SBS Grand Final 2016

SBS 2016 Grand Final Day 1 of the Southern Bream series was held from Greenwell Point on the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven Rivers. This leg was always going to be tough as this river system is renowned for fishing tough. As we finished the year in 3rd for team of the year, we started in that position for the first day. We headed the canal and fished the rocky edges of the river. Plenty of snags and a couple Flathead were caught on the first drift but no Bream. We headed a bit further up on the wall and I landed a just undersize Bream. Bummer. We fished the other side of the canal as the tide changed and once again, only managed Flathead. At this stage the Southerly wind picked up and had the boat drifting against the current which made for very difficult fishing. We headed downstream to fish some sunken trees on the river’s edge. Once again Flathead central. We drifted with the current and the wind from Greenwell Point to the canal casting at the edge the whole way. I got lucky and eventually landed a legal bream (263mm) off a sunken rock wall and you guessed it...more Flathead. We shot up to fish some racks that have served us well in the past but once again, Flathead, although we both busted off on a couple of fish which may have been Bream. I guess we will never know. At this stage we were feeling pretty sorry for ourselves as the lack of fish and the freezing wind battered us down. Back to the weigh in and is was refreshing to see most teams had struggled. We weighed our 1 fish for 0.250kg (the smallest bag of the day) and it landed us in 19th position going into day 2. Day 2 was to be held on St Georges Basin. This was going to be an all or nothing day for Terry and myself with nothing to lose. We headed down to the back of one of the western bays only to bust off on the first fish hooked for the day (another one of those days maybe). It seemed to take forever to finally crack our first legal which was caught by Terry using a blade in 2m of water. We persisted in this area for a while longer but to no avail so a move was in order. With the forecast for strong NE winds, we headed to some northern shore waiting for it to hit. I caught another 2 legals at this spot and then the winds hit. We headed to a large weedbed at One Tree bay were the full effects of the wind was felt. It wasn’t long before Terry then put number 4 in the well and I followed with number 5 soon after. We persisted for a while longer for nothing more so we decided to head to a more sheltered bay as the forecast was for the winds to gain strength throughout the day. I landed another couple of Legals on both Plastics and shallow running hard body lures with a couple of extra fish lost. Time was getting away so we did one more move to a weed bed at paradise Beach which had the wind blowing right along it. I soon came up tight to another Bream which after a fairly intense fight on 2lb straight through, was netted and the realization of the quality fish hit. Time to head back to the weigh in and our bag pulled the scales down to 3.800kg (heaviest bag of the tournament) giving a 2 day total of 4.05kg which placed us 3rd for the weekend. I also snagged big Bream with the last one landed weighing 1.38kg. It’s amazing the ups and downs of tournament fishing with the struggle of day 1 to a quality bag of day 2. By no means were either day easy but day 2 certainly was a stand out as one of the most productive sessions we have had this year. So that concludes 2016 tournament Season for Terry and Myself. A huge thanks to Shimano for the support throughout the tournament season.