Episode Details

The Tasmanian leg of the ABT tour wraps up in style as the 2026 Duo Tasmanian BREAM Teams Open heads to the iconic waters of St Helens, Tasmania. In this episode of The Bream Fishing Project, Andrew breaks down one of the most unique tournament formats seen in recent years — a catch-photo-release teams event where anglers could upgrade their five-fish bag across both competition days.

With late 10am starts, gentleman’s hours, changing tides, and fish spread between racks, flats, gutters and shallow edges, this event forced competitors to think differently. The result was a dramatic two-day battle where no lead was safe and teams could surge through the field right up until the final session.

This episode features full interviews with the top three teams from the event, diving deep into the tactics, lure choices, and adjustments that helped them unlock the St Helens BREAM bite.

In this episode: 🥉 3rd Place – Team Cranka Shimano

Steve Steer breaks down an incredibly technical tournament built around:

• Fishing shallow oyster racks with crabs
• Working gutters and channel markers at low tide
• Using Cranka Crabs in the famous spotted crab colour
• Adjusting tackle overnight after getting smoked by big fish on day one
• Fishing “gentleman’s hours” and why the late starts suited St Helens perfectly

Steve also shares detailed insights into:

• Fishing crabs away from structure
• Subtle rod-tip movements for natural crab presentations
• How tide movement positioned fish on the flats
• Why St Helens fish fight so hard in shallow water

🥈 2nd Place – Team Force Lures

Jon Fitzgibbon and David Shanahan detail a massive comeback charge from outside the top spots into second place after finding fish on shallow wind-blown flats late on day two.

Topics include:

• Fishing lightly weighted DUO Sprats in the Cleaver colour
• Using Force Paddle Tail Grubs around racks and shallow edges
• Pushing the boat through freezing Tasmanian shallows to access hidden water
• Big shallow-water fish nearly spooling reels
• The importance of adapting when racks shut down

The pair also discuss how one decision to abandon the racks and drift a protected shallow flat completely changed their tournament.

🥇 1st Place – Team Australia 2 + Tas

Peter Maisey and Jesse Rotin take the win with an impressive 6.221kg combined total built around:

• Bait Junkie 2.95 Flicks on light jigheads
• Daiwa Infeet Sazanami jerkbaits
• Fishing subtle flats close to deeper channels
• Managing nerves while leading overnight
• Picking apart shallow flats during tricky tide windows

The boys explain how they stayed calm under pressure on day two, worked through changing wind conditions, and slowly upgraded key fish to secure the victory.

This episode is packed with advanced tournament insights covering:

• Shallow-water flats fishing
• Rack fishing strategies
• Crab presentations
• Light-line tournament tactics
• St Helens tide timing
• Hardbody vs soft plastic approaches
• Team strategy and communication during high-pressure events

If you love technical tournament fishing and hearing how Australia’s top anglers adapt on the fly, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

🎣 Sponsors & Supporters

A huge thank you to:

• DUO
• Wilson Fishing
• Force Lures
• Bait Junkie
• Daiwa
• ABT Tournament Series

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