Costa BREAM Grand Final (2-4th December)

Posted By admin on Dec 1, 2016

Kime climbs to the top

South coast breamer Grant Kime has secured a wire-to-wire win on his home water to victory in 2016 Costa BREAM Grand Final. A firm favourite leading into the event Kime never wilted under the pressure, holding a talented field of anglers at bay to become the new champ and the proud owner of a new $50,0000 Basscat Margay/Mercury Pro XS 115hp bream package.

With a deep reserve of locations to call upon Kime hit the deep water near the island on the eastern side of The Basin to fill his bag on day one. A location he was confident would produce a limit, and produce a limit relatively easily.

“We fished in behind the island in 18-20 feet of water. It’s a reliable place to fill your bag”, explained Kime.

Throwing Ecogear VX35 and 40 blades in colour 439 Kime’s retrieve involved sinking the blade to the bottom then worked it what he describes as a ‘bottom hugging hop’.

“The fish sit tight to the bottom here so you need to keep your blade close to the bottom and not lift it too high when you’re working it. I fish it by giving the lure a series of short sharp lifts so it stays in their face”, explained Kime.

The approach delivered him a limit by 7.30am. With his focus now to find upgrades Kime fished a mixture of the others spots, both shallow and deep, and through his beloved Juro Firebait Longtail Minnows. Two kilo plus upgrade fish resulted, and has his bag of his fish hit the weigh-in stage scales he asserted his dominance on the event weighing in a 4.26kg limit to grab the lead heading into day two.

One of the favourites leading into the event Kime lived up to his predicted performance, and had a 700 gram lead over good friend, and fellow event favourite, Mark Crompton.

“Kimey was also going to be a contender and on day one he showed what he was capable of on The Basin”, explained Crompton.

After a successful day in the deep on day one Kime headed straight to the deep on day two and in less than an hour he had his limit.

“They were on the chew straight away. So once I has my bag I moved shallow to see if I could catch upgrades”, explained Kime.

With the conditions too calm and no upgrades to show for his efforts he switched back to the deep, moving back to the shallows on occasion in search of the big bite.

“I managed to get one upgrade in the shallows, but that was it. I couldn’t get the bigger fish to eat. It was too calm for them to fire up”, explained Kime.

Kime caught the majority of his fish for the day in the deep on an Ecogear VX40 blade, and weighed a 3.13kg limit to maintain his 700 gram lead over Crompton.

Back to the deep on the 3^rd and final day Kime and his partner for the day, leading nonboater Simon Johnson, didn’t have to wait long to get in on the action and in the first 20 minutes he had four fish in the well.

“It was the start that I was looking for. The Basin however made me wait for that 5^th though. We couldn’t get the last one in the deep so we hit the shallows behind the island but it was too calm and there was no bait, life, or bream about”, explained Kime.

He cut his loses in the shallows and returned to the deep on the western side of the lake but for no results.

“I knew the 5^th fish wasn’t too far away, and I knew it would more than likely come once the wind started to blow”, explained Kime.

The wind starting to increase around 9am Kime saw his cue and moved to Bonita Point, a shallow weed lined location that has produced fish for him over many years. His timing couldn’t have been better and in less than ten minutes he had fish number five.

The paired hooked up on two more upgrades not long after, Johnson losing his to a crushed hook and Kime losing his to a failed leader knot.

“You don’t always get many chances to win in a tournament, and when they come you need to take them. I thought I’d blown my chance there”, explained Kime.

There was more to follow however with Kime not long after picking up two important upgrades. The lure that did the damage was a Juro Firebaits Longtail Minnow rigged on TT HWS jighead.

“I’ve been using the Firebaits for years and nothing comes close to it when your looking for a lure that you can work to replicate a skipping prawn”, explained Kime.

Kime’s presentation of the Firebait involves a long down-wind cast towards the weed. The lure then skips as it lands and gently slides into the water like a gliding prawn. He then retrieves the lure wire a slow cranking retrieve with an occasional twitch mixed in.

With five in the well, and two upgrades to help boost the weight of his bag Kime unfortunately was unable able to add to it after his initial flurry of activity in the shallows.

Heading back to the weigh-in he was content with what he had albeit a little apprehensive about Crompton making a late charge in the tournament and day two’s mover and shaker Brad Hodges continuing his upswing.

The last angler to hit the stage Kime needed 2.52kg to win. But as his limit hit the scales and the display ticked past to 2.52 to finally rest at 2.86 his concerns quickly vanished to crown him as the 2016 Costa BREAM Grand Final Champion.

His victory saw the Costa BREAM Grand Final shield remain on the south coast of NSW and earned him the prize of $50,000 Basscat Margay/115 Mercury Pro XS tournament boat package.

Post victory Kime was acknowledge of the people that had help get him to this victorious moment, his wife and kids, his friends, and the welcoming and encouraging environment that is the ABT BREAM tournament scene.

Hodges Gulps for second

For Victorian BREAM veteran Brad Hodges it was nearly the Grand Final with a fairy tail ending, with the 36 year old School Teacher from Werribee in Melbourne jumping from 15^th to 3^rd, and finally to 2^nd to narrowly (340grams) miss victory in the biggest event on the Australia bream tournament calendar.

Starting day one fishing shallow edges, jetties and snags, Hodge soon moved deep once he knew the shallow bite wasn’t on.

“The edges looked good but the fish weren’t there. I saw and marked a 23-15 feet rise in deep water when I was moving between shallow spots so I headed back there to see of there was anything on it”, explained Hodge.

With his eyes firmly fixed to his Lowrance Hodge sounded fish on the bottom in 23 feet but as he moved shallower into 15 feet they vanished.

“You could see them at 23 but not catch them, you couldn’t see them at 15 but you could catch them”, explained Hodge.

Hodge fished to his strength throwing a 3” Berkley Gulp Nemesis in pumpkinseed, camo, and pearl watermelon, rigged on 1/12 and 1/16 Nitro jigheads and worked with a lift and drop retrieve. The approach paid off he weighed in a 2.69kg limit to be sitting in 15^th place at the end of day one.

Day two was moving day for Hodges and with two similar locations up his sleeve that he found on Insight Genesis the night before he was armed to a red hot day on the water.

Hitting his day one spot first thing he had his bag by 7.30am and was soon on the hunt for upgrades. He picked up an upgrade at 9am then hit a flat spot until late in the session.

“In the last 1 1/2 hours we picked up 37 and 38”, explained Hodges.

His late run boosted his bag, a bag that weighed 3.99kg and rocketed him up the scoreboard to be sitting in 3^rd place heading into the final day.

His 15 feet rise was his first port of call on the final morning and in an hour he had his limit.

“It was a great start, just kind you want on the final morning of a final”, explained Hodges.

He moved to his number one upgrade spot, but for no fish. He then headed back to his 15 feet rise and added three upgrades to his bag by 10am. He stayed there until 12pm adding the occasional upgrade. He had one in well though that he need to get rid of.

“We had one fish under 30 and I knew that I needed to upgrade it to be in with a shot to win”, explained Hodges.

Try as might he couldn’t get rid of it, and in the end his 3.23kg bag on the final day was 340grams short of running down event winner Grant Kime.

The tackle Hodges used to secure his highest place ever in a Grand Final, his previous being 6^th at the Mallacoota Grand Final in 2010 included an ABU Garcia Salty Stage Light Casting rod, ABU Garcia Revo MGX 20 reel, 4lb Berkley Fireline, 4lb Berkley Sensei fluorocarbon leader, and Berkley Gulp Nemesis and Jigging Shrimp.

Post event Hodges reaped praised on his nonboaters for the final.

“My three nonboaters, John Gales, Jesse Rotin, and Luke Slavin were integral to my result. I can’t thank them enough for their contribution and company over the three days”, explained Hodges.

Northcott nails victory

Clint Northcott secured a come from behind win to claim the Costa BREAM Grand Final Nonboater crown. Charging home from 6^th on the final day to win Northcott fished with on Chris Gates on day one, Grant Manusu on day two, and the big bream whisperer Anthony Thorpe on day three.

Day one saw Northcott fish start our fishing 15-18 feet of water near Bream Point throwing a mixture of ZMan Grubz and Berkley Jigging Shrimps.

“We fished 3-4 different spots throughout the day and made long searching casts then worked out lures back with a series of slow lifts, with the occasional twitch added in”, explained Northcott.

The day was a real grind it was until late in the session, at around 2.20pm that fish number fish was added to the well.

“We caught the 5^th near the channel markers leading into Sussex Inlet. It was a long wait to get our bag”, explained Northcott.

Northcott weighed in a 3.17kg limit to be sitting in equal 4^th place at the end of day one. Fishing with Grant Manusu on day two Northcott once again went deep to catch his fish, fishing a little deeper (20-25feet) than the day before.

“We fish Bream Point Erowal Bay with Gulp Shrimps and Nemesis and Squidgy Wrigglers, and just like the day before it wasn’t until late in the session (1pm) that we caught our limit”, explained Northcott.

Weighing in a 2.81kg limit for the day Northcott slipped to 6^th place, but was destined for big things on day three.

Paired with Anthony Thorpe for the final day Northcott started day three with lightning speed.

“I was still getting my lifejacket off and Thorpey had already made a cast and was hooked up to a fish”, explained Northcott.

Thorpe didn’t back off and the pair had three fish in the well before Clint caught his first fish for the morning, fish number four for their limit. Number five soon followed and by 7am they were upgrading.

“Things went quiet after the early flush and around 9.30/10am we moved shallow. I tied on an OSP Dunk and Thorpey started hitting the shallows with a Gulp Shrimp”, explained Northcott.

Their bite of the tournament soon followed with Thorpe catching a 1.92kg kicker fish to boost their bag into four kilo territory. The paired searched for more upgrades but to no avail.

Delivering a 4.03kg bag to the scales Northcott turned a 900 gram deficit into 320 gram winning margin to claim his maiden Costs BREAM Grand Final victory. The tackle he used to claim his victory included a G.Loomis TSR 862-2 rod, Shimano Twin Power reel, Sunline Castaway PE mainline, and 3lb Sunline V Hard leader.

ABT wishes to thanks all anglers, sponsors and staff for the 2016 Costa BREAM Series. For details on the 2017 season visit www.abt.org.au

Costa BREAM Series: Costa BREAM Grand Final Boater Results

Costa BREAM Series: Costa BREAM Grand Final NonBoater Results