The Tackle Shack 2 lb challenge - July 2008 (Bream) Comp - Dreamy's Report II
Well, with July soon to end, I was desperate to obtain a better entry for the Tackle Shack July (Bream) Comp - one that involved fish this time!
I'd quized some of the local young bream masters and topped up my supply of softies and jig heads.
I'd been invited out by Deacon Plant, one of THE local young guns (4th in the last ABT!), in his tinny. The plan was to launch from the Kalgan Ski Club and fish anywhere that had good structure and/or drop offs.
My wife and I arrived at 08:30 am, as organised with Deac, to beautiful crisp July 26 Saturday morning, with a crisp feathery wind blowing and a river surface that perfectly reflected everything:
I'd travelled light, mindfull of space in a small boat:
Three minutes later, we could hear Deac's thunderous vehicle and modified box trailer (to hold and launch/retreive the boat), crashing and thimping down the rough gravel/dirst track - infested with puddled pot holes from the recent heavy rains.
Sandra drove off, planning to conduct some shopping in Albany and Deac and I were left to start the day! A day I was SO looking forward to!
We dropped the tinny in the water, and I braved wading into an ICE cold Kalgan (remember, it's fed by water from the Stirlings that had snow on them recently! 
)
Soon underway, we stopped at our first spot selected by Deac, and, no sooner had I heard the swish of his rod and plop of the jig head, when the tip of his rod arched forward under the load of the first bream for the day - caught by Deac as I expected. After all, he is the master, and I was the student:
Almost in shot Deac - hang on to the slippery little guy:
...no, stick your tongue in - it's not a good look:
...that's better!
Immediately after, my 2-4 Pfeuger Rod angrily responded and I was onto my first fish. We were into them!
My first:
...a close up:
...measured up - just size - but he went back - a good start though!
Deac's 'Lecky' wasn't working, so we were thankfull of almost windless conditions and a slow river flow that set up a very graceful, easy drift.
We moved onto a deep channel adjacent to some flats, and I sent out my Gulp my Gulp 2" cammy sandworm on a 1/32 jig head, 2lb braid and 8lb Flouro Carbon leader. No sooner had the the jig hit bottom and I deployed my first twitch to impart action, when, BANG!! - this one was my second for the day and I could tell, a better fish!
We moved around quite a bit, trying different depths, drop offs, structures (natural and man made) and the action was plentiful astern and up front, with boath of our rods seein g action virtually on every cast!
Here's Deac with a good one! :
...a close up:
I was rellying on Deac to take the photos - so didn't want to pester him on every fish (I landed 10)
Here's number 3:
and 4:
and 5:
and the last one photographed:
A suprise catch - a little salmon trout. We caught a few of these:
There were plenty of bust offs, snacks and trees....but overall a great day for what Deac described 'as the hardest time of the year down here'!
REPORT ENDS...
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
mako magic
Posts: 5785
Date Joined: 03/08/05
WHERES THE
WHERES THE FISH?????????????????????
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Dreamweaver
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..there ya go Mako!
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Dreamweaver
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bream
Reports down here have been that bream have been hard to get - so we did pretty well I think. :)
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Dreamweaver
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magic
it was magic on the water, and the rain held off just enough.
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Andy Mac
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well done
Cheers
Cheers
Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)
Youngest member of the Fishwrecked Old Farts Club
Dreamweaver
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Tx Andy! Eyebrows!
Thanks Andy - I had an interview on Thursday - those eyebrows ARE trimmed
, otherwise Sandra reckons they're Jack Nicholson eyebrows 
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
mako magic
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Date Joined: 03/08/05
how long was the biggest
how long was the biggest bream you caught colin?
The Tackle shack, for all your fishing needs
huge range of stock to suit any fisherperson.
PH:9248 3800 unit 3/11 Alexander drive Malaga
Dreamweaver
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Biggest Mako...
The biggest was in photo 2 - just pushed 30cm (see measure photo above) and here it is again:
I had a bust off that, with my (now) vast experience
, would have gone 38-41 I reckon - approximately 
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Dreamweaver
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Oh and Mako....29 vs 30
That beats #1s best by 1cm (his was 29 if you look at 'the comp' thread)
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Jody
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Date Joined: 19/04/07
Nice work Colin
Looks like a fun day out. Is that the biggest for the comp so far??
TWiZTED
Dreamweaver
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Thanks Jodes! Yup!
Woohoo....so far...LOL.....
Yeah - it was great - loved it!
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
mako magic
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nice fish colin and nice
nice fish colin and nice entry to the comp.
The Tackle shack, for all your fishing needs
huge range of stock to suit any fisherperson.
PH:9248 3800 unit 3/11 Alexander drive Malaga
mako magic
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Date Joined: 03/08/05
yes colin, i do know you
yes colin, i do know you are in the lead by 1cm lol.
The Tackle shack, for all your fishing needs
huge range of stock to suit any fisherperson.
PH:9248 3800 unit 3/11 Alexander drive Malaga
Dreamweaver
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Cheers Mako
Just making sure you were aware LOL
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
tommo77
Posts: 461
Date Joined: 20/06/08
colin
wasnt the comp a 2pd line only including the leader?
correct me if im wrong though you said you had an 8pd leader ...
tommo77
Posts: 461
Date Joined: 20/06/08
oh great fish by the way
river looked awesome, did you keep any?
mako magic
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2lb main line
2lb main line tommo.
The Tackle shack, for all your fishing needs
huge range of stock to suit any fisherperson.
PH:9248 3800 unit 3/11 Alexander drive Malaga
Dreamweaver
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Yup Tommo 2lb
As Matt said - 2lb main. The big one that bust me off snapped the braid
- I should have played him more as we were on the flats fishing a drop off for that one. It's hardc when you are used to fishing with 50lb main and 80-120 Lb leader 
Thanks Tommo!
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Elora Danan
Posts: 379
Date Joined: 15/03/08
Looks awesome fun!
Well done, C.M. Looks like you done better then C.H! The 30cm one is up there with every chance.
Cheers lads,
Darda. H
Dreamweaver
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Thanks Darda!
Still four days to go....
Colin Molloy
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Faulkner Family
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well done Colin
Great read and love the pics
RUSS
"A family that fishes together stays together"
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Dreamweaver
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Cheers Russ!
I wanna tinny and tiller lecy LOL
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Elora Danan
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3rd Quater!
Nearly time C.M! Almost, the boys aren't scoring it on the score board and I think your pretty close, sealing 10 fish by 3/4 time. Another quarter left, see if anyone can kicks some last quater fishes in.
Cheers lads,
Darda. H
Dreamweaver
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Siren!
Still time for a winner before the siren goes though...
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!
Mitch.Y
Posts: 7
Date Joined: 19/07/08
Just found this site and
Just found this site and it's looking like a winner, impressed by the amount of people actually sharing their success and techniques..particularly in regards to the deep sea/inshore type fishing, a pleasant change and a good learning base.
Nice to see you got into a few Colin, you're with good hands having Deacs as a guide. It's a great river, shame the system didn't fire with the bigger fish which it often does. Get Deacs to take you out again later in the year when the fish are more active, or over to Torbay, you'll have plenty of fun on the light gear ;-)
Here's a 1.4kg I picked up in the last Bream Electric round held down in the Kalgan last November, caught just upriver from the Kalgan River Chalets. Photo courtesy of Sean Forward.
360 Marine - Luxury Vessel Skipper and Charter Services
mitch@360marine.com.au
Dreamweaver
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Hey Mitch!!
Thanks for the post mate! (agree on the site too
) - phew! I thjought that was a killer late entry 
.
That 1.4 is a beautty mate! I know where you are talking about with the chalets - and yeas, there is some fantastic structure, ground and flats in the Kalgan and some damn decent mullas to be had too! Yeah Deac was great and so much experience for a young bloke. You don't get an ABT WA 4th without reason!
All of the fish I landed where all in breading condition, so were very plump for their length. Deac also advised that, for their size, they fought harder because of that.
Yeah Deac said I did well for a bream 'noob' LOL, and that, come summer, I should really see some action with many more fish and much bigger ones. 42-43cm catches are by no means uncommon.
Having just got into softies in any way seriously, it was interesting what Deacon advised. That, when the water is murky and running, you are better off with natural colours - chatruse etc and the brighter SBs, like some of the paddle tails etc, work better in clear, stiller water when the fish are more easily spooked. I found this suprising as I would have thought it to be the other way round. Mind you, there's nothing definitative, as everyone has there theories and strategies. Oh, and of course, the youngs argue fervently (but friendly) over the virtues of HBs vs SBs LOL!
Colin Molloy
(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)
Soon to be de "dreamweaver" ed!