St Helens Grand Slam ( Saturday 23rd of January)
I must admit , after yesterdays fishing trip to the Western Lakes, I thought things could only go one way..... and that was downhill.
How wrong was I.???
Jamie & Patrick, Jim and myself entered a team called Longford Fishing Club (naturally) in today's event.
The day had 32 boats taking part in it and what an "awesome spectacle" all these entries made as they all headed out into Georges Bay after the official start time at 8 am this morning, (see pics).
The challenge was to land the Grand Slam of a Trevally, Salmon and (the holy grail in this water and hardest fish to catch,)...a Bream.
All fish have to be caught on artificial lures only.
Any other species weighed in were worth an additional 10 points to add to your score, but you can only have one of each species.
Even though the event is based on raising money for the Leukaemia foundation and designed for a bit of fun, I must admit it is a bit intimidating going into a competition such as this with at least 5 ABT (Australian Bream tournament boats) and the local guide Michael Haley (the eventual winner) going up against you.
All that topped off with our teams very limited experience on this water, we hoped to, at best, finish mid field ...but whatever happened, we were going to have fun trying!!!.
Our other " main aim" was to not embarrass ourselves by coming a distant last.!!! lol.
Dale and his son Trevor also entered their boat under the banner of Yep lures and it was decided at the boat ramp before start time, that we would help each other where we could throughout the day by keeping in touch by phone and telling each other where we found fish.
Thanks to Dales generosity, he gave us advice that saw Jamie land the biggest bream of the day(over 40 cm)...fantastic effort Jamie!!
We also achieved the elusive "Grand slam "along with five other species caught and finished in a very respectable equal 9th placing.
For a while, we thought we may have actually won the thing!!
It was a truly fantastic day, organised exceptionally well by Mike Stevens with over $1550 going to the Leukaemia foundation thanks to his efforts.
Well done Mike.
I hope this email encourages some more teams from our club to take part in this event if it continues into the future ,....as I am sure it will.
Honestly, you don't know what you are missing out on at the moment members.
Thanks again to "Team Longford " for a fantastic experience, and " yes Jamie" you are the Guru of Bream!!! lol.
Official placing postings will be put up on the Tasfish.com website by the middle of next week should anyone wish to take a look.
Cheers for now,
Todd
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