Thank you for joining us as an observer at the 2025 Crushcity Bass Australian Open, we are all looking forward to a great event.
Here’s some information to help you prepare to be a part of the event:
Event contact phone: Nicholle Smith, 0427 267 545.
EVENT DETAILS:
- Boater Only
- 2 Tournament Days (Saturday / Sunday)
- Tournament Session 7am – 2pm each day
- You will be paired with your boater on the morning of the event.
- The event will be awarded via the LIVE app length/weight scoreboard. Anglers will cross check results at the conclusion of the session.
START / FINISH LOCATION
- SATURDAY:
- All boats will start from Corcoran Park (Kirchner St, Grafton NSW 2460)
- Please be at the start location by 5:30am
- SUNDAY:
- All boats will start from Corcoran Park (Kirchner St, Grafton NSW 2460)
- Please be at the start location by 5:30am
- Event start locations will be: Corcoran Park (Kirchner St, Grafton NSW 2460)
- The final presentation will at Corcoran Park (Kirchner St, Grafton NSW 2460) at aprox. 2pm on Sunday afternoon.
Here’s the google map to assist with directions to the site:
WHAT TO BRING:
- PFD
- Umbrella
- Food / Drinks / Water
- Rain Jacket / Pants
- Jumper
- Hat
- Phone / Filming Device
OBSERVER DO’S
- Be good company for your boater
- Collect lots of photos and video of your boater in action – see item below about collecting footage
- Monitor your boater to ensure they aren’t breaking any no-fishing zone / speeding rules. Certain areas are off-limits to fishing and speed limits apply in some areas. You can view the arena map at any time via the following link, this google map will put a red pin where your boater is at the time. If you find your boater is fishing in a no-fishing area, please screen shot and message through to ABT.
- You can talk about your boater’s fishing – see note on this under Observer Do Not’s.
- You can assist with moving the boat in the event that your safety is at risk.
OBSERVER DO NOT’S:
- Assist your boater with anything fishing related – including handing fishing gear; netting fish; tying on lures etc
- Talk about your fishing with your boater – including talking about what you would use if you were fishing on the day; your past fishing experiences on the arena; anything you’ve heard about fishing the arena.
COLLECTING FOOTAGE:
- We love as many video clips of your boater in action as we can get – this makes for great highlights during and post the event.
- You can upload footage direct to our Dropbox – during the event each day’s folder will have a folder for each of your boaters and you can add footage directly into this folder (if you’re tech-savy). This is our preferred way to receive the footage and it means the best quality footage will come through. Here’s the folder link:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/28nykwyqsz1r7xk0i1v0r/ABamgNiAY6GhyLdYB7cgmOA?rlkey=fax888crdozy78mb9pah8iecm&st=u4i4twa9&dl=0 - If Dropbox isn’t quite your thing, you can send footage direct via the app WhatsApp (available in the apple and googleplay stores). This is a free messaging app, and we have found it does a good job of preserving the quality of the footage. The phone number to send WhatsApp messages to is: Nicholle Smith, 0427 267 545.
- You can text photos anytime to Nicholle’s number.
- When videoing your angler, the only footage we can use is when it’s filmed holding the phone in landscape mode (sideways) – refer to the below image.
- We are running a live show both days of the event between 10:30am and 12:30pm. You’ll be able to tune into it on the ABT facebook and YouTube channels during the event. We are requesting an update from your boater to be sent through by 9:30am to be a part of this show. You can send this via WhatsApp. You’ll recieve a text message reminder about this one around 9:00am. This doesn’t have to be a long update – 15 to 30 seconds is great.
If they are stuck for something to say, a general script could be:
Hi [angler’s name] here. So far today I have X number of fish in the well. I’ve started the day focusing on [type of fishing eg: boat hulls, shallow water, rocky banks]. My plan for the rest of the session is to ……..
This update along with a fish catch video sent through makes for some great content to include in the show and gives our hosts something to talk about.
Click here to view a sample of the type of coverage we are aiming to do at this event taken from this year’s BREAM Australian Open on Sydney Harbour. - Observers that contribute to the event coverage by submitting video catches of their boater will be given a thank you pack thanks to the team from Rapala.
If you have any questions at any time, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Nicholle Smith on 0427 267 545.