A Flathead Classic Report

[bennykenny]

Well the classic is over for another year and what a year it was, some very tough conditions made it quite hard to fish the usual spots, so had to serch out some new spots, and find where the fish were sitting.
DAY 1. We start of down the pin, struggling to hold position in a 20 to 30 knot southerly, the poor old electric could barley keep up with the wind so we had to keep the motor running for quick escapes. first drop and i was on and landed a 62cm flattie, pretty happy with that.stayed in our spot for about half an hour, but after we took 3 waves over the bow, we decided that we should seek safer grounds, so we tucked in the back of curose Is for a bit of shelter with about 20 or so other boats and picked up a few numbers.
later in the day we decided to brave it and head back down to the broadwater as we knew some spots we could get out of the wind, which payed dividendes as we picked up a few good numbers and within the last half hour i got a 81cm model. So ended up picking up around 600 points for the day which left me in 6th position


Day 2. We decided to start our day down on the broadwater as we didnt want to contend with the wind again, but the first hour only produced 2 average fish so we decided to shoot up the pin and try the deep water again. and only after a few drifts stewie hooks on to a big lady. she come to the net easily and went 84 on the mat. spent most of the day at the pin chasing numbers alot of undersized fish with a few between 40 and 60 thrown in here and there. with only about 300 points for the day dropped me back to about 11th position and the team in 20th position.




Day 3. bad news. stewies wife gets admitted to hospital during the night, and our third day gets cancelled.oh well there is always next year.ended up with the team in 32nd position and myself in 26th position. and two man team 10th position. Both stewie and i ended up in the major prize draw and took home some great prizes. caught up with some great blokes and made some new friends. cant wait for next year. cheers BK

[OverNover]

Cheers BK, you're not wrong, tough was an understatement!!!! You did well!!!! Having borrowed a Mates Quinny Hornet and knowing it was a pig when there's a bit of chop around we decided to stick down the Southern end this year and minimise the travel, tried the Seaway all three days for not a single fish!!!! Tried Crab, around Ephraim and Sovereign, Wavebreak, even a few proven spots down the Nerang. Pulled a couple of rats from the bank out the front of Seaworld but with the wind, swell and traffic as it was it was a challenge just to stay upright!!! My best fish for the whole comp was a 61cm pulled from 2 foot of water casting a 4" Berkley Grub whilst trying to hide from the wind behind Brown Island on day one and it was all downhill from there, as you said there's always next year!!!! Cheers, Jamie.

[OB1]

Yeah it wasn't the typical northerly that most teams would be used to. My team, Get Jiggy With It, were forced to change tactics as the big fish from the deep water seemed quite shut down early in the tournament. We moved north where the clean water was pushed and found plenty of small fish in the shallows to keep the scorebaord ticking over. After the second day we had moved into 4th place but had a shocker on Sat morning falling back to 9th.

We really struggled to find the big fish this year and in the end that hurt us on the scoreboard with plenty of good fish caught on Saturday. Despite the tough conditions the scoring was similar to previous years and the total flathead caught was a record. The different conditions taught us a lot and next year we hope to be more adaptable - can't wait to next year (51 weeks to go).

P.S. Unfortunately we let Whytey's team go past us on the last morning - that really hurts.....

[Fish_gutz]

as long as you all had a good time and I hope old mates missus is OK, thats a good enough score card in my books. Cheers and thanks for the report.

Andrew

[Deadstick]

Bennykenny

well done mate looks like you were getting into some nice fish there in tough conditions. we wanted to fish out the front at times but it was pretty ugly every time we looked at it. Shame about the last day but it will keep you motivated untill next year im sure.

OB1

I cant beleive how bad the last day was for both of us ridiculous really. My Donut was tasting terrible until the boys lined me up back at the presso with the big fish trick which got us all a bit of a laugh.

Not as good as finding out that we beat you blokes though. Such a funny day always look forward to a laugh with that little commedian you had in your boat. nice to meet you & im sure we'll catch up on the water between now & next year 51 weeks isn't that long is it?

bring it on already.

Dave.

[lido76]

I fished the comp with my young fella and my step daughters boyfriend. We had a great time pitty about the weather but thats fishing I guess. We didn't break any records nor featuer on the leader board but we did manage to catch 31 flatties over ther 2 1/2 days with the biggest only going 53cm. Next year we are going to have a serious crack at findingg the big point scorers so watch out in 2011 for Team "NO BANANAS". BK I hope your mates missus is all good
Cheers Brendan..............

[bennykenny]

yeah thanks brendan, mates missus is all good now, 31 flatties is a pretty good effort, well done just have to work on the size for next year, thats what its all about, learning and having fun, and also meeting some great people. hope to see you next year. cheers BK

[The Mouse]

We had a shocker of a comp onboard team yellowfin only ending up with around 10 small ones.
I went out by my self today and got a PB 93cm now why couldn't I get that last week

Cheers
Rob

[Creek Vermin]

On ya boys. Coupla 80's is a top effort. It was def pretty wild that first mornin at kallinga. We were the only boat left after you guys left. Once that tide turned the fish never came back on the chew. There were bugger all big fish around this year especially in the popular spots. Lots of rats though. The only downside of the comp this year(apart from the weather) was the absence of xxxx. The carlton mid girls made up for that though.
Cheers. Keith