BLOG: Bream & donuts

LAST weekend saw myself and my good mate Rohan Soulsby head north to Port Macquarie for the Gamakatsu Teams Series Southern Semi Final.

After competing in a few of our local rounds we had somehow accumulated enough points to earn a place amongst 26 other teams to compete for a spot in the grand final to be held at Iluka on the Clarence river next month.

Competitors were greeted on Sunday morning by a crisp clear sky and a warm orange sun rising over the riverside township of Port Macquarie. Our plan was to hit some floating oyster racks and breakwalls first until the tide started to push in, then move into the leases to fish, once they had enough water over them.

The hours passed and our day could only be described as frustrating. We flogged the water white with all forms of lures around some great looking structure, all to catch the best part of bugger all. Luckily, Rohan stuck the hooks in a nice fish with ten minutes left on the clock that saved us from a very unceremonious bream tournament donut.

Yours truly on the other hand continued his woeful form from the previous day's pre-fish and failed to catch a legal fish. Bloody bream ... I thought I had this gig worked out, maybe not - just call me Krispy Kreme!

Back at the weigh-in it was the Manning Valley's dynamic bream duo of Russell Babekuhl and Trent Fahey from team Berkley that once again trounced the opposition with a 3.19kg bag to take home a fully kitted Hobie Pro Angler kayak, two grand in cash and $2500 worth of rods and sponsors' goodies.

When I left Port on Sunday afternoon they were still trying to work out which way they were going to cut the Hobie in half!

Russ and Trent both hail from the Taree area and have what can only be described as a very solid oyster lease repertoire honed from years of fishing the racks. The boys won last year's Gamakatsu Teams Series Grand final at Port Macquarie and are no doubt a short odds bet for this year's final at Iluka.

They're a likable pair of fishy buggers that I'm sure could catch a fish in a gum boot. The thing that really impresses me about them both is they always seem to be enjoying what they do.

You would think that bream pros at this level would spend most of their time on the water fishing for the money fish, but when it comes to this pair it's not necessarily the case.

The boys spend lots of time at home between tournaments fishing small local creeks for bass, the breakwalls for jew, mountain streams for trout and they love nothing better than a soft plastic session on snapper.

I reckon with a bit of persuasion I could get on the water with them for a story and some red hot bream tips for Fishing World readers - stay tuned.

I know I'm keen to learn a few tricks from this oyster rack A-team before my next trip to Port Macquaire. I can only eat so many donuts...