joking fish

They punch well above their weight, a big bream goes just as hard as a decent Jew.

On Sunday the day after Australia Day I drove out to Newport for an afternoon fish in the rain. Still recovering from the affects of "lambnesia" I tried my luck at my usual spot. Managed about 7 or 8 chopper tailor between 25-30 cm. I kept the largest one that measured 30cm and threw the rest back. I got about 20 red bream, one small silver bream, and a couple of trumpeters which were all thrown back. Then something struck which felt like a small Jew. It turned out to be a 35cm Bream which is the second biggest I have ever caught and my largest at this spot. All fish were caught on gang hooks with pilchards on size 3/0 octopus hooks I am very happy with this session and extremely happy with my catches so far this Summer. I will return to Newport on Wednesday for more fishing mayhem.

Yeah they go hard, they're not the smartest or cunning fish but they make up for it with strength and power.

I decided to go it alone on Friday the 18th as my brothers and mates were busy. It was an absolute stinker and it would have been foolish to fish during the heat of the day. I stocked up on Pilchards, hooks and sinkers from the local tackle shop and arrived at Queen Street Newport and 5pm. I was greeted by local hooligans who brought with them a home made skate board ramp to the jetty. They were taking turns driving their bmx bike off the ramp into the water. Very annoying for me. They had as much right to be there as I did so I packed up and drove 10 mins down the road to Palm Beach. The scene was a lot more tranquil at Palm Beach, but the thunder clouds were looming and looking ominous. I had two rods one medium and one light. The heavier rod was there to stop an elusive King Fish. I heard there are a few in Pittwater at the moment but as a land based angler like me I havn't seen or hooked a King Fish, yet alone caught one (from land). They are my Unicorn Fish, something that is rare and hard to capture. A local told me he had only heard of one legal King Fish caught off the Queen Street wharf. As the storm clouds rolled in at Palm Beach the action was minimal. I saw a huge splash at the bottom of the jetty. I decided to cast in that direction. My light rod equiped with pilchards, a running sinker and gang hooks got ravaged by something big. I had the drag set tight and the fish was taking line. It broke the surface and thats when I knew it was an Aussie Salmon. The line crossed around the other side of the pylon and on light line I feared the line would fray and snap. I tried to pull the fish back towards the open side of the pylon but the fish was stuborn. I managed to gently and slowly bring the fish towards the Ferry boarding side of the jetty where a local was happy enough to net the fish for me. success! Fish netted. I was perplexed because there was a huge chunk of tail taken of the back of the Salmon. Something had a chew on him in the 5-10 mins it took for me to land it. Possibly a shark? How big I will never know. My PB Salmon before this was 58cm. This one was hard to measure because the tail was mangled. This one was somewhere between 57-60cm. Although, this specimen was extremely fat and if it is not a PB in length it would certainly be a PB in weight. It seems that everyone has King FIsh fever at the moment and while this is not a King Fish I am more than happy to catch an Australian Salmon and if the mythical King Fish should ever come along this Summer, I will also become infected with King Fish fever.

The Marble Flathead have a blotchy marble pattern on their body and the Dusky have a black spot on their tail.

???

Marble Flathead is the type of Flathead. Just like Dusky, Blue Spot, Tiger or Sand

Today was a superb day to be out on the water. A real deep sea fisherman's delight. The breeze was slight and the sun beamed down on a placid sea. We saw some dolphins on the way out and we watched as the revelled in merriment. We experienced some good fishing amongst the 20 or so passangers. There was a mixture of Nanygai, Morwong, Flathead with the odd Sweep, Snapper and Leatherjacket making its way on board. My tally at the end of the day was 2 Morwong, a Marble Flathead and a Tiger Flathead. They say if you're catching Marble Flathead you're on good ground. I also caught a stinky Pike which was released without regret. The Morwong was a new PB for me, it measured 53cm. I was beside myself with elatation as this beat my old PB by a good 10cm. It was also my first Marble Flathead. This adventure was definately worth the money and after a cancelation due to bad weather it was definately worth the wait. If you havn't been deep sea fishing off Sydney do yourself a favour and get amongst it. (Also sorry for the semi-nude photo, I hope it doesn't offend anyone).

Yeah, It was good eating, Master Chef eat your heart out

I think you have me confused with someone else, Allan is the dude from two and a half men, I am James

I don't really need to go anywhere else... No BS the fish are usually there I just have to be good enough to catch them

Just a quick update, not worth going into too much detail. I went to Newport this arvo by myself. Landed this nice 47cm Lizard on light gear. The jetty at the arms was getting crowded so I left with my head held high. I cooked the fish tonight with some soy sauce, sweet chilli, garlic and ginger. It was SEEEEEEENNNNNNNSATIONALLLL!!! Nothing says summers back like a steady catch of Flahead. Looking forward to the coming months.

Indeed.....

I have a mentor and his words of wisdom are "the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish you will catch" a simple philosophy but very true. You can use scabby bits of peeled prawn or small bits of squid and all you will get are pickers and jackets. My success has come from using whole pilchards on gang hooks. Preferably WA Pilchards. 3 gang hooks spaced about 1cm appart. If you can't do this rig simply 3 gang hooks attatched to one another is ok too. I have caught the majority of my flathead with dead baits. However I did get a 52cm model on a 3 inch soft plastic. I find however dead baiting works best for me. If you use whole pilchards you will also get the by catch of Tailor, Salmon, Bream and the odd Jewfish and Trevally. Hope this helps. Good luck mate.

True yesterday was bad, today is even worse. I dread to think of the swell being conjured up at West Head right now...

The hooks get stuck in the net and thats why the net appears in the majority of the flathead photos

It was a slow day on the Northern Beaches. I headed to Newport by myself to test the waters. I managed a small yakka which I baited live in hope of a big King Fish or Salmon. It got picked to pieces by jackets whilst still alive. Not a plesant way to go. I lost a good plate size Flounder at the foot of the jetty, that would have made an awsome meal. Too bad I guess. Then a large cruiser docked right in front of me to ruin the serenity. These things usually take about half an hour to depart. It was time for a relocation. I drove to Palm Beach Ferry Wharf and managed a nice healthy lizard. It didn't fight too hard but was extremely difficult to net due to the structure of the dock. She would have been pushing 60cm but I couldn't measure her accurately, could have been slightly bigger or smaller. She was released back into the wild to do what she does best. The lizard fell to gang pilchard. I have a picture and I must confess I have been putting up a few post recently containing big Flathead and whilst all the pictures look similar they are all individual fish. Enjoy the picture and long live the lizard!

Yeah, thats usually the case with this spot, you never what your gonna get.

On Friday afternoon at 4pm my brother and I headed to Newport Arms for our ritual of evening fishing. Armed with gang hooks and pilchards we descended down Queeens Street and made our way to the jetty. Conditions were ok with no wind and a run-out tide. We started fishing and in the first hour and a half we only came up with throw back reds. about 7pm the action picked up. I caught a 35cm Tailor which was bled immediately and put in our bucket. Then my bro caught a 27cm flounder on gang hooks. Strange........... That's not suppose to happen. We had to measure him as I believe now there is a size limit for Flounder of 25cm. Soon after the greedy Flounder I caught a 43cm Soapie which went back in the brine. There was another angler on the wharf who'd never seen a jewie caught before, needless to say he was humbled and in awe. A few casts later my rod was bent in half and line started peeling off the reel. A war of attrition ensued and as I was fighting my fish my bro said "i'm getting bites," He hooked up and landed his fish while I was still fighting mine it was a 65+ cm Flathead. I was so distracted that my carbon copy of his fish snagged me under the jetty. I was livid! We put his fish back in the water to breed again. All up in about 2.5 hours of fishing we kept a Flounder and a Tailor and let the soapie and the Flathead go. It was a decent session and a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon.

It's good to hear there are still fish in the Hawkesbury, from recent reports it has been hard going.

<br /><br /><br />It was decent, I skinned it, cut it into strips, coated it in flour, then shallow fried it with olive oil, sweet chilli sauce, ginger & garlic and soy sauce. It turned out pretty good.

I've got a mate who says if you skin them they taste fine. I may have been over excited in keeping it, but I havn't caught too many Jewies. I havn't eaten many neither so if it tastes foul even after it's skinned it will be a lesson learned.

Yes, thats the one.

WA Pilchards

The breeze was blowing and there was an icy chill in the air. My Brother and I arrived at Newport, at 3pm on a rising tide. I said in my last report that I was yet to catch a big Flathead. I also predicted I would land one before the Summer was over. Little did I know it would happen this soon. In the space of 3 days I have caught a pb Bream (38cm) and now a pb Flathead. It's almost like inception, fantasy, the stuff dreams are made of and it would be hard to find a better Hollywood script to promote the insanely good fishing we experienced today. My brother kicked things off when he landed a 62cm Flathead, a massive pb for him. We let her go to breed more babies, and because it seemed like the right thing to do. A quick pic then back in the drink. Not to be outdone I hauled in a colossal 71cm specimen, a new pb for myself. Cheering! Back in the blue she went. Towards dusk I landed a 45cm Jewie which I kept. My brother landed 2 Tailor, one 36cm and the the other 43cm. He also lost a massive Salmon that would have capped off a stellar day. We did get snagged abit due to the wind but the excellent fishing numbed the frustration. We also hooked two greedy sea-gulls (inadvertantly) that couldn't say no to the pillies we tossed out. The sea-gulls were released unharmed. Once again it was the 2/0 gang hooks that did the trick. Will be out again next weekend for more radical fishing adventures.