Targeting channel markers brought success to encumbent Queensland BREAM Angler of the Year, 33-year old builder Chris Metcalfe, at the Suncorp BREAM Challenge, round one of the Queensland Quintrex BREAM events. The event win plus the Big Bream award gave Metcalfe a $1700 payout plus an instant berth in the 2003 National BREAM Grand Final at Batemans Bay in October.

In fact, only one of the top five anglers fished ‘traditional’ Gold Coast patterns of shallow water and riverbanks or pontoons, with second placed Steve Wilson (9/10, 5.88kg) angling in up to seven metres of water, Non-Boater Champion Stephen Millington (10/10, 5.84kg) fishing beacons, BREAM newcomer Darren Borg (9/10, 5.62kg) doing the same and only Paul O’Sullivan (10/10, 5.60kg) sticking to the popular Nerang River pattern.
Metcalfe’s mind was influenced by his day one non-boater, Steve Millington, who suggested to Chris that they fish the pattern that he and Darren Borg had distilled during practice.
“Steve thought that Darren’s motor problems on Saturday would preclude him from fishing the pattern, so he suggested that we have a go, and I just had a lot of fun catching bream like that this weekend. To be honest, I was struggling in the Nerang and making the change was the best choice I could have made,” Chris explained.
Metcalfe fished every Broadwater navigation channel marker between Sovereign Island in the south and Russell Island in the north. Using a selection of Amber and Brown Crawdad Atomic 2” Fat Grubs as well as a 3” BassMaster Pumpkinseed bait on his home made jigheads (a #1 split-shot crimped onto a Mustad Aberdeen hook), he’d cast the lure to the downcurrent eddy behind the marker and most fish ate the lure on the initial drop.
Using a Millerods Bream Buster, Daiwa TDS-1500 reel spooled with 4lb Fireline and 8lb Stren Magna-Thin leader, Metcalfe observed that on the low tide the fish held near the bottom, but on the run-in tide, some fish suspended shallow, often taking the lure just after it landed.

Chris Metcalfe’s brace of two big bream that helped him to $1,700 in cash.

“When the current was slow and the water clearer, the Pumpkinseed colour produced best, but as the current started running harder, the FatGrub colours filled my limits,” he continued, after the Gold Coast City Marina weigh-ins.
Metcalfe caught 12 legal bream on Saturday and six on the Sunday.
Telecommunications consultant, 40 year old Gold Coast local Steve Wilson, missed out on his first BREAM event win by a single fish.
“I knew that four-fish Saturday would cost me, but I didn’t realise at the time how much,” Steve lamented as he described another innovative technique that yielded him fish.
“My spot varied between three and seven metres of water – it’s out in front of the Southport School and the bait fisho’s seem to clean up there all of the time,” Steve said.
“I’d use the AutoPilot on my electric to keep position over the drop-off and cast up-current, just keeping touch with the lure as it was washed along with the current,” he continued.
“As this spot was out in the open and no one else fished it, I knew it could produce for the entire duration of practice and the tournament, and the by-catch was amazing – my non-boaters had fantastic days fishing,” he explained.
The biggest diamond trevally they caught went 7.3lb and the list of bream-substitutes read like a Grant’s Guide to Fishes.
Wilson’s weapon was a Berkley 3” Drop Shot Minnow on a 1/8oz jighead that he fished on an efficiently long 7’6” G Loomis HS9000IMX rod, Shimano AreoStradic 2000 reel, 6lb Fireline and a 10lb Stren Heavy Cover leader.
The qualifying rounds of the 2003 Quintrex National BREAM series finish in Bundaberg in August, but the next calendar item for breamers is the MegaBREAM event at Taree in July, where teams will compete for thousands of dollars in cash. Call Stephen Booth on (07) 3268 3992 (b/h) for further enquiries. – ABT.

Series Sponsors: Quintrex, Mercury, Suncorp Insurance, Shimano, Squidgies, Slider, PrawnStar, Mako, Halco.

Associate Sponsors: SeaLink Trailers, VMC, Berkley, Pacific Composites, Compleat Angler, Mossops Tackle Shops, Storm.

Local Area Sponsors: Gold Coast City Marina, Springwood Marine.