The third round of the 2018 Getaway Outdoors & Hobie Polarized WA Bream Classic Boat Series brought to you by Gosen got underway with a relatively small field of 19 teams heading out to tackle the Swan River’s iconic Black Bream. The river has only just started to settle after a period of persistent rain throughout a winter which seemed like it was never going to end. In that time while many of us are indoors and out of the nasty weather, the bream were busy fattening up as they are drawing ever so close to spawning. This meant that the teams who managed to find the fish were going to find them in a big way and the results at the pointy end most certainly reflected that.
Making the most of these spring time opportunities was Tom Harders and Joseph Gardner from Team Herring who put together a fantastic bag of fish that tipped the scales to 3.47 kg to earn them their maiden win. The two anglers actually began fishing while the majority of the field was still passing by and the sounds of boats passing by most definitely didn’t turn off the bream. They got off to a fantastic start with a decent fish coming off one of their first casts. The early morning action didn’t stop there and by peppering shallow snags with Ecogearaqua Bream Prawns they were able to put together much of their 3.47 kg bag before some anglers even started fishing. Another decent bream was caught later on in the morning but after that the a
ction dried up for the pair. The two anglers used JML perfection rods matched with Daiwa 2500 Luvias and Exist reels. Spooled on each of their reels was 11lb Yamatoyo Jigging braid and connected to the ends of their braided lines was Yamatoya 6lb Harris Fighter fluorocarbon line.
Hot on their heels and falling 70 grams short of the winning team was Alex Greisdorf and Jack Dawson from Team Lowrance/TackleTactics who weighed in full bag at 3.4 kg’s. The two fished Zman TRD Craws and Cranka Crabs amongst deep snags and yacht clubs in order to compile their bag. Their day wasn’t going exactly as well as they hoped for so a late decision to head to a yacht club made all the difference. Throwing the Cranka Crabs amongst the boat hulls and pylons, it was almost a fish a cast and due to a number of late upgrades they almost pinched the victory from Team Herring. The two anglers used Duff
rods and Atomic rods matched with 2500 Daiwa Certate and Exist reels. Their reels were spooled with Gosen and Evo8 braid along with 3 and 4lb Sunline FC Rock fluorocarbon leaders that was
tied to their braid.
Rounding off the top three podium with another very respectable bag was Matthew Jeffery and Brenton Madaus from team The Lure Pro with a full bag limit of 3.060 kg’s. Matthew and Brenton fished snags and drop offs along the Canning River and by throwing
Yamamoto stick baits, Samaki Boombaits and Duo Bivvy Vibes they were able to bag out quickly in the morning and gradually make upgrades throughout the day. The most effective lure was the Yamamoto stick bait which they would then let it sink to the bottom and with their rod they would quickly lift the lure vertically into the middle of the water column before letting it sink back down. . Matthew and Brentons rods of choice that did the damage for them was a 6’6 2-4 kg Daiwa Pinster and a 6ft 2-4 kilo Nitro Vapour. On the Daiwa Pi
nster, Matthew used a Shimano 2500 Sahara and Brenton used a Stella 1000 FI on his Nitro Vapour. Spooled onto their reels was 12lb
Gosen Casting braid and 6lb Daiwa J-braid.
In an event where many big fish were caught there is always one bream that sets itself apart from the rest and Kim McIntyre’s 43cm bream was just that. This donkey weighed 1.250 kilos and was caught on a 2.5-inch Motor Oil Zman Grub. The fish smacked the lure with force, resulting in Kim’s 1/16th Jim Allen Jighead to be firmly embedded into the bream’s mouth before a frantic fight unravelled. Kim wound like mad on the reel to stop this fish from getting back under cover and busting him off which he did to great effect.
Ok,so that wraps it up for the qualification rounds in this year’s WA Bream Classic Boat Series. Congratulations to everyone who managed to qualify for the grand final and if you weren’t so lucky this year then we hope to see you back next year to give it another crack.
