VIC AOY Round 1 Results

Wright Wins Fishnet Docklands BREAM Challenge

Traveling from Merimbula, NSW, 33 year old abalone diver Chris ŒSlick¹
Wright landed five Yarra River bream to take out the richest qualifying
event on the Quintrex National BREAM Tour, the Fishnet Docklands BREAM
Challenge.
Coming to terms with the sheer number of wary and easily visible southern
bream around the inner city redevelopment, Wright lead the Challenge from
day to day and became the first angler to tally two qualifying event wins in
the history of BREAM events. His 5/10, 3.00kg bag also surpassed the current
Victorian record set at the Docklands event in 2002 by Steve Starling.
Wright¹s lead was challenged by Brisbane¹s Tim Morgan (4/10, 1.86kg) and
Newcastle¹s Lance Sulkowski (2/10, 1.48kg), with Adam Douglas (1/10, 0.62kg)
and Steve Starling (1/10, 0.58kg) filling out the top five places.
Limited by poor recreational boating and fishing access in the Yarra River,
a field of 18 boats combed a welcome, but restricted fishing area in the
Victoria Harbour redevelopment precinct and were nearly universally
frustrated by the large numbers of educated resident fish.
³All of the anglers were seeing stacks of bream hovering under the docks,
but I saw that these fish were smart and nearly impossible to catch on the
tournament weekend,² said Wright, ³so I concentrated fishing outside the
edges of the docks in the deeper water.²
True to his word, Chris caught all of his bream in around eight metres of
water by casting a #2 Squidgie Wriggler in a bloodworm colour rigged on a
#2, 2 gram jighead. Using the popular 4lb Fireline and a 12lb Vanish leader
over a Millerods Bream Buster rod and Shimano Sustain 2000 reel, he¹d fire a
long cast three or four metres out and along the front of the wharves. After
letting the lure sink, he used a series of small, double hops to flick the
lure along above the bottom.
Wright¹s pattern produced best when the water dirtied on the bottom of the
tide in the Yarra.
³The dirty water really seemed to get the bream to bite better,² Wright
said, ³and if the tide was an hour later on the Sunday, I wouldn¹t have
finished with a win.²
Indeed, all of his three, final day fish were landed in the last hour of
competition.
³I suppose that it shows that you have to fish hard for the full seven hour
session,² he advised, ³because you never know when the bream that will win
you a tournament is going to bite.²
³It¹s more than the money, winning these tournaments,² Slick concluded,
³it¹s about having a good time with other keen anglers and seeing who comes
out on top _ I love it when I do.²
Displaced by Wright¹s productive pattern was well traveled tournament angler
from Brisbane, Tim Morgan. Tim¹s five-fish bag fell to a remarkably similar
pattern to Wright¹s, although Morgan focused on the top four feet of the
water column.
³I spent a lot of time during practice underneath the docks, and although
you can see a mountain of bream under there, they seemed to be inactive,²
Tim told, ³so during the tournament, I gambled on the outside of the wharves
and it paid off.²
Tim cast an Atomic 2² FatGrub rigged on a 1/22oz Gamakatsu Round 25
jighead four to five metres wide of the wharves. Using a Shimano Sustain
1000 on a Millerods Bream Buster rod, 4lb Fireline and a 6lb Vanish leader,
Tim also used a hopping style retrieve and commented that when the fish were
hooked, they¹d really inhale the lure.
Newcastle¹s Lance Sulkowski landed the tournament¹s largest bream _ a superb
1.08kg specimen that succumbed to a delicately presented soft plastic lure.
It took out the $500 Boronia Marine Big Bream prize.
Held in conjunction with the BIA¹s Docklands Summer Boat Show, thousands
of visitors witnessed the anglers fishing across the weekend and viewed the
live bream in the Reef Science display tank.
BREAM events are NOT invitational. The second round of Victoria¹s events
will be held at Mallacoota on the 29/30 March, while the next leg of the
Quintrex National BREAM series will be held in NSW¹s Clyde River on the
22/23 February. Direct event enquiries to Steve Booth during business hours
on (07) 3268 3992. _ ABT.

Series Sponsors: Quintrex, Mercury, SeaLink, Motor Guide, Shimano,
PrawnStar, Squidgie, Halco, Slider, Mako sunglasses.

Associate Sponsors: Compleat Angler, Pacific Composites, VMC, Storm,
PowerBait, Fireline.

Local Area Sponsors: Fishnet, Victoria Harbour, the Docklands Authority, BIA
Victoria, Boronia Marine

RESULTS FISH WEIGHT Payout
1. Chris Wright, Merimbula, NSW 5/10, 3.00kg $2,000
2. Tim Morgan, Brisbane, QLD 4/10, 1.86kg $500
3. Lance Sulkowski, Newcastle, NSW 2/10, 1.48kg Prize Pack
4. Adam Douglas, Berwick, VIC 1/10, 0.62kg Prize Pack
5. Steve Starling, Gerringong, NSW 1/10, 0.58kg $500
6. Martin Hazelhoff, Mt Dandenong, VIC 1.10, 57kg Prize Pack
7. Adam Royter, Ringwood, VIC 1/10, 0.53kg $300
8. Jarrod Healey, Noble Park, VIC 1/10, 0.50kg $200
9. Shane Dyason, Narree Warren, VIC 1/10, 0.50kg $200
10. David Welfare, Warrimoo, NSW 1/10, 0.44kg $100
11. Kevin Gleed, Congo, NSW 1/10, 0.42kg $100

[Dave W]

My cheque has $200 on it - I hope I haven't been over payed

[kevinnugent59]

Congratulations, Dave! Well done in very trying circumstances!

Kevin

[Bear]

Well done mate. Great to see.

I couldn't get a sniff in with 3 at 1.24kg. Still, always learning.

Come on Perth round.

[pw-bream]

There is some good info there about the fish further out. When I first tried fishing the Docklands (before Pete S tutored me on the decent spots and techniques - Thanks Pete) I was fishing out from the berths and trying to use a bottom bouncing technique. I think it is a little hard from the docks as the height (around 3 metres) works against you and the lure wants to come up from the bottom on every pull. Having read about the success achieved by Chris Wright, I bet I won't be the only one working the deeper water out from the docks as part of my strategy next time I fish there.

Thanks Ira for that informative and entertaining report :-)