# Wilderness Systems - Straddie Challenge. The Report



## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

I had a great weekend. I was actually surprised to see how many people were loading up their kayaks at 7am in the morning. Everyone was keen! Of course I left something behind, as everyone does hey Chris. Only for me it was my esky with sausages and beer in it, oh well I had some snacks and didn't really need alcohol for the night so all was good.

Here's a pic of Clarkey and his mate ready to Paddle across










Jen and I were waiting for Chris to pack his yak for like 45 mins and then he comes down and says I have forgotten all my jigheads and SP's so I have to go home so we headed off for North Curridgee. Here's a pic of Jen all loaded ready to go.










So we set up camp and said hello to everyone we knew and before long it was time to head off in the hope of catching a few. It was a bit windy for the Sat arvo session but we all managed to huddle into the small bay there so our comp organisers and sponsors could get a pic of the 45 or so yaks on the water. Here's my effort.










So off we went in search of fish. Everyone one with the highest of hopes of landing that big one. Yeah right. To say the first session was tough was an understatement. The bream guys went off and paddled/pedalled over to the marinas some others went south while my guide for the weekend told me to go north and behind some island for some shelter. Well about 15 other yakkers had the same idea but there was plenty of water to play in but the fish were harder to come by. I managed to snag a small one after about 2 hours but he was undersize so no points. I tried everything on the Saturday. Starter with a few different soft plastics, worked my way up to a Cotton Cordell Rattlin Spot then onto a Tranzam, even tried a Gold bomber looking for the big flathead like I caught on a recent trip to Ayr. No luck unfortunately and the weed was annoying also. So while searching through my tackle box I found a lure not normally used in the salt and thought bugger it why not, nothing else is working. Third cast in, woohoo! I'm on the board.










Caught on a..............................................spinnerbait. 52cms of Flathead. Quick photo and release and I was happy although I got no more action for the day.

That night we sat around the campfire talking crap as per usual and then Jen starting singing some Meatloaf. I hate Meatloaf, luckily she was shut down soon after by the fun police and we all went to bed.

Up at 5 the next morning. Got some firewood and started the fire for some warmth before heading out at 6. Let's just say that there were not many people chompin at the bit to get out in the chilly temperature.

I decided that I would head back to where I caught my fish yesterday. My reasoning was I know there are fish there and no-one else had any luck there so they would all probably go somewhere else. I was right I had the whole place to myself all morning. An outgoing tide and the breeze blowing in the opposite direction I could just sit at the mouth of the bay in the one spot and just cast around me. Then move 20 metres and repeat the process. It payed off after about an hour and I managed a nice 58cm flathead on my Cotton Cordell Rattlin Spot.










and another about 30mins later that went 50cm










I had a cranking headache from glaring into the sun all morning so by 8am so I called it quits and started my paddle back. On the way back I spooked a few flathead in the shallows so thought I'd have a few casts. First cast I had a flathead eat my lure and it just let me wind it in until it got about 5 metres from the yak. It turned, shook it's head, looked at me again and then just spat the lure out. Arrrgh it was a good sized big one. One that I would have had to release even if I wanted to keep it. Bugger!!

Then my day really turned to crap when I realised that where I had paddled this morning had no water in it now so rather than opting to paddle all the way around I foolishly made the decision to walk/crawl through the mud for about 500 metres. It took me almost an hour and by the time I got out I was so exhausted I was dry reaching and my head was thumping. Thankfully some one helped me carry my yak across the last bit of sand and then I collapsed on the beach with exhaustion for about 5 minutes before making the 5 minute paddle back to the campsite.

And that was the end of the comp. I ended up with 3 flatties and 32 points which put me in equal 8th place I think.

Thanks to all the organisers and sponsors and I can't wait to be back there again for the next one!


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## scoman (Oct 4, 2010)

What a great weekend and some nice flat chaps. Love the fact you caught flats on spinnerbaits. I haven't landed one on a spinner before but have tried a couple of times and can't see why it wouldn't work.

I was keen for this trip but family duties held me back once again. I am however planning on something similar first week in July. Haven't fished that area before but am keen to try.

Who won the yak??


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## Craig (Aug 10, 2007)

Trip Report (by Craig, Adventure Outlet)

On a beautiful May weekend 43 kayak fisho's converged on South Stradbroke Island for the Inaugural "Wilderness Systems Kayak Fishing - Straddie Challenge. Participants loaded up their kayaks with fishing & camping gear and set off on the 30 minute leisurely paddle across the Gold Coast Broadwater.
















Over lunch, on the Saturday, we were all treated to a talk by Eco-Gear sponsored fisherman, Liam Fitzpatrick. In the afternoon the 40+ field charged out onto the Broadwater and spread in all directions. Some headed closer to the Seaway, some to Crab Island and the surrounding flats were also popular. Others headed north for the protected waters and mangroves on the inside of Brown Island, while others sort out the rock walls, pontoons and bridge pylons of Sovereign & Ephraim Islands.


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## Craig (Aug 10, 2007)

Saturday night was spent around the camp fire with some of Liam & Jen's karaoke going late into the night. The leader, after the first session, was young Aaron Walker on 52 points closely followed by Liam and Richard Orchard, both on 50 points.



















































Sunday morning saw some paddlers hitting the water at 6 am, others struggled out of bed quite a bit later than that.


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## Craig (Aug 10, 2007)

By 10am paddlers returned for the final weigh in's&#8230;&#8230;congratulations goes to Aaron who managed to upgrade 3 of his fish from the first session and took out Overall Champion on 62 points. The late charge came from Clarky who was able to add 2 more scoring fish to his 3 from the previous day and took out the runner-up prize finishing on 56 points.









The top 10 and Biggest Fish awards were as follows:
Overall Champion Aaron Walker 62 points
Runner Up Scott Clarke 56 points
3rd Liam Fitzpatrick	52 points
4th Richard Orchard 50 points
5th Greg Pratt 44 points
6th Bill Hossack 43 points
7th Paul Atkinson 35 points
8th Wayne Dunkley 32 points
8th Travis Walker 32 points
10th Kristian Martin 25 points























Big Bream 37cm Travis Walker
Big Flathead 59cm Wayne Dunkley
Big Whiting 37cm Paul Atkinson
Big Tailor 45cm Scott Clarke
Big Trevally 39.5cm Aaron Walker
Big Jew 44.5cm Liam Fitzpatrick





































Kristian Martin borrowed a kayak to participate in the Straddie Challenge weekend. After having a great time, and catching a few fish, he was extremely excited to take out the lucky door prize, a brand new Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120.


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## Craig (Aug 10, 2007)

Thanks to all our sponsors who helped make this event possible. Due to their wonderful support all participants were able to go home with a prize.
*Wilderness Systems* who put up a Tarpon 120, an AT paddle and an assortment of kayak accessories came on as the major sponsor of the event. 
*Sea to Summit* provided dry bags, phone cases, paddle leashes, PFD's & paddling gloves. 
*Mantra Kayaks* supplied a number of kayak stands.
*Barz Optics* - floating, Polaroid sunglasses.
*Fish Brain Lures* (by Brad Dicker) - hand crafted timber lures.
*Eco Gear* - lures & soft plastics

Thanks also to Christian from Wilderness Systems as well as Brad & Liam who helped out throughout the weekend.























Well that's it&#8230;..until next year. Thanks to all who participated and provided the great feedback at the end of the weekend. Please spread the word so that next year is only bigger & better. For those who missed the "Straddie Challenge" this year, pencil this in as a must-do weekend on your kayak fishing calendar next year.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

That looks like a great weekend with a top bunch of people. I've been out over the weekend catching tuna in the Gulf of Carpentaria and I'm a little jealous!


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Looked like a great weekend for all who attended, and well done Craig for for getting this inaugural event up and running.


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

Looks like a very successful gathering and good to see some familiar names getting amongst the fish.


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## tailortom (Oct 10, 2010)

Yip, fantastic weekend had by all, especially for one lucky bandicoot that got away with a decent feed from one unlucky tent...
Definitely keen for the next one...well done to Craig and Cristian for organising it all.

Well done Wayne for putting in a massive effort to catch his winning flathead....an hour of pulling the kayak through the low tide sand/mud, solid commitment!

Have attached a few of my pics of the w/e....i only manged a couple of flatties at 38 and 40 and a little schoolboy bream but still had a top weekend.


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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.

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