jenno64

Roberta, I troll with HBs most of the time and spend my time scanning the sounder for the exact drop-off spots that I think fish will lie in. To me its a challenge to find the ambush zones. I also line up land marks to establish good troll lines and find more succesful trols are with or across the tidal flow rather than against it. However, quite often I will stop to retieve both lines, de-weed lures and recast. Many times when I have put the pedals down I get hit. Being in a Hobie I also often completely stall and then accelarate in a different direction to impart extra life into the lures. Occasionally when I quickly retrieve alure to check it, it will be hit very aggressively. Bottom line for me is finding the ambush points at a time of the tide when the flatties are looking for baitfish to pass over them. I also note down which spots fish better on a rising or falling tide. Somtimes I will troll two lines and flick a plastic to the front or side to cover all bases. I must admit I prefer using HBs or bait to SPs ad I'm sure many people will think I'm completely mad!

I think they are the best eating fish on the planet! Do you guys ice them down on capture and cut fillets off them?

That's a sensational effort! Did you get them over weedbeds/flats?

Senstaional pics there Ray and wasn't it a perfect morning to be out!

Hit the Georges this morning at 6:30am to fish the last of the run out. Arrived and was greeted by warm air, not so cold water, no wind, nice cloud cover and....no sounder battery!!!! Headed of and fished blind, trolling a variety of lures in water from 3-10'. Picked up one flatty early and there was surface action all around but things went quiet for an hour either side of the low. Tried unweighted gulps and other bits and pieces but no interest. Just as I gave myself an hour to go at 9:30am. Things started to pick up along with the incoming tide. Must have used over 10 different lures but the last half hour saw me complete a feed of five flatties from 42-55cm. The fish were caught on a variety of HBs (biggest coming in on the smallest lure! Got in before the deluge! Beer battered flathead fillets on the menu this week

Great session Mako....pink and gold lures ....can't go wrong!

Local knowledge is gold. When I go on hols to fish its often pretty tough getting into good numbers of quality fish ....the first thing I do when I get back is hit one of my favourite spots and bring home a feed.

Se what happens when you read this forum Top effort!!!

Now that Ray looks like a very pleasant way to spend the day! Great pics too!

That is a set of trophy fish!!!! Which number SX 40 is that ...I think I have a similar one but with some blue on it?

That's a soapy in a whiting suit! Wow!

Congrats on the PB and sounds like a great session!

Well done you are firing with HBs...I lost my favourite one to a snag this arvo!

Now that's a solid feed!

That's what happens when you have a SUPERCOACH!

When the water warms up and I get the bigger poddies (around 12-15cm) I use them to target big flathead in summer and autumn. I pin them through the nose and drift with the tide with two rods out of my kayak. Occasionaly a tailor will snip one off in deeper water or squid will ambush them and take a chunk out of the back of their neck but 9 out of 10 turn into decent flatties. I use the wide gap hooks and 90% of fish are hooked through the corner of the mouth safely protecting a 10lb leader. If I'm shore-based then I hook them through near the anal fin. But that's a pain in the arse so kayak fishing wins most of the time.

Nice whiting there!!

Nice work Bill...were you on the yak at the time? That lure in the bream's gob looks as big as the bream! Bad luck on the big flatty but I guarantee that if you persevere in that area where you fished, you will get one that big....jusy might need to upgrade your leader a little!

I like the way the sizes grew throughout the post What line were you using?

Sounds like a good session. I find further up the river, the water is warmer on the run in unless its been a 35 degree day and the water on the flats has warmed up. On my sounder in the kayak, the temperature fluctuated between 15 and 17 all day depending on the depth I was fishing.

Thanks Rob!

Landbased, I would work the groins off Ramsgate with plastics and yes the fish are safe to eat. Just scale them and take the bones out!

The snapper show continues! Top effort to get out there in the big blow and get some quality fish!

MOMMA!

Headed out with a mate yesterday morning to the area where I got the jew on Sunday, hoping for a few flatties for a feed last night(The jewey fed over a dozen people throughout the week!). Had plan B ready in case the predicted wind came up but all was pretty calm so I trolled mt triumphant jew conquering lure along with another new prawn like HB behind for an hour without interest. As the tide picked up some outrun, I came up tight on a fish that didn't put up much stoush until it got close and whoah!! big unhappy fish! This flatty was at least 60-65cm and it deathrolled before spitting the hooks and gliding peacefully to the bottom. I don't often lose flatties on these lures with 2 sets of trebles but I had replaced the jewey crushed trebles with not so effective models. Feeling good about the action , I convinced my mate to give up the plastics and troll with me. I picked up a 46cm flatty just before a drop-off and then over near the channel, as we were chatting, my rod with the river2sea prawn lure buckled over and it was on! In a minte or 2 I was hooting as a big mumma came up to say hi. Into the net then on the lie-detector on my lap....75cm. She was going back but I hooked her up to a tow line that works like a plastic lip grip and towed her over to a quiet beach for a release. I took a shot on the mat and let her go ...following her out with the camera on video. Back to the yak and I picke dup another good fish in unlikely water and it fought much harder than the previous one but came up a fair bit smaller. Good news was the feed was complete with a fat 58cm flatty. All in all a great day, one good fish lost, one better fish landed and released and 2 to feed us tonight. The wind came up around 11am and we scarpered. My mate managed a few undersized flatties and others but struggled a bit with the tide running and paddling. Go the Hobie! Check out the release! BTW I just bought an 8 megapixel water proof (to 10m) camera from Aldi for $199. I'll post to let you know how it goes