Yowie

Very nice.

Must be a few gummies coming about, and like mine, they were in the shallower water. A seafood feast in that photo.

From what I have found in the few fish I catch, the male flatties are usually smaller in size than the females. I cannot remember one male in the larger flatties I have cut open - around 55cms plus.

Fishing, check fishing gear, gardening (veges and a few fruit trees), and watering during the dry weather, gardening at mum's (a few more fruit trees - no more room here), body surfing a few times a week, check out some new wines I would like to buy (if I had any money left), maybe fart arse about with the car.

The smaller ones are better eating around the size you kept. Good work on the bigger fish.

Thank you all. Maybe try a gummy shark another time. As we headed to home base, spotted a few fish splashes up the western end of the broadwater near Gymea Bay. Tailor in one school, which were moving around rather quickly, and salmon in another school which were just cruising along, No takes on a small metal lure.

Headed out this morning with a mate in his boat to Bate Bay. Wind was about 15 knots, a bit much for drifting, so we fished closer to shore than normal, around the 50 to 70 foot mark. This meant less line out than drifting the deeper water. My mate wanted to go today as it was the only day he had free time. The fish were patchy, and quite a few just under sized. The biggest was just under 50cm and the smallest kept was 35cm, all blue spots, with only 3 spikies which were used for bait. Also caught were 3 gummy sharks, around the 1 to 1.2 metre mark. I have fished Bate Bay for many years, and this was the first time I have caught any gummies out there. We thought about keeping 1 for the table, but as we had some flatties, decided to release them. I have heard they make good eating, but never tried one.

Nice catch there.

A mate from Sydney headed to his weekender at Congo over the long weekend and managed a feed of blue spots, not big but enough for a good feed. Hopefully the fish will turn up soon for you.

Looks like a good spot for a fish, good scenery, shame nothing much turned up.

A bag of nice reddies, should go down well on the plate.

I keep fish for up to 3 days for eating - frozen if kept longer, but that rarely happens.

Looking at it from my point of view, I fish only mono, and usually don't use any trace. Just straight to the hook, line strength depending on what and where I am fishing. 6 pound with nippers, 12 or 15 pound handline in the deeper water with fish or squid strips. I use 20 pound clear, high abrasion resistance mono with ganged hooks while using pillies, it gives some resistance to abrasion, however, the teeth of tailor will cut it through anyway. If you are fishing for bream in rocky areas, using light traces, the bream will quite often zero in under a rock. Also remember, it you are using 10 pound line, mono or braid, and you use say 4 pound trace, your line strength is down to 4 pound, not 10 pound. That reduces what pressure you can apply in difficult situations, such as rocky areas.

Thank you all, just finished a feed of the fillets. Marinated in lime juice, lime zest, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce, accompanied by chips and veges, and downed with a bottle of W.A. wine that I bought on my trip to the other side of the world (well, Western Australia that is). My daughter called around for a visit and said, I'll have some of those fillets.

Headed out this morning to Bate Bay with a mate who wanted a feed of flatties. A change to fish there in a bigger boat rather than my tinny. First drop just after sunrise and we stopped after 9am. Released about the same number of Blue Spots as we kept, they were just on or just under legal size. Of the ones we kept, most were 35 to 40cm, with the biggest just on 50cm. Spikey flattie fillets as bait. Little swell and very little wind, so a slow drift but we found the fish, with a few double headers.

As Volitan stated, if it was the same fish, you would expect one or both hooks to be somewhere inside the flattie's mouth/gills/stomach. It is possible for a large flattie, with a hard mouth, to perhaps spit out one hook, but probably not both hooks.

Mantis shrimp as Blackfish stated. Have seen them in the stomachs of jewies in the Hacking.

God work there Rick, nice sized bream when they are around 40cm and bigger.

Very nice. It is always interesting to see a flattie swim up to and grab your bait or lure. They usually smack it pretty hard.

Looks like a good move, and some nice fish to add to the new location.

Bread crumbed and pan fried flattie fillets tonight, very nice. The baker was kicking up a fight from down deep, was expecting a nice flattie instead.

Headed out early this morning, the only day that will be fishable outside this week. Not too much swell and a nice drifting speed. Trolled pillies and spun lures around the mouth of the Hacking for not a touch, so motored out to the flattie drift just on sunrise. Pulled out 5 blue spots and plenty of little spikies, kept a few of the spikies for bait, then the bites stopped. Have had that happen before. Moved around and pulled out a small Sgt Baker then snagged, so must have found a patch of reef out in the middle of nowhere. Re-rigged and moved out a bit, nothing for a while then thought I had hooked a good flattie. Pulled out a bigger than usual Sgt Baker, a quick photo and it was sent back. Would be good to eat except for a million small bones in the fillet. The long fin at the front of the dorsal fin, folded back in the photo, indicates it is a male fish. Moved again and found another patch of blue spots. Not big fish and some distance between them. The flattie photo will not upload for some unknown reason, but similar to others I have posted before.

Nice fish for a youngster.

Surprising they put up a good fight, as I found out 2 months ago at Nyngan.