The Bream Fishing Project

🎣 Warrnambool • Hopkins River • 2025 Shimano & Hobie Vic BREAM Classics (Final Round)

We’re heading to Warrnambool on the Hopkins River to break down the 2025 Shimano & Hobie Vic BREAM Classics – CMA BREAM Classic, held Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October 2025. It’s the final round of the Vic BREAM Classics season before the Grand Final, and compared to last year’s tough event, this one produced far better fishing, bigger bags, and more full limits.

To set the scene, I run through the fish activity wheel, major bite periods, and the tide timings for both days — then we dive into the results, the key awards, and what stood out compared to the same event last year.

🏆 Event Highlights & Awards

Heaviest Bag Day 2 / Best Bag: Team JL Angling (Lewis & Jessica) – 5.505 kg

Big BREAM (Ecogear Big BREAM): Team Rooworks (Greg Rooke & Gary Carruthers) – 1.51 kg

Big Perch (Miller Rogue Big Perch): Team Hamilton Marine – 1.255 kg

Monster Movers: Team JL Angling (moved up 14 spots into 3rd)

🎙️ Angler Interviews in This Episode
✅ 3rd Place – Team JL Angling (Lewis & Jessica)
A huge story: 17th overnight → 3rd overall, including a Day 2 session where they describe a one-hour stretch producing constant upgrades, capped by a 1.3 kg kicker. They also cover an electric motor issue on Day 1, their lure mix (including Cranka Crab, Bait Junkie Wave Minnow, and nail bombs), and how they approached pressure and wind.

✅ 2nd Place – Boden Zisu (Wild Wings TXD)
Boden talks about finally cracking the Hopkins after past struggles, how a pre-fish two weeks prior helped form a plan, and how they built their bags using grubs, plastics, and blades (including old-school gear like the TT Ghost Blade). Plus: the last-cast upgrade that helped lock in second.

✅ 1st Place – Michael Malone (Team Midfield)
Michael breaks down a super consistent two-day performance (4.17 kg + 4.155 kg = 8.325 kg) and how freshwater flow and colour played a role. He shares how they got on fish early, what changed from pre-fish to comp days, and why the Bait Junkie Minnow in “Mud Blood” became a key player.

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🎧 New episodes every Tuesday — tips, tactics, and conversations with Australia’s best BREAM tournament anglers.
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We’re off to a brand-new Hobie Fishing Series location for Round 7 at Wallaga Lake, on the NSW South Coast, held 13–14 September — and like most new venues, the hype was real.

The setting? Almost perfect. Warm September weather, light winds, and what might be the best Hobie event launch I’ve ever seen: a sandy beach with a clean drop-off, a brilliant Big4 setup, and even a food truck doing coffees and bacon & egg rolls from early. The fishing though… totally different story.

This round was tough — 55 donuts on Saturday — yet we still saw cracking fish come across the scales, including a phenomenal 6-fish bag over 6kg, which is massive for a NSW Hobie event.

In this episode you’ll hear three different approaches that produced Top 3 results, with interviews from:

Chris Byrne (3rd) — creek mission, slow snag fishing, weedless plastics and a Nomad shrimp bite

Jamie Cole (2nd) — Cookie stealth blades early, then a late adjustment that delivered big upgrades

Jason Marshall (1st) — no prefish, a dominant win, and the key adjustments that separated him from the field

Key event notes & stats

Fish Activity Wheel: 28 (Sat) → 13 (Sun)

Tides: Low 5:54am (0.4m) / High 12:27pm (1.47m) Saturday; Low 6:49am / High 1:30pm (1.43m) Sunday

Saturday donuts: 55

Big Bream: Jason Marshall — 1.33kg

Monster Mover: Carl Dubois — 1.57kg

Young Angler: Ethan Howard — 0.87kg

Masters: Peter Nord — 4 fish for 2.16kg

Plus, I share how my weekend played out — including finally jagging two fish late on Sunday after being part of the Saturday donut club — and what’s coming next in the Hobie season.

Join The Collective
Two of the Top 3 in this round are active members of The Bream Fishing Project Collective — if you want to learn faster and fish smarter with the crew, jump in here:
breamfishingproject.supercast.com

Support the show:
buymeacoffee/andrewdeath

Thanks for listening — and I’ll catch you next week on The Bream Fishing Project.

Welcome to Episode 172 of The BREAM Fishing Project, our first Monthly Fishing Report of the year, with Andrew and Brett Geddes covering a huge range of fishing, gear, community updates, and milestones from around the country.

This episode blends real-world fishing sessions, lure tinkering, tournament updates, and the lighter side of the sport with plenty of Boofhead Moments — plus an important conversation around mental health and the Fly Program.

In this episode we cover:

January tournament updates with Action Fishing Tournaments
(Raby Bay QLD, Parramatta River NSW, and Port Macquarie)

A major milestone as The BREAM Fishing Project turns 3 years old

Growing the YouTube channel and why listener comments and engagement matter

Andrew’s recent sessions on the Cooks River, focusing on bridge fishing with forward-facing sonar

Lure talk and experimentation, including Cranka Crabs, mussels, Baby Vibes, Squidgies grubs and bugs

Tinkering with rigging ideas for surface and shallow applications

Brett’s bass fishing update, including stocked fisheries, surface bites, and local sessions

Flathead and BREAM sessions under pressure from holiday boat traffic

What Cheeses Me Off and a stack of classic Bullhead Moments

A wrap of sponsors and supporters who helped make the Collective challenges possible

The Fly Program – More Than Fishing
Andrew also shares his recent experience with The Fly Program, a men’s mental health retreat wrapped in fly fishing, connection, and time in nature.

A fundraiser has been launched with a goal of $2,800 to help support two participants who may not otherwise be able to attend.

👉 Fly Program Fundraiser:
https://flyprogram.org.au/campaigns/the-fly-program-more-than-fishing/?updated=1

Every contribution helps — big or small.

Join The BREAM Fishing Project Collective
The Collective gives you access to:

Early and bonus podcast content

Past and current challenge replays

Member-only discussions and updates

Join here: breamfishingproject.supercast.com

Support the show
Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee/andrewdeath

If you enjoy the Monthly Reports, please consider subscribing, rating the show, and sharing it with a mate — it genuinely helps keep the project moving forward.

Tight lines,
Andrew

We’re heading to Western Australia for Western Australian Tournament Anglers (WATA) – Kayak Round 3 of 2025, held 7 September 2025 on the Moore River (Guilderton, WA).

This round dished up some of the nastiest conditions you’d choose to fish in — heavy wind, driving rain, and a river mouth that’d been open for weeks, pushing current and foam through the system. Despite the grind, we still saw a standout winning bag and some really interesting insights into how the top anglers adjusted their approach to get bites when it counted.

In this episode, you’ll hear from:
✅ Travis Newland (3rd) – talks through tough winter fishing on the Moore, working contours and drop-offs, and how the open mouth + dirty water changed everything.
✅ Joseph Gardner (2nd) – breaks down his competition plan, the reality of slow fishing in brutal weather, and exactly how he works a pygmy mussel in current.
✅ Matt DeBoer (1st) – a massive win with 2.52kg for three fish, including a 1.19kg big BREAM. Matt explains how he kept his lure presentation natural with wind/tide fighting each other — and how that big fish came unstuck on the day.

You’ll also get the quick rundown of the Fish Activity Wheel and the key bite window for the session.

Sponsor shout-out
A big thanks to Getaway Outdoors  for supporting the WATA kayak series — and for anglers travelling over, there are kayaks available for hire so you can jump into a WA round without dragging your whole setup across the country.

Want more than the free show?
Join The Bream Fishing Project Collective for extra content, challenges, replays, and more:
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If you enjoy the episode, a follow/subscribe and a quick rating helps more than you’d think. 🤝

In this episode of The Bream Fishing Project, we head to East Gippsland to review the 2025 Mega Bass East Gippsland Bream Classic, brought to you by Vic Bream Classics.

This is one of Andrew’s favourite venues at Marlo, a system that can completely separate the field. Some teams grind for bites, while others put together standout bags, and this weekend delivered plenty of big fish stories.

Andrew opens with a run-through of the bite periods and tides across both days, then breaks down the key divisional awards and major highlights from the weekend, including:

Sunline Best Bag: Team Zero Technique

Winners: Josh Jeffrey & Connor Jackson – 5.905kg Day 2 and 11.065kg total

Big Bream: Brad & Harry Young – 1.755kg

Monster Movers (ZipBaits): Team Hummingbird – a huge Day 2 climb

Junior Angler Prize: Team Berkley (Scuba Hodges)

Mulloway Road: Team Two Odd Legends – a 1.2kg perch

From there, it’s straight into full interviews with the podium teams:

3rd Place – Team Prestige Worldwide (Steven Emerson & Damien Dwyer)
A great breakdown of their weekend, including:

How their prefish shaped (and didn’t shape) their comp decisions

Finding quality fish in the slips and why the area stayed more consistent

Fishing light leader (around 3lb) and grinding out bites through the day

Their go-to plastics approach (including SPRs) and jighead weights

A key upgrade fish around 1.29kg, and how it ate

Their LiveScope/sonar setup and how they used it in shallow water

2nd Place – Team Samurai Rods (Dan & Declan)
Dan and Declan return with plenty of banter and detail, covering:

How they approached Marlo without a big lead-up prefish

Working key areas with plastics, and how fish positioning changed from Day 1 to Day 2

Jighead choices and adjusting presentation for flow and boat traffic

Managing crowded water and making the most of sporadic bites

A few classic moments (including a very memorable fish that ended up hooked in a “creative” spot)

Shoutouts to sponsors, boat setup, and the gear that helped them stay effective all weekend

1st Place – Team Zero Technique (Josh Jeffrey & Connor Jackson)
The winners break down exactly how they did it, including:

Their prefish approach: moving efficiently, confirming fish, and not overcomplicating it

Why they leaned into plastics/creature baits over vibes

Running 1/12oz jigheads even in shallow water to manage current and keep the bait in the zone

Targeting edges early, then shifting to deeper schools using side scan / down scan

Fishing 4–5lb leader, staying confident in their strengths, and landing nearly everything they hooked

How they built a massive Day 2 bag (5.905kg) to secure the win

This episode is stacked with tournament lessons: decision-making in a tough system, how to adjust with current and pressure, and what it looks like when teams execute cleanly across two days.