EP216 – Hobie Round 3: Wallaga Lake with Jack Gammie, Ben Hanscombe and Jon Chen

EP216 – Hobie Week Part Three: Wallaga Lake with Jack Gammie, Ben Hanscombe and Jon Chen

Hobie Week continues with round three of the Hobie Fishing Series, held at Wallaga Lake on March 21 and 22.

After last year’s event produced one enormous winning result but proved extremely tough for most of the field, the return to Wallaga in March was expected to produce different fishing. Instead, it became another difficult tournament where finding six legal bream across the two days was a major achievement.

Only two anglers managed to weigh a full six-fish limit.

In third place, Jon Chen caught three fish for 1.36 kilograms on Saturday and backed it up with three fish for 1.76 kilograms on Sunday, giving him six fish for 3.12 kilograms.

John explains how he found bream feeding underneath schools of tailor on a flat in approximately 2.5 metres of water. He discusses using his Lowrance HDS Live to locate bait, schools of fish and feeding activity, before targeting them with Stealth blades made by Peter Cook.

John also explains how watching Tony Pettie work his blade helped him adjust his retrieve, mixing single and double hops and increasing the speed of the presentation. After filling his bag early on Saturday, he returned to the same area on Sunday before eventually finding better fish slightly deeper when the wind increased.

In second place, Ben Hanscombe weighed three fish for 2.03 kilograms on Saturday and two fish for 1.29 kilograms on Sunday, finishing with five fish for 3.32 kilograms.

Ben talks through his preparation for Wallaga, including a pre-fish session where he found fish on crankbaits, surface lures and Pro Lure Hybrid Shrimps.

During the tournament, Ben caught fish using a shallow Jackall Chubby and Hybrid Shrimps on 3-pound straight-through fluorocarbon. He explains how he worked the Hybrid Shrimp through very shallow water and around flats, small drop-offs, weed and isolated timber.

Ben also recounts several important fish battles, including chasing bream from the kayak on light line and losing a better fish after it buried him in a snag on Sunday.

Taking the win was Jack Gammie, who caught three fish for 1.45 kilograms on Saturday before producing a much stronger three-fish bag of 1.98 kilograms on Sunday. His six-fish total of 3.43 kilograms was enough to secure first place.