# NSW 14/12 - 1.3m of Bream



## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

The recent publication of the ABT tournament schedule got me thinking. What kind of bag would it take to win, or even get on the board, if a heat was held at the Pondage? In actuality, I knew I could win with one of any size as a strategically parked Elgrand would keep all other competitors away. According to BigGee there is actually only one bream in the Pondage that has been trained to strike only at my specially scented (don't ask) 5 Inch Gulp Jerk Shad Crazy Legs in Chartreuse Pepper Neon though Pavlovian stimulation of various pleasure centres (again, don't ask). But laying truth aside for a moment, what would it take? It became the theme of yesterday's micro-mission.

Seabreeze told me to expect 15 knots from the NE. The leaves outside my window told me otherwise. The guy that strolled by as I was launching told me the almanac predicted midday to be the best bite for the month. The pondage conditions just told me to launch and soak up the Jurassic humidity and still silver skies. At 11am I did just that.










The shallows showed life that was absent during the 11 degree depths of winter. At 24 degrees the lake was sub-tropical. A completely different experience awaited me as I contemplated surface tactics in keeping with the alluring conditions.










However, by the time I'd made the 1.5km crossing, Seabreeze had proven more accurate than the trees outside my office window. The chop and associated body-sailing put paid to such finesse. The 5IGJSCLISPN was deployed. I headed for my normal starting location, including the large errors associated with triangulating with only one ordinate. Montague Island appeared above the dunes and my oversize plastic disappeared below the steadily increasing chop.

A few taps, a strike, a momentary hookup. This has become the typical opening stanza in my well rehearsed symphony. Many more taps and small runs hinted at undersized models, unworthy and incapable of inhaling my glowing yellow offering. An unusually sharp and enthusiastic strike led immediately to weightlessness. The tattered end of my 6lb leader hinted at the Tailor truth of the situation. I rapidly re-rigged with the last of my 1/0 jig heads. I hoped it was a loner.

Thiry minutes had now passed. If it were a tournament I would have been feeling the weight of my insecurities by then. But soon after, I felt a more worthy weight. Rapid headshakes indicated the Snapper that it wished it was. The warmer waters imparted more power and a more sustained fight that what I'd become used to. There were no blinding runs, no wasted energy. It merely kept its flank pointing toward me, maximising drag and minimising my gain as I turned the Adventure to follow. My mythical tournament mindset conjured adrenaline from my otherwise desensitised glands. It took off just before it was led to the net. A real tournament would have drawn cursing. My imaginary one merely drew concentration. It wasn't the half metre of muscle I craved, but at 44cm it was unlikely to be subjected to the indignity of an upgrade.










One down, two to go. The next would prove more frustrating. The wind had strengthened and swung to the SE, a direction not even contemplated by Seabreeeze. This is an impossible direction to hide from in the Pondage. The best I could do was work the drifts that the wind lined up for me. I headed to the northern shore to allow me to cast to the shallows that I swiftly swung by.

I was encouraged by interest from bream too feeble to ingest a plastic produced with Snapper in mind. The third drift resulted in a bent rod tip and a successful strike. For a moment it seemed undersized, but that was merely the interlude. These bream are used to ruling the roost and take some time to even contemplate that there could be something more powerful than themselves to ponder. But once they awake and turn on their significant tails, it's difficult to determine who's boss. This one didn't play fair. Trapped bow to shallows I had no room to manoeuvre as the wind powered me at slightly less speed than the berserker that came at me. The top tip told the sorry state of affairs as the bream ran under my hull. It was then that I realised that I'd forgotten to raise my Mirage fins to the underside of the hull. It was too late to do so. I would simply have trapped the braid. I could feel it rubbing through my feet. It wasn't long before the lure was transferred from mouth to fin. Bugger!

My tournament dreams were slipping away. The wind was now from the south driving me towards the northern shore. I had to once again change tack, heading for the deeper water near the two stick snag that Rstanek knows all too well. The drift was now too fast to cast ahead of. I had to resort to the less hallowed technique of casting into the wind and doing the lazy man's flick. At 3m depth, was in Flathead territory. But the Bream didn't know that. Still, it kept me guessing with a steady weighty fight that I thought could have been an oversized lizard. It was difficult to gain line, but I didn't lose any either. The warmer water indeed instilled more energy in these fish that I've come to know so well. I finally saw colour, and that colour was indeed black. It was a carbon copy of the first. It may have been slightly bigger, but to the errors associated with a lap laid brag mat it was again 44cm. Two down, one to go.


















The wind abated somewhat. I tried the same drift many times with little success. In the Pondage it pays to keep moving. But to where?

I returned to the northern shore, drifting parallel and close to the imaginary sanctuary boundary line. I cast at 90 degrees to the drift, attempting to hit the less weedy areas. The warmer temperatures have produced a rapid change in bottom structure, with weed and even sea grass proliferating, making much of my previous honey hole unfishable. I now search for visibly lighter areas and lack of sounder detail to try to keep clear of the lure encrusting slimes and blades with limited by sufficient success.

I saw a large model emerge from the pickers and monster the lure after the leader was through the guides. It missed the pointy bit, but it seemed as though it was the one more disappointed. It was of little concern to me as a few drifts later, the customary slight tap tap led to a heftier tug and a surface slicing run. The mirage fins were raised this time and I won the battle. At 42cm it was noticeably smaller, but the total of 130cm seemed somehow fitting.


















I could have fished longer. I'd been at it for only two hours or so, hardly a tournament day. But with the wind again strengthening and my passion waning, I decided to try a new area on the southern shore. By the time I'd battled the wind to get there, I was not in the mood for the snot weed infestation I found. I headed back for the imaginary weigh in, my live well empty but my life points full. Would 1.3m of bream have been enough? I will never know. But that, I think, is the way it should be.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

The power of the 5IGJSCLISPN is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Smashing it pondage style Ado. That bag had to >4kg


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## jonnyc (Mar 1, 2011)

r u frikn kidding me lol
l now I've seen it all.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWYnNTOwAAAvXgEAQYAEoABQAD+HeACAASIptpRkwaaTyQp6gNDIA0SSAoaWD+cM9eo3ixIcUWC3dOTV2AYCer0IzWPlEjmocRkGDA+LuSKcKEhE5qZ2A


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## JRF1973 (Dec 7, 2012)

Wow !


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Great fish Ado - and love the 5IGJSCLICPN. Have you tried to tempt flounder with it ? Just thinkn.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Ado just utopian results for the trip.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I despise bream and scoff at those who catch them and post trip reports as if they've done something special.

...then I see posts like this and am jealous!


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

Like BB generally have no interest in bream, but see a bag like that and you help but be swayed a little.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

God I love your reports!


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## scoman (Oct 4, 2010)

indiedog said:


> Pfffft. Bream. Who cares. But those snapper you are catching are pretty spesh Ado.


Agree, I would be over the moon with a snapper that size


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

scoman said:


> indiedog said:
> 
> 
> > Pfffft. Bream. Who cares. But those snapper you are catching are pretty spesh Ado.
> ...


So would I.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

patwah said:


> Unit


Metres



RedPhoenix said:


> The hunt for the unicorn continues....


Apt desciption because, if I succeed, it will give me the horn.



BigGee said:


> Congratulations on a great day's fishing Ado.


Good, not great. 50cm would be great, 1m of flathead would be great. 40+cm Bream? Meh.



solatree said:


> love the 5IGJSCLICPN. Have you tried to tempt flounder with it ?


To mate with it? Crazy Flaps?



eric said:


> I look at that plastic and think not in a million years....


Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Only Gee has given it a serious crack. Everyone else is in denial. You know you want to ....



BigGee said:


> The things look great in the water.


Indeed. I'd like to try the 3" but they are hard to track down.



Barrabundy said:


> I despise bream and scoff at those who catch them and post trip reports as if they've done something special.
> ...then I see posts like this and am jealous!


Not special any more. I'm trying to move on. I caught 6 undersized Flathead in mummuga the other day. Xavier netted one. That was fun!



indiedog said:


> God I love your reports!


I don't think he's bought a yak yet, and one fish is all he's ever needed.



indiedog said:


> Pfffft. Bream. Who cares. But those snapper you are catching are pretty spesh Ado.


.
I think I need to borrow Fiddy's air brush.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

:shock:

Amazing Ado
I have those lures in nuclear chicken colour and I've intended to use them for sea bass for the last couple of years
Nice more proof that's probably a good idea


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## Darwin (Jul 25, 2008)

OMG! That's the biggest Bream I have ever seen. How old the fish it can be?

Cheers
Darwin

omg


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

Darwin said:


> OMG! That's the biggest Bream I have ever seen.


You missed these then?  
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=609090#p609090
http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=580304#p580304


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## honb (Mar 8, 2011)

Always love reading your reports, Ado. Whether you're bringing home a doughnut or a stonker they're always an entertaining read.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Saw 'bream' in the title and didn't bother having a look, but the thread was a constant on my 'new post' searches and i couldn't resist any further. Glad I had a look, they are some very serious fish, I expect they won't be there comp day because they are bastards.

There is room for improvement though, imagine using one of those 5IGJSCLISPN's down there in a more natural poo brown colour.

Kev


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

The writer striker returns, with yet another legendary report of snapper sized poo eaters.

Ripper Ado!

trev


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Nice fish Ado, the big question is not can you catch fish but can you catch those fish with 50 other kayakers surrounding you playing with your mind as they catch huge fish and you know another one has left the lake and wont bite that weekend that is the challenge.

two things allways happen at comps someone donuts and someone catchs a horse, but if you think your getting good fish so is someone else :twisted:

btw they changed the pondage for lake Tyers

Cheers Hedgy


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I agree JC. I don't think I'd stand a chance against you, Squidder and the like. I'd just be interested to see if you could break a 3 fish bag size comp record. I think 6kg would be lucky to get you in the top 5.


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Everyone stands a chance mate, im not that good i just practice,(Stewie might be but im not lol) its just about getting in an giving it a go, you will find 6kg would be an awesome 6 fish bag in a comp anywhere, that many people trying to catch the same fish means its a numbers game an being able to temp those big fellas out when there plenty of noise and fisho's everywhere


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I'm talking 6kg as a three fish bag.


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## Sibbo (Aug 11, 2012)

Ado said:


> I'm talking 6kg as a three fish bag.


Is that hat of yours too tight! ;-)

You have enjoyed the luxury of 40cm + (or a mere 47.5cm) bream on a regular basis too long. Seriously 47.5cm :shock:


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## badmotorfinger (Mar 15, 2010)

Righto, next challenge is dugong on dry fly.


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

"I'm talking 6kg as a three fish bag."

There big Ado there not that big lol

Without a ruler I would say 4-5 kg there mate


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I don't think these fish were that big. I think Squidder was about right at 4kg+ for these three. I just think there are plenty in there that are over 2kg. Those with the right skillz could bag out with three of them over a full day. Three 47+ would have to come close to 6kg.


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

This is just getting freakish


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

I've just replaced my $35 2-4kg rod with a new one - that cost me $25 at K-Mart.
Another nice solid glass tip, but this one still has the ceramic inserts in the guides.
No stopping me now that I have some serious equipment.


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

You would slay them on your telescopic.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

koich said:


> You would slay them on your telescopic.


It's only caught 500 trout. It has at least another 500 in it. Too valuable to risk high sticking.


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