ABT Rd 1 - Mallacoota Inlet

Round 1 of the ABT was held at Mallacoota Inlet over the weekend of the 18th & 19th February 2017. Prefish was on Friday 17th February. The day started for me at 2am when I hooked the boat on and drove the 4.5hr trip down the coast. A quick stop at the Mallacoota Bakery for a coffee and a sausage roll before heading out for my prefish. First run was to Goodwin Sands where I saw plenty of fish moving in the clear water. Not wanting to hook them, I was using a long cast with a Squidgy Dusk Lobby rigged on a 1/40th hidden weight jig head. I would skip the plastic across the surface and watch intently to see if a Bream would follow. Sure enough, a group of about 10 followed my presentation so I quickly ripped it out of their zone....only to have one of the better models grab it as it landed a couple of meters ahead. A quick battle and a nice Black Bream slid into the net. Time to move...... Into a secluded bay, I ventured to the back to fish a muddy flat......a few casts in and my companion have a nice kilo model to the boat.....before I could say much he had another cast and a fish of a similar size found its way to the net.....Time to move.....he had another cast and you wouldn't believe it, another fish of a similar size. That was it..I started the main motor before he had a chance to get another cast in.Heading up to the top lake, I fished deeper with both plastics and hard bodies for a few fish....noticeably smaller than the fish caught at the bottom lake. A plan was made as I headed back to find the accommodation, re rig and ready myself for the briefing. Word at the briefing was that a lot of guys from the 61 strong field struggled, so a feeling of confidence of at least catching a few fish grew. Early to bed and up early for day 1. Starting in 36th place, I had a weigh in time of 2:40pm. I headed to Goodwin Sands for my first spot and it wasn't long before I had my first legal in the livewell.......ahhhh, monkey off my back. Number 2 was soon to follow before I had reached the edge of the weed. Confident that the fish were here but the size was certainly down from the previous day. I pushed shallower on the flats as the light breeze blew hard enough for a slight ripple. Another in the well then they shut down. Moving to where the bigger fish came for the day before, it seemed alot of guys must have found fish there as we went in, 3 boats came out.... Non the less, I had a plan and i was sticking to my guns. No fish off the preferred bank so I moved to the other side and fished a broken reef which was half in the water. Got a bite and lost it after a short run,point of hook bent over. Re rig and another few cast when I came up tight again.... pulled hook. This happened again in no time so a few deep breaths were required. Moving along the bank I started fishing deeper with a Squidgy wriggler in Bloodworm. Number 4 in the well in no time but that was it. Move up to the top lake and the fish I had found in the deeper areas had shut down. Waiting for the wind to come, I headed to the dead mans to get my 5th and my last legal for the day. Heading back to the weigh in, it seemed it had been tough for everyone and small fish was the order of the day for all but a couple of guys. My bag, which consisted of 3 Black Bream and 2 Yellowfin Bream weigh 2.6kg which moved me into 14th position....who would have thought. Day 2 and I headed to the Sands. This time the wind was blowing from the North west so I was fishing them opposite to the two previous days. No bait, and little movement I was starting to second guess my decision. Once I had reached the halfway point and not a bite my mind was racing, should I move? where to? do i stay?.... One long cast and 'clunk' a nice Black Bream snapped me out of my daze and my first for the day was boated. Still alot quieter than the previous couple of days. I reached the weedbed and continued along for about 50m or so. Here I changed to the wriggler again and boated #2 and #3. Both small Yellowfin Bream. Time to move, I headed to the back of the bay again and worked the mud flat at the back, here my non boated boated his first fish for the day so the confidence was high to get another. Small whiting after small Whiting was all i could muster so I headed back to fish the edge that produced the day before. Another legal Black but that was all other than a few dusky Flathead bycatch. Based on the performance of the Top Lake the previous day, I decided to finish the day on the Sands. There was wind predicted so It had every opportunity to fire.Heading back to where we had started that morning, it was glassed off. No movement and hardly any bait. I had 4 in the well and my non boater had 1.working our way to the edge of the weedbed again, i soon managed my 5th, another Black. Bag weight looked smaller than the previous day and about 2 hours left to fish. Persistence certainly paid of with me managing 2 upgrades which got rid of the 2 small Yellowfin Bream. Once the wind kicked, my non boated got the fish of the day slow rolling a hardbody over the sand. A Quality Yellowfin of bout 800g. This proved to be it for the day with neither of us able to raise a fish. Heading back to weigh it looked like I had a similar size to the previous day. 2.64kg which bumped me up into the top 10 finishing in 9th place. Very happy with this result even if the fishing was below par for this location. The gear used was a Zodias 270UL rigged with 1000 StradicCI4. Twinpower c2000s is my reel of choice for all my 2lb and 3lb fluro fishing. I fished mostly Squidgy plastics which consisted on 100mm Bloodworm wriggler and the ever reliable Dusk Lobby . My next ABT I plan to fish is in May on the Manning River, Taree NSW.