Wilderness Systems Kayak Fishing - Straddie Challenge Results!

If you've been hanging out to see the results of the Wilderness Systems Kayak Fishing - Straddie Challenge that took place over last weekend, well here they are! A big thank you to all participants for a fantastic weekend and congratulations to all the lucky winners!

On a beautiful May weekend 43 kayak fisho’s converged on South Stradbroke Island for the Inaugural “Wilderness Systems Kayak Fishing – Straddie Challenge. Participants loaded up their kayaks with fishing & camping gear and set off on the 30 minute leisurely paddle across the Gold Coast Broadwater.

Over lunch, on the Saturday, we were all treated to a talk by Eco-Gear sponsored fisherman, Liam Fitzpatrick. In the afternoon the 40+ field charged out onto the Broadwater and spread in all directions. Some headed closer to the Seaway, some to Crab Island and the surrounding flats were also popular. Others headed north for the protected waters and mangroves on the inside of Brown Island, while others sort out the rock walls, pontoons and bridge pylons of Sovereign & Ephraim Islands.

Saturday night was spent around the camp fire with some of Liam & Jen’s karaoke going late into the night. The leader, after the first session, was young Aaron Walker on 52 points closely followed by Liam and Richard Orchard, both on 50 points.

Sunday morning saw some paddlers hitting the water at 6 am, others struggled out of bed quite a bit later than that.

By 10am paddlers returned for the final weigh in’s……congratulations goes to Aaron who managed to upgrade 3 of his fish from the first session and took out Overall Champion on 62 points. The late charge came from Clarky who was able to add 2 more scoring fish to his 3 from the previous day and took out the runner-up prize finishing on 56 points.

The Top 10 and Biggest Fish were as follows:

Position	Name	Points
Overall Champion	Aaron Walker	62
Runner Up	Scott Clarke	56
3rd Place	Liam Fitzpatrick	52
4th Place	Richard Orchard	50
5th Place	Greg Pratt	44
6th Place	Bill Hossack	43
7th Place	Paul Atkinson	35
8th Place	Wayne Dunkley	32
8th Place	Travis Wheeler	32
10th Place	Kristian Martin	25

Category	Length	Name
Big Bream	37cm	Travis Wheeler
Big Flathead	52cm	Wayne Dunkley
Big Whiting	37cm	Paul Atkinson
Big Tailor	45cm	Scott Clarke
Big Trevally	39.5cm	Aaron Walker
Big Jew	44.5cm	Liam Fitzpatrick

Kristian Martin borrowed a kayak to participate in the Straddie Challenge weekend. After having a great time, and catching a few fish, he was extremely excited to take out the lucky door prize, a brand new Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120.

Thanks to all our sponsors who helped to make this event possible. Due to their wonderful support all participants were able to go home with a prize.

Wilderness Systems who put up a Tarpon 120, an AT paddle and an assortment of kayak accessories came on as the major sponsor of the event.

Sea to Summit provided dry bags, phone cases, paddle leashes, PFD’s & paddling gloves.

Mantra Kayaks supplied a number of kayak stands.

Barz Optics – floating, Polaroid sunglasses.

Fish Brain Lures (by Brad Dicker) – hand crafted timber lures.

Eco Gear – lures & soft plastics

Thanks also to Christian from Wilderness Systems as well as Brad & Liam who helped out throughout the weekend.

Well that’s it…..until next year. Thanks to all who participated and provided the great feedback at the end of the weekend. Please spread the word so that next year is only bigger & better. For those who missed the “Straddie Challenge” this year, pencil this in as a must-do weekend on your kayak fishing calendar next year.