cogo44

Good quantity but the size did not seem so impressive. What depth were you fishing?

Well done mate! Another convert to catching and eating your own fish. It doesn'y get any better especially when it comes to fllathead.

Yet again, the weather forecast today on the majority of sites was way off. Despite wind warnings it never got over fourteen knots at North Head. Still, we must err on the side of caution and look forward to a future day’s fishing.

Top stuff and a great report!

We went south of The Heads yesterday and found the flathead were fairly shy but there were plenty of whiting around. A patch of reef produced a 3.5 kilo red as well as a one kilo model. Later the biggest nannygai we have seen came on board but it's in my freezer to be weighed later but was well over one half a kilo in weight. Despite the constant drizzle it was a good day for drift fishing.

We went out on Monday with me in high spirits having watched the mighty Roostersvtakebout the NRL premiership. The good times continued as we had our best day’s fishing this year. Flathead were well and truly on the bite off Sydney Heads and further south. The reefs however were pretty quiet.

Correct.

Eight of us went out on Friday in ideal conditions. The snapper were not hungry out from North Head so we went to Rosa Wide. In the past we have had very good catches of flathead in early August and so it proved again. We also saw a young whale slapping its tail with a whale watcher boat close behind it. Green eye sharks were caught for the first time in many years and there were a few jackets around but far more whiting. This was a good sign and by the time we upped lines there were forty flatties in the mix. The best one weighing in at 1.2 kilos cleaned was caught two minutes before we upped lines. If you can find the hot spot aggregations at this time of the year, flathead is the go.

Has anyone used Pro Cure gels on fish strip baits? Any success? Which scents have produced good results?

It's usually better around the new moon rather than the full moon off Sydney. However, looking back at our records, there have been plenty of exceptions. How many fishos go out religiously according to the solunar tables?

Last Friday, among some average sized flathead south of The Heads, there were heaps of good sized whiting and spiky flathead attacking the baits. The strong current was the only problem as it picked up around midday.A good sized flounder even came on board in sixty metres of water. Very unusual we thought.

The flatties are lying low to come out to play on Saturday at Long Reef - hopefully!

The price you pay mate for leaving the Northern Beaches!

On Tuesday, we found flatties as well as morwong on the chew wide off Collaroy and Long Reef despite a strong current that made it difficult most of the time. In close, we only found juveniles. The size of the flathead were much bigger than we have recently found south of the Heads.

Your report makes for great reading and good on you for realising your passion. To get a council sticker, go to the council building in Dee Why and they will get you to sign a statutory declaration when you show them proof that you live in the council area. You will get two stickers issued to you on the spot. Good luck mate and enjoy your fishing.

A charter skipper told me this year that two trawlers do operate sometimes in close off the area south of the Heads. I had also thought that they were restricted to further out from the coast. Apparently not so!

You can certainly get flathead not too far south of The Heads so long as you get a good drift going. I reckon that gurnard is just about equal to flathead on eating quality.

Went out on Monday and moved around an area out from North Head. Mowies and keeper snapper were around and once we got to the sand areas some decent flathead and numerous whiting were snagged. While the wind was 10 knots and down to 5 knots by 1.00pm, we still experienced numerous monumental tangles. One sage on board claimed that the current is slow on the dark of the moon but picks up around the full moon. Not sure about that! Any ideas? Nevertheless a good time on the water with enough action to please everyone on board.

A week earlier, the flatties were in numbers off Curl Curl but the sizes of the fish caught were modest.

Landed more tailor off the Waverley Cemetery to Vaucluse area on Thursday than I can remember. Plenty of fish on the sounder but they weren't particularly hungry. The current was going against the wind making for. Very slow drift. At least we finally got out on the water!

Great report writing makes for an excellent read. Well done! We use one pound sinkers all the time and rarely go lower. However, we usually fish in 60 - 70 metres off Sydney and our best catch is nearly always flathead. The days of catching 1.5 kilo (cleaned) flathead however seem to be in the past as anything over one kilo is likely these days to take the fish of the day prize unless a fat mowie comes on board. Keeper snapper on the drift are also few and far between.

Drifting off the Stink Pipe was the go for flatties on Thursday.

Chinese just adore pigfish. Steaming them is the way to go. By the way, the flathead were on the bite south of the Heads on Thursday. We scored our best catch this year.

The flatties were also on the bite at Long Reef last Sunday with some large jackets also in the mix. Two whales also came within thirty metres of our boat and circling it before diving deep. Wow!

The flathead drifts south of The Heads were alive with whiting on Sunday. The flathead were probably full of the little buggers and eight of us only managed 18 lizards. We snagged over forty whiting. The reefs were reasonably productive when the northerly finally kicked in. We were surprised to catch a pinkie so close to shore. A great winter's day on the water!