Yakabout - Bass bash 2007 report

Home

News

Bass bash 2007 report

PDF

| Print |

E-mail

Thursday, 29 November 2007

More like a bass tickle actually... but you get that

After some persistently patchy rain on the Saturday it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to more accommodating sunny skies on the Sunday for the Bass Bash 2007 main events. It's likely that the weather deterred a few people from turning up on Sunday, although there was at least forty participants in attendance. Most of them were there primarily for the fishing competition, others for the afternoon's sailing races and some who participated in both.

Following an early morning briefing session in which tournament rules were explained, a deluge of enthusiastic Hobie kayak fishermen took to the water, peddling in all directions in search of those elusive bass. The tournament rules were designed in such a way to give everyone a chance of winning any one of the available prizes, though in ideal circumstances, anyone who performed well in catching legal sized fish would have a greater chance. Unfortunately circumstances weren't really ideal to facilitate that because unlike the previous year, it appeared as if whatever fish were left in the lake (as in those who didn't swim over the top of the spillway during the recent floods) weren't terribly interested in chomping on lures. In fact, most anglers who participated in last years bass bash managed to catch more fish than everyone put together in the 2007 event.

Intuition told me that this might be the case - I just didn't get that fishy feeling (that I'm learning to put more and more faith in) while I was on the water. Indeed, my intuition served me well because I also got the feeling that if any (2-person) team was going to catch some worthy fish, it would be the dedicated guys Paul and Lee (AKA Nodds and PCsolutionman). Prepared with a suitable assortment of lures and determination to catch fish, they were both among the first to hit the water and were also the last to return. Nodds was actually the only participant to land a legal fish in the form of a 34cm bass, and also caught and released 2 other fish (all fish caught for the day were returned). That being the case, Nodds had twice as much chance in the prize draw. Unfortunately it seemed that his luck had ran out by the time he returned to land because despite the fact that numerous prize winners were drawn, his numbers didn't come up at all.

Despite that ironic turn of events as well as the lack of hungry fish, it's safe to say that fun was had by all. And the lack of hunger presented by fish was made up for the hunger displayed by fishermen. This ravenous appetite was subdued thanks to a BBQ grill courtesy of Trish Gray, who cooked up a storm to greet anglers returning to land. Once the hamburgers were devoured it was then time for the sailing races.

There were two divisions for the sailing events - one for sail equipped kayaks and another for the viagra enhanced Island kayak/catamaran combos. As luck would have it the wind started blowing up just before the races kicked off, although it was fairly erratic in it's direction. This resulted in quite a few laughs for the rest of us spectators, partly because we got to witness a capsize near one of the marker buoys and also because of the method in which the 2nd place getter (Trish) in the Island division managed to cross the finish line, which was backwards. She could have corrected her position to make a more graceful finish although perhaps inspired by the encouragement of the crowd, she instead allowed the wind to push her across the line going backwards. As one of the spectators commented, if not anything else, this proved once and for all that women do indeed know how to go in reverse.

Although it was a little disappointing that the fish didn't come out to play, the frequent cheering and laughing was testimony to the fact that there is a whole lot more to fishing than just catching fish. For me (and for most I suspect) the real highlight of the weekend was just getting together with a bunch of like minded kayak fishermen, sharing stories, strategies and, of course, beers. It was also interesting to note how other anglers had set up their kayaks, which despite all being of the Hobie flavour, demonstrated a lot of unique configurations.

Finally, it also provided me (and any one else curious or adventurous enough) to play around with kayaks they hadn't yet sampled. For me, that was a chance to get busy on the Adventure Island, which proved to be every bit as exhilarating as I anticipated.

This was the first bass bash event that I've had the pleasure of attending and I'll certainly be making every effort to get back for the 2008 event. Hosts Mal and Trish Gray of Sunstate Hobie did a fantastic job of putting this event together and I'm sure everyone who attended would agree. Speaking of the devil (that would be Mal) he's just posted his own brief report on the event, including numerous photos that tell a story all their own. (Click read more to see more images).