luke take his first win.

Luke likes to fish Raby Bay Canal (in Morton Bay) and he believes that his experience with the similar artificial structure, like pontoons and canals, helped him to win at Mooloolaba.

“On the first day of the event it rained all day, it dirtied the water up a little bit, but it turned them on, the bite was happening and I probably caught 50 fish, all legal. But I could only get a couple that were big enough to keep all day so I just kept upgrading and upgrading the others”.

Luke’s original plan of attack on day one was to fish the Newport Canals, find the current and stay in that current away from the dirtiest water.

He used a Zip Bait Khamsin Tiny in mist wakasagi in the dirty water caused by the rain.

“I’m pretty good at casting but these lures just make me better, I can get them where I want under the pontoons.”

Luke was coming second at the end of day one with a 4/4 bag weighing in at 2.11kg trailing the leader Michael Halliday by 110g.

“Today I just went and found the clean water. As soon as I found that clean water it was the complete opposite, I’d gone from finding the dirty water yesterday to the clean water and that’s what did the trick today,” said Luke on his technique on day two.

Luke also changed the colour of his lure to a ghost ebi, to suit the differing day two water conditions.

Luke used a slow, steady retrieve for the lure, keeping the rod tip in tight and hard against the pontoons and slow winding it out. He left the lure about 1m out from the pontoon for a short while and attracted the fish out from under the structure. He paused, suspending the lure in the water then twitched it, which tended to make the fish aggressive and then they would eat it.

Luke finished the day with a 2.39kg bag giving him a two day overall bag weight of 4.5kg with 8/8 fish just 5g ahead of second place getter Tyson Hayes.

Luke qualified for the Grand Final last year and missed it due to the trip he goes on with his mates to Weipa each year. With the pre-planned trip to Weipa, clashing with the grand finals for the second year in a row, Luke now he has some serious talking to do with his mates.

Having taken third place in round 11, Tyson Hayes demonstrated he is a consistent performer finishing on the podium in two consecutive events. This time he took a step up to second place in one of the closest results seen since the inception of the Hobie Kayak Bream Series. However, Tyson was eventually beaten by a mere 5g.

Starting out using the very popular Atomic Shad 40mm hardbody in ghost gill brown to get smaller legal fish to fill his bag, Tyson then went on to use the new, yet to be released on the market, Crusty Z-Mann with a 1/16oz hidden weight jighead around the trawlers.

Tyson’s Day one bag weighed in at 1.88kg putting him in reach of the lead and he brought in the biggest bag on either day of the tournament with 2.615kg on day two. His overall total of 8/8 fish had a bag weight of 4.495kg with his biggest fish over the two days coming in on day two and weighing 895g.

Tyson qualified for the Hobie Kayak Bream Series Grand Final and was quick to say that he would be definitely heading across to Western Australia to compete in the championship event.

Once again we have to thank Mal and Trish Gray and Peter Budd from Sunstate Hobie (sunstatehobie.com.au) for providing dealer support to the competitors throughout the tournament and for supplying them with snack packs, drinks and a BBQ on both days.

Like all of the events in the Hobie Kayak Bream Series presented by Daiwa, the Mooloolaba round could not have gone ahead without the great support of our generous sponsors Daiwa, Berkley, Atomic, Lowrance, Rhino-Rack, Strike Pro, Austackle, TT Lures, Yamatoyo, Ecogear, Power-Pole, Hog’s Breath Café and ABT.

Rogan Catches Boss Hog Big Bream

A well as winning the tournament Luke Rogan also bagged the Hog’s Breath Café Boss Hog Big Bream cheque. He landed a nice 0.720kg bream on day one to lead the field with the biggest bream, but out did himself and all other anglers on day two with a tournament winning 1.025kg bag kicker.

Winning Tackle

• Rod: G-Loomis GLXR Dropshot

• Reel: Daiwa Steez 2508

• Lure: Zip Bait Khamsin Tiny in Mist Wakasagi and Ghost Ebi colour

• Line: 6lb Unitika Silver Thread straight through.

Winning Edge

Luke learnt from the experience of losing too many big fish on light line and found the 6lb straight through was the winning edge he needed on the day. He landed every fish he hooked on Sunday, including his Hog’s Breath Café Boss Hog Big Bream.

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