The second round of the Daiwa ABT Bream Series, sponsored by Zman/TT Lures was held on the 10-11 February 2024. After an exhausting but enjoyable weekend in Mallacoota it’s taken me a few days to find the time to sit down and write up a report.
I had decided to enter my first ABT Bream Tournament just a week before the event. My Partner, Carl, was entering as an ABT non-boater for the second time. My plan was to either just relax and enjoy the weekend or take the Hobie PA14 with us and have my own little solo fishing adventure. To be honest, I’d looked at the entry list and noted there was not one female name on the list and the idea of being the only one was a bit daunting to say the least. But as the time got closer I decided to bite the bullet, put aside my fears and just go for it.
Because we were both entering as Non-Boaters there was no opportunity to pre-fish, so we took our time and enjoyed the 6 hour drive down to Mallacoota on the Friday.
On the way down, we stopped by the Miller Rods warehouse where we’d arranged to pick up replacement blades for a couple of our rods that had been damaged. I didn’t realise how much I had missed my Blade Freak till I had it back!
While we’d had an issue with a retailer we bought one of the rods from, the support directly from the Miller Rods team was exceptional and we’re happy customers.
The Briefing
After settling in we headed down to the briefing where we caught up with a couple of familiar faces from the Vic Bream Classics tournament, learnt everything we needed to know for the weekend and were paired by random draw with our Boaters for each day.
I was paired with Nathan Angee for Day 1 and Thien Trieu for day 2. We discussed brief plans including where and when to meet in the morning and some logistics for the day.
Day 1
The weather forecast for the day put us at 50% chance of less than 1mm of rain with wind picking up around lunch time. Nathan and I started in the Bottom Lake in the Fairhaven area at a spot he’d had some success with during pre-fish on Friday. While we caught a few Flathead, the Bream he had caught the day before had either moved on or were just not biting.
Eventually Nathan did manage to get onto a Bream and I followed not long after with an 18.5cm baby Bream that would not count in any other tournament, but in the ABT measure & release rounds, fish of any size are counted so I was happy for the Donut-Saver.
It was around this time the rain started and didn’t stop for the rest of the day which was a bit unpleasant as I hadn’t taken my waterproof pants having trusted the forecast I’d checked earlier!
Given the there wasn’t much activity from the Bream we decided to move locations and headed to Double Creek Arm in the Top Lake, another location that had yielded results for Nathan the day before. Somewhat frustratingly, while we could see Bream sitting on the edges, we couldn’t entice a reaction from them so headed off again to Dead Finish where there were apparently plenty Bream to be had on Friday but all we got hold of was more Flathead!
We headed back to the Bottom Lake and fished the shallow water around Horse Island. Nathan’s Ranger was able to coast around in very shallow water but there wasn’t a lot of wind and we didn’t have any success. I did hook onto what I’m fairly certain was a Bream but sadly didn’t get it to the boat.
We headed back to our starting point and Nathan finally got onto another Bream, only to have it get caught up in a snag and just before we were close enough to try and pull it out, it was all over and we were all kinds of disappointed over that one!
With my one little Donut-Saver I ended day one at a somewhat disappointing 63rd on the Non-Boater board. I believe two non-boaters didn’t make it on the scoreboard on day one so while I looked to be in last place I guess, technically speaking I wasn’t.
Despite my disappointing result, I enjoyed my day on the water with Nathan, he was easy to get along with and happy to put the boat in a position where I at least had a chance of catching a fish!
Day 2
I started Day 2 determined to redeem myself and get off the bottom of the leader board. I felt a bit of pressure being the only representative of the female variety and I didn’t want to let the side down, so I started the day bright, and early and raring to go.
Thien hadn’t had the best Day 1 either. Starting position on Day 2 is determined by the Boater’s leaderboard position so we were one of the last off the start line. We headed up to Fairhaven in the Bottom Lake, not far from where Nathan and I had started the day before. We were planning to fish a specific area but due to our late starting position there were a few other boats already in the area so we fished the edges and by about 8:15 I managed to hook onto a Bream, sadly, only about the size I had caught the day before.
Undeterred, I kept at it and not long after, I was on to my second Bream! I had decided to tie on a Hurricane Lures Sprat 85 in Sickle UV with a 1/40 TT Lures hidden weight jig head and on my second cast I landed a 31cm Bream off the edge.
My spirits were lifted but as the day wore on, cast after cast I came up empty.
Thien struggled too, but the wind had picked up quite a bit and we headed over to Goodwin Sands and we had high hopes that if we persisted, we’d both get our bag. Thein caught a couple more Bream bringing his total to 4 of the 5 needed to fill his bag, and we worked different areas of the flats for most of the remaining session. I caught numerous Flathead and at one point a horrible spiny puffer fish latched itself onto my lure, eww.
At one point I hooked a Bream on a Daiwa Infeet Sazanami in Brown Suji but it bent one of the treble hooks and much to my frustration I dropped the fish!
At one point, both Thien and I hooked up at the same time, Thien landed a nice Bream, and while I could have sworn I had hooked onto a stingray the way my fish was fighting. it turned out to be a Flathead that had caught my leader around one of its spikes that made it feel significantly heavier than it actually was. We were both disappointed it wasn’t a Bream.
Thien kept trying different spots around the flats wanting me to land that last much needed Bream, and in a last ditch effort we headed back up to Fairhaven where we’d started the day and worked the banks where we knew there were Bream to be found, Unfortunately we both ended up one fish short of our bag limit by the time we checked in, leaving me in 64th position out of 65 Non-Boaters. I would have loved to have been able to report that I had been able to redeem myself on the second day but it just wasn’t to be this time around.
Wrap Up
My first experience participating in ABT was a good one. I lucked out with two Boaters who were easy to get along with and both happy to do what they could to help me get onto some fish.
While I may not have caught a lot of Bream, the stand out lure for the weekend was definitely the Pro Lure Clone Prawn in Green Tiger UV which accounted for most of the fish I landed including Bream, Flathead, Tailor and a Puffer Fish! Other lures used not mentioned above included Rapala Crush City plastics, Hurricane Fat 37 & Vibz 37, Daiwa In Feet Spike 53SP & Rollin’ Crank
Congrats to the winners and a big thanks to ABT for putting on a fantastic event and to the many sponsors, people behind the scenes and anglers that make it such a great experience.
Would I participate in ABT again? For sure. I kind of feel like I’m obligated to redeem myself and after all, I can’t really do much worse!