Strike Pro Round 9. Gold Coast, QLD.

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Day Two Morning Gallery

Day One Afternoon Gallery

Day One Morning Gallery

FINAL REPORT

Strike Pro round 9 of Hobie® Kayak Bream Series 9 was contested at the Gold Coast, in sunny Queensland on the July 22-23 weekend. A Queensland record breaking field of 51 anglers from Queensland (Qld), the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Victoria (VIC) and New South Wales (NSW) headed to the same stunning location where the 2016 Australian Championship was contested at the mouth of the busy Nerang River.

On both days anglers headed off from the Power Pole starting line off Mitchell Park in Broadwater Parklands, located in Southport at 7am. The weather was perfect throughout the tournament, with warm, sunny, winter weather, clear skies and temperatures in the mid-twenties (Celsius). The tide was just on high, as they blasted off on day one, and about an hour short of full tide on day two. The water temperature hovered around 20 degrees Celsius across the fishing arena.

On day one most anglers headed north toward Runnaway Bay and other northern canal systems, Wave Break Island, Crab Island and further up to Paradise Point and Sovereign Island. A smaller group of around a third of the field pedaled towards the city skyscrapers to fish navigation markers at the edge of the main channel, the trawlers around the fish co-op, the Gold Coast Highway Bridge pylons and the pontoons and wharfs along the “Nerang” and its southern canals.

Each day the bite was on right from the start and while those who headed north were still travelling, with kilometre after kilometre already under their belt, many with plans of attack that had them fishing closer to home, already had full bags of 4 bream.

The pre-fish reports had been excellent with anglers bringing back news that there were plenty of good sized fish across the system. Predictions proved to be correct when the tournament got under way, with a lot of fish moving to the front of the river system and schooling in large numbers. Winter on the Gold Coast is spawning time when Yellowfin Bream head out off shore to spawn. They appeared to be gathering in heavy pre-spawn and lighter weight post-spawn schools, but either way they were hungry and eager to take to the lure temptations that were presented to them.

The top 10 anglers shared total cash prize payout of $3,720 and over $2,500 in sponsor prizes were shared by Open and other divisional winners.

Day One Fish Caught: 160
Day One Anglers with Fish: 50 from 51
Day Two Fish Caught: 151
Total Fish Caught: 311
Total Weight: 144.91kg
Average Weight: 466g
Total Cash Payout: $3 720

THE MIGHTY PRYKIE

Steven Pryke, from Lakes Entrance in Victoria, made his massive trip up from Victoria totally worthwhile by moving up from his day one second place, to squeeze out day one leader Brendan Pieschel, to take out round 9 of Series 9. Pryke the youngest competitor of the tournament, at nineteen years old, earned himself the young gun title, catching himself 4 fish on day one weighing in at 2.34kg and backing it up on day two with 4 for 2.34kg. The catch gave him a two-day accumulative winning score of 8 bream for 4.93kg.

Pryke won $1430 and an excellent sponsor prize pack for his competitive edge. In only his third season of Hobie tournament fishing, and with his first major win, he has also guaranteed himself a place in the Australian Championship to be contested in Western Australia later this year. He has also accumulated 100 Angler of the Year (AOY) points which has placed him in a strong position to pick up a spot on the team to represent Australia – with 3 qualifying rounds yet to be completed – at the upcoming world championship in Amal, Sweden in May next year.

Pryke outlined his weekend on the Gold Coast.

“Each day I started out on the channel markers, straight out in front of the take-off area. There were a lot of school fish there, so I got a bag on both days within the first 15 to 20 minutes, which gave me a long time to upgrade. I was able to get my bag throwing Berkley shrimps and Hitec minnows at them.

I would then head up towards the bridge (Gold Coast Highway Bridge). I’d work the bridge pylons and pick up a few upgrades from there but the most consistent place for upgrades, for me, was the area out in front to the pool (Gold Coast Aquatic Centre). I managed to pick up a lot of my bigger fish from that area, especially the 880g fish I caught yesterday (Saturday day one)”.

ROD – MillersRods Control Freak cf xf 6’10” 1/3kg; Daiwa Harrier 6/10lb
REEL – Daiwa Luvias 1000
LINE – Berkley Fireline 3lb; Daiwa j-Braid
LEADER – Sunline FC Rock 3lb
LURES – Berkley Gulp 2in Shrimp in Banana Prawn on 1/8 jighead; Ecogear Aqua bream Prawn on 1/0 Owner worm hook

PIESCHEL SECOND TO THE POLE

Brendan Pieschel, from the Manning River district in New South Wales, led the field of anglers after day one with the second largest, single bag, over the two days of fishing, with 4 fish for 2.84kg. Pieschel followed it up with a 4-bream bag of 2.01kg on day two to finish with 8 fish for 4.85kg just 80g behind the leader. Pieschel won a hefty $750 cash prize and an excellent sponsor prize pack valued at over $250.

Brendan offered these comments.

“Pre-fish was good for me, I did well in that, going into day one.

On day one the marinas I wanted to work (Versace and Mirage Marinas) were taken out of play, I wanted to go in there, so that threw me out a bit. Instead, I slugged it out on both days on the flats to get the good fish. I hit the flats with a lot of grubbing, blades, zMans and Gulps, that was pretty much it.

I dropped a few good ones today (Sunday day two) unfortunately, but that’s fishing. I chased Steven (Pryke) out from the start today, out to the channel markers. He beat me to the mark and got his fish pretty quick, I wasn’t in a rush because I knew the school was there, I just wanted to get 4 in the well (livewell). After Steve did his thing and then got his, I got my four.

Then I went and chased some others on boat hulls, but couldn’t get any upgrades, so I came back onto the flats and they started hitting again. I worked for me the rest of the afternoon except when the wind came up, later in the afternoon, and when jet boats were around”.

Third place went to Mark Young from the New South Wales Central Coast who had a fantastic tournament finishing. It was great to see his young family there with him and sharing his moment on stage receiving his accolades and prizes. Young followed up his solid day one bag of 4 for 2.27kg, with the second heaviest bag of day two with 4 for 2.57kg. He took home a handy $480 and a sponsor prize pack for his weekend in Queensland.

ATOMIC BIG BREAM

Michelle Carmody from New South Wales won the Atomic Big Bream $100 cash prize, for the biggest fish of the round. She pulled her 930g Yellowfin Bream near the Gold Coast Highway bridge on a Berkley Gulp Crabby 2.5” in camo on a TT hidden weight 1/16 jighead.

DIVISIONS

YOUTH DIVISION
Steven Pryke from Victoria 8 fish for 4.93kg

WOMENS DIVISION
Michelle Carmody from New South Wales 3 fish for 1.92kg

MASTERS DIVISION
Lex Irwin for Queensland 8 for 2.99kg

PA 17T TANDEM DIVISION
Callum Sprott and Koji Maki from Queensland 3 fish for 1.38kg

FIRST TIMERS
Paul Delos Santos from New South Wales 8 fish for 3.16kg

MORTGAGE CORP MONSTER MOVER

Billy Howard from Queensland won the Mortgage Corp Power Pack, jumping from 44th position with 0.47kg on day one to finish on day two in 35th position with a day two bag of 4 fish for 1.72kg.

NEXT ROUND

See you all at TT Lures Round 10 at Mooloolaba in Queensland on August 13.

THANKS

Thank you to Sunstate Hobie for their dealer support and for the pizzas and drinks on both Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks also to our fantastic sponsors Daiwa, Berkley, Atomic, Lowrance, Rhino-Rack, Strike Pro, TT Lures, Pro Lure, JML Anglers Alliance, Mortgage Corp, Power-Pole, Hobie Polarized for their much, appreciated support.

DAY ONE REPORT

At 7 am this morning a Queensland record of 51 anglers blasted off from the Power Pole starting line in the waters adjacent to Mitchell Park in the Broadwater Parklands in Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland. They were heading out to contest day one of the two-day Strike Pro round 9 of Hobie® Kayak Bream Series 9 which is presented by Daiwa.

Anglers from Queensland (Qld), Victoria (VIC), the Australian Capital Territory(ACT) and New South Wales (NSW), were chasing a 4 fish bag of Yellowfin Bream. The kayakers were competing for qualifying places in the Australian Championship to be held in Western Australia in November, hefty cash payouts, valuable sponsor prize packs, Angler of the Year (AOY) points, and to build on their tally of points to qualify for the Australia Team to compete at Hobie Fishing Worlds 7 in Amal, Sweden in May 2018.

Reports after Friday’s pre-fish were positive, with schooling fish on the bite and widespread across the fishing arena.

At this morning’s start, the skies were clear, with a 2kt breeze wafting across the water, patches of glass reflected the cityscape in protected locations. Through the day the temperature crept up into the low twenties (Celsius) and a light breeze lifted and fell away mid morning.

The early bite was on from the get-go, and many of the competitors had filled their 4 fish bag limit within the first hour of competition. Upgrades became a regular occurrence with the schooling fish providing plentiful opportunities.

Michelle Carmody from New South Wales currently leads the Atomic Big Bream prize for the round with a fish, twice the average, for the area, weighing in at .93kg.

With a day of the tournament to go, the current leader of the round is Brendan Pieschel from New South Wales with 2.84kg. Sitting in second place is one of the youngest anglers in the tournament Steven Pryke from Victoria on 2.59kg and in third place is Queenslander Stephen Maas with a four fish bag of 2.77kg. Tomorrow anglers will, once again, be chasing a maximum bag size of 4 fish.

Anglers register for day two at 6:00am for a 6:30am briefing and a 7am start. Weigh-in will be at 2:30pm (AEST). There will be a live stream broadcast of the weigh-in and presentation, on hobiefishing.com.au, with a simultaneous live feed to on Hobie Fishing Australasia Facebook page.