A Sydney local with no prior open finals on his resume has walked off with the 2026 Daiwa BREAM Australian Open trophy and a six-thousand-dollar cheque on his first try — Baulkham Hills bream specialist Craig Noorbergen, who fished his way to the title between Lane Cove and upper Parramatta rivers on UV Cranka Crabs dropped into eddies behind pontoons.
Noorbergen sat down with ABT's Steve Morgan after the weigh-in. The interview, posted to ABT Tournaments, set out a tournament plan unusual for its lack of complication: drive to two rivers, hit the same eddies three times a day at different stages of the tide, and let the crab do the work.
"I come from Baulkham Hills. I've lived in Sydney all my life. So I'm a Sydney local. I fish Sydney Harbour quite a lot," Noorbergen said. "It makes it a little bit more comfortable entering a competition like this having a bit of experience and local knowledge and that sort of thing."
The Greg Lee Memorial Trophy he picked up has a Lane Cove story baked into it. Lee himself famously came from tenth place to win the open with over five kilos of Lane Cove River bream on the final day.
"This week I just pretty much ran between Lane Cove River and upper Parramatta River sort of thing," Noorbergen said. "Fishing along rock walls and jetties, pontoons, that sort of thing. Anywhere there was a bit of flow."
The key, according to the new champion, wasn't the structure — it was the broken water directly behind it.
"I'm looking for eddies generally in behind poles and pontoons and that sort of thing and trying to throw the crab into there."
When Morgan asked for the kit, Noorbergen produced a UV Cranka Crab on a Daiwa Revelry 3000 reel and a 782 LFS Daiwa rod — "known as a crab rod". The reel was sized up from typical bream gear specifically for cranking power. Line was 10 lb braid with 8 to 10 lb leaders depending on the spot.
"I know is pretty heavy, but I don't think the heavy leader really affects the crab bite so much because Sydney Harbour obviously is not crystal clear like Pittwater or Cowan Creek," he said. "It's got a bit of colour to the water, so I don't find the leader puts them off. And I still got smoked twice even on 10 lb leader on fish that I couldn't stop."
The presentation was tight to the structure — he aimed to land the crab within six inches of the pole and let it pendulum down inside the eddy.
"Sink it right down. Getting it within 6 in of the pole, I think it's quite important because the way I look at it is that fish are probably feeding on the pole or waiting for food to drift past, so getting it in tight to the pole is important."
Most of the bites came right at the bottom.
"I reckon pretty much all the time just as it hits the bottom," he said. "If not, I just give it a real little shake. All I'm trying to do is lift it, get the claws moving, and just get the crab just hopping a little bit on the bottom and get the claws moving."
Spot rotation was straightforward: three passes per location per day, hitting the same eddies at three different tide stages and trusting the bream to eventually move onto the structure.
"You go there first time, don't get a hit, second time you don't get a hit, you go there third time you might get one," Noorbergen said. "It's hitting basically the same spots at different stages of the tide and just hoping that the fish have moved in on those areas, and usually it works."
A long-time Western City Bream Bass member, Noorbergen closed the chat with the one piece of advice asked of every open winner. For anglers watching from the sidelines, his message was simple: "Have a crack."
