Gold Coast KFT Round 1

Author: dunebuggy

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Monday, 28 March 2011 10:45

Written by Stuart Whitehouse

Round 1 of Series 3 - Sovereign Islands
Sunday, March 27th greeted us with 20 to 25knot winds with gusts to 30 knots at times. Not the most ideal kayak fishing weather but there we were, ready to do battle in what was going to be a challenging day. I chose to throw some bedding into the old wagon and drive down the night before and sleep in the car. I didn't sleep all that well but I figured it was better that getting up at 3am to drive down. 

I set my alarm for 5am, not that I needed to, and received a text message from Yakass member Jay (aka Yakfisher) which simply said "We are here". I clambered from the back of my old falcon wagon into the driver's seat and drove from my chosen sleeping spot to the comp site and met up with Jay and his travelling companion, another yakass member, "twopinkanchors". It's a shame he didn't win another anchor because this time around, they were blue. 

I unloaded my revo and opened the back of the wagon to access the most important thing.... Breakfast! Out came my little butane stove and frying pan and voila .... a tasty bacon sandwich followed by a fresh brewed cuppa. Nothing like having life's little luxuries I say. I loaded my yak will all the necessary gear and went off to register. I didn't have to worry about a spot as I had pre-paid, thanks to my generous sponsor - StealthSerpent.com (aka; Yakass member - Brown Hornet) 

After a late briefing and late start we were off. I headed northeast and caught up with Jay and started fishing the semi sheltered canals. I lost track of Jay shortly after that as he stuck to the plan and I couldn't pass up the lure of the many pontoons available. At 7.50am I came across a place that had more water covered with pontoons and pleasure craft than you could poke a stick at. 

I put a cast in between the main pontoon and the plastic submersible pontoon beside it. Casting 2lb braid into the wind with a 40th ounce jighead with any accuracy was challenging to say the least but, after numerous casts I hit the target and was reward with my 1st fish of the day, a just legal bream. Current legal size in Queensland is 25cm however, because the KFT is a photograph and release tournament and we measure to the fork, they stuck with the old limit of 23cm.

Unfortunately this fish wasn't good enough to get me a place in the top 15 which are all prize winning spots. I did however, win a prize in the random draw which was a backwater hand paddle and a packet of Damiki soft plastics. I kept the soft plastics but I already had a backwater hand paddle courtesy of Josh so, I gave the paddle to Mr twopinkanchors who's name escapes me. Sorry about that. 

Still in the vicinity of the bream hook up I tried to get around the other side of the flotilla and in between the bow of the big boat and the next boat. Manouvering for a cast was interesting as the wind was gusting and getting an accurate cast in across wind was downright frustrating but after about 10 unsatisfied casts and immediate retrievals I managed to land one in a semi acceptable spot. 

I let the plastic sink and watched the floating braid. Within seconds the braid started to run so immediately wound up the slack and struck. WHAM! I was onto a good fish. I thought, if this is a bream it's a freakin' monster! My 7' rod was well buried in the water as I pedalled hard toward the middle of the canal and wound against the drag. I'm not giving this fish any more leeway that I have to. As luck would have it, I managed to keep the beast from wrapping me around any form of snag and soon netted my first ever Mangrove Jack.

On 2lb Braid with a 4lb Flurocarbon leader, this fish sure was fun. It went 41.5 cms and when I tried to remove it from the net it clamped it's jaw shut on the net and wouldn't let go. Eventually it did of course and I was able to measure and photograph the the well fed fat jack and release him to fight another day. Thanks jack. The rest of the morning I saw plenty of fish but couldn't seem to tempt them except for one just undersized specimen. 

Back for the weigh in and prizes, a chat with friends etc.. I stayed behind a while to help Justin and Shane pack up all the KFT gear, and after a chin wag we all hit the road. I left at about 3.40pm and was home on the Sunshine Coast by 5.30pm and walked in and my wife made me a cuppa and put dinner on. I was well tired and in bed by 8pm. very rare for me. 

Many thanks to Shane and Justin for running another awesome KFT event and special thanks to my sponsor, StealthSerpent.com for your generous support, without which I would not have been able to fish this event.

Round 2 is at Pacific Fair on April 17th. Bring it on! - Dunebuggy