Carter Cleans Up for Coota for Win Number Seven
Mallacoota lived up to its reputation produced quality and quantity for anglers at the second stop of the 2013 143 Fishing BREAM Series.
In an event that saw a new all-time record (927 fish) number of bream weighed in, it was a battle of Australia’s best breamers to see who could garner the big bites to win, with 2013 BREAM Angler of the Year, Warren Carter, claiming his 7th BREAM win for his career in the Spotters Sunglasses presented event.
For Carter it was perfectly played out and executed tournament, with the AOY champ cracking the winning pattern during the Friday prefish then putting the winning pattern in to play over the next two days.
Carter’s winning location was Double Creek, an unassuming area located above The Narrows that produced both numbers and sized fish. Featuring a muddy bottom and 2-7 feet deep water it was the water clarity in the area that Carter believes in many ways contributed to the bite.
“It was calm and glassed out for the event, which is rarely good at Coota, but at Double Creek there was just the right amount of colour in the water to make the fish bite,” explained Carter.
With the location and water clarity locked in for success Carter threw a combination of hardbodies, throwing an OSP Dunk, Smith Panish, and Smith Camion Dredge.
Day one saw the Dunk the standout lure with Carter working the lure into the bottom, bumping it through the mud as it went.
“It was important to give the lure an occasional twitch, then let it pause,” explained Carter.
The hits, as they usually do when targeting black bream, came on the pause.
The approach delivered Carter 25 fish for the day, a limit by 9.30am, and 12 upgrades for the day.
Day two sat Carter return to repeat his day one pattern, hopeful the outcome would be the same. Forty minutes into the session and still without his first session he was beginning to wonder if it would.
“It took a while for things to get going, but when it did they bit like they did on the first day,” explained Carter.
While the location he fished was the same he went shallower and threw a different lure.
“I threw two lures, a Smith Panish 65 that I worked with rip-pause retrieve, and a Smith Camion Dredge that I grubbed across the bottom,” explained Carter.
The approach delivering Carter his limit in ten casts after he caught his first fish, and enabled him to upgrade his entire bag.
While Carter caught plenty of fish for the tournament it wasn’t non-stop action for the whole session.
“I’d go for 40 minutes or so and not catch anything, then I’d find a patch of them and go bang, bang, bang”, explained Carter.
Carter’s win saw him claim his 7th ABT BREAM win and pick up some healthy Angler of the Year points after a quiet first round at Sydney.
“Clarence is next, so I’m hoping I get a good result there so I’m at least in the running at defending my AOY title from last year,” concluded Carter.
Hodges Hauls for Second
For perennial Victorian round gun Brad Hodges it was another quality performance at Mallacoota with the 33year old Werribee School Teacher finishing second to claim another podium finish.
Grabbing the lead on day one on the back of the tournament’s only five kilo bag Hodges stumbled on day two to open the door for Carter to claim the win. A missed opportunity that would deny Hodges another round win and see Carter now equal Chris Wright with the highest number of BREAM Qualifier wins.
Starting off at Gipps Point on day one Hodges found the going tough, then headed down to the top lakes after 1 ½ hours and hit a series of snags that had been productive to him in the past.
The approach paid off with Hodges picking up three fish to get his day rolling. Another two fish followed on blades, but it wasn’t until he moved to the edges and started through a Berkley Puppy Dog crankbait in to the shaded patches on the edge that the action really started.
With his boat in 1 ½ metres of water Hodges would cast long then work his lure into the dark patches with a series of twitches and pauses. It was on the pause as the lure sat motionless that the bream nailed the lure. The approach delivered him seven upgrades for the day and saw him hit the scales with heaviest (5.14kg) bag for the session.
Heading out first on day two with a 500 gram lead Hodges was wishing for a repeat of day one’s action. Repeating his run of spots from day one Hodges started like he did the first day, catching little before making a move and fishing the middle of the top lake with a Berkley Sub Dog, then returning to his productive big fish edges from the day before.
“It was 12pm and I had little to show for the day so I headed to Double Creek and started throwing a cutdown Berkley Gulp Turtleback Worm rigged on a 1/12oz Nitro jighead,” explained Hodges.
The approach paid off with Hodge picking up five fish in a 20minute window. While Hodges caught his limit he didn’t catch the big fish he needed to hold on to his lead.
“I got the big fish bites I need to win, they just didn’t stick, and I didn’t put them in the boat,” explained an accepting Hodges.
Weighing in a 2.94kg limit for the day it was enough to hold him in the top three, an ultimately finish second.
Roberts Rules for Non-boater Win
2013 Non-boater AOY Champion Brad Roberts continued his winning ways at Mallacoota, claiming the non-boater title over Ben Malouf in 2nd and John Thorley in 3rd.
Fishing with Shane Dyason on day one Roberts fished the top lake throwing a Jackall Deep Chubby and OSP Dunk.
“We fished shallow before the sun got high, and as the light increased we moved deeper,” explained Roberts.
While the depth he fished varied so did the retrieve he used to fish his crankbaits.
“The bites were very tentative so I found you had to change the retrieve up to get the fish interested and willing to eat the lure,” explained Roberts.
The retrieve ranged from a slow roll to a slow and fast twitch and pause, and paid off with Roberts weighing in a 4.51kg bag for the session.
Fishing with Scott Bilton on day two Roberts starting fishing the location, but his hot start wasn’t to be repeated.
“Scott and I only had one fish each by 9.30am so we moved location and went and fished the bottom lake,” explained Roberts.
Fishing deeper (2 ½- 3 ½ metres) Roberts threw an Ecogear VX40 blade, focusing on the hump on the bottom in area and working his blade with a lift and drop retrieve.
“The fish would eat the blade on drop, and you’d either feel a tick of the line as it sank back down or you’d feel the weight of a fish as you went to lift the lure again,” explained Roberts.
The approach delivered him a limit by 11am, 12 fish for the session, and another victory to his growing list of tournament achievements.
Winning Tackle
Rod- Shimano T Curve Flight Series 701
Reel- Shimano Stella 2500
Line- Varivas Max Power 0.8 PE
Leader- Varivas Ganoa Absolute Fluro 4lb
Lure- OSP Dunk (colour-), Smith Panish 65 (colour-19), Smith Camion Dredge (colour-22)
Winning Ways
“The area that I fished has plenty of fish but it wasn’t very big. The fact that I had it to myself and wasn’t crowded out by other boats meant I could fish it thoroughly and exactly how I wanted. I’m incredibly appreciative that the guys gave me the space I needed to do this.”
Austackle Big Bream
Event runner-up Brad Hodges claimed the Austackle Big Bream, catching the prize winning fish at 12pm on day one from a laydown snag on a Berkley Puppy Dog.