It has been a long lay-off between tournament wins for Manning River Marine's Kris Hickson, but the Daiwa-backed angler — known up and down the New South Wales coast as Captain Risky — punched through that drought at the Hawkesbury this weekend, taking out the Baitjunkie-sponsored round of the 2026 Daiwa Bream Series.
Asked by ABT's Steve Morgan how long it had been since he last hoisted a Happy Gilmore-sized novelty cheque, Hickson was candid. "Ever since I come back from the trip, I haven't done a great deal of tournaments each year, and I've had to borrow boats for them," he said. "I think Mallacoota when I first got back from traveling was the last time I actually had a solid win, so it's good to get back on the top of the podium."
Part of the story is the boat. Hickson is the only angler in Australia running an FC Tomcat — a South African-built tri-hull bass boat powered by a 250 Pro XS Mercury. "It's the only one over here. David Dudley, I think, was running one in the States as well," Hickson said. "It's actually a tri-hull, just on just over 20 ft, but 2.3 wide nearly from back to front. Massive fishing platform."
Heavy swell at the start of the round was the first real shakedown. "I actually wasn't sure how it would go in this sort of weather, like big swell, really choppy water, and it handled it as good as anything else I've got," he said. "Going with the waves, to be honest, is probably the best thing I've ridden in. We've still got a bit of work to do. It's a new boat. They're still doing mods to them. I think the potential's there to be a cracking boat."
On the water Hickson bagged 4.235 kg on day one for third place, then pulled away on day two with 5.31 kg for a 9.545 kg total, edging Judd Kirkland by less than a kilo. He had no idea where his second-day bag was sitting. "It was a bit of a grind. We were spot hopping and moving around a lot," he said. "When I caught a fish it was just get it in the net, get it in the tank, and let's keep going because we need to catch more."
A last-cast upgrade was decisive. "I think I caught — it was pretty much the last cast — got an upgrade. It must have been a 35, 36 fork as well," he said. "I think to be honest, I think they're all about the same 36 fork-ish and one smaller one."
The Cranka Crab, fished on a 7'4" LFSXSST solid-tip rod with a Daiwa Caldia 2500 and 10-lb fluorocarbon leader, did most of the heavy lifting. "I probably caught most of the fish in my bags this week on the crab. Heavy crab upgraded with the bigger crab claws," Hickson said. "It was a really finesse-y, finicky bite this weekend, so the solid tip was good for those little plucks on the crab. They were confident to eat it and then it had enough backbone that I can drag them out of the washes or the rocks."
Hickson described a river fishing wide-open after a dry stretch: "We've had no rain, the fish have spawned by the look of it. They're pretty skinny, but they are super spread out. Every creek, every gully, every bay has potential to have fish in it."
The win locks Hickson straight into the Daiwa Bream Series Grand Final at Forster — a venue that, even though he lives twenty minutes away, he says he no longer fishes much. "Forster's changed a lot over the last few years. It's sanded up a lot. A lot of weeds died out in the lake," he said. "On paper, should be a good topwater tournament and guys should catch them from the top of the lake to the top of the river to the bottom of the racks."
