doug43

Hi Mate, I saw your report from Knobby great spot isn't it. We got some great waves there during the trip. The fish was caught a week or so before easter and the day the big rains hit there. I was lucky to get the one day of fishing in because after that the river flooded and came up about a foot in depth, tried to fish it with the flood water but didn't catch a single lizard with so much fresh. Hey Steve, She went about 85 cms. I just use a starlo stix lite spin with a stradic 2500, 6lb fire line 8 lb yozuri flourocarbon..... I was wishing the leader was twice as thick once i felt the weight of this fish but i was lucky in that it was hooked just under the mouth away from those shredding teeth! 8lb is light i know but it does ok on normal sized flatties and helps increase the by catch....... i think. Doug.

Hi raiders, I have been using suneline super PE in both 6 and 10lb. These lines are great for the diameter, strength and limp construction however i do have issues with airknots occuring after lots of casting while working plastics on the bottom.... when it happens they are usually doozies. Has anyone had this problem and over come it?

I agree with thoughts on the starlo stix lite spin. It's a nice rod for thr price.

Hi Mike, I have a shimano snapper raider matched with a 4000 diawa advantage reel and loaded with 20lb sunline. I use this when spinning for kings and find it to be great for the job! It can cast a lure a mile with that extra length and has a decent amount of stopping power on a tight drag when poppering near structure. Doug.

Hey Cam, She measured about 85cm but this was only guaged by holding the rod against her and measuring later i was wading with only the bare essentials. I didn't really expect such good things from this little river. All i know is it was by far the biggest heaviest lizard i've tangled with. I was pretty happy! cheers. Doug.

Hi All, I haven't posted on the site for awhile so i thought i'd share a pic of a flathead i caught and released recently at Crescent Head. I caught this fish while wading and flicking around a little Atomic Prong. It came right at the end of day that had already provided a great session on smaller flathead. Just a little proof that those multiple 'one last cast' situations can come up with the goods!

Thats a big healthy flatty there. They really start to fell weighty on a line at that size don't they. Top work.

Terrific fish!! You've got it wired.

well done on the plastics, This will be the first of a load of species for you now. Have fun with them.

Nice bag there. Nice feed with the flatties and good fun with the kings.

Terrific fish!! It's grest to see you 're scoring serious kings in the Bay. Very well done.

Hi all, Thought i'd put a little post up showing what some of the flathead i've been catching lately have been dining on. First was a few weeks ago and was a Mantis shrimp about a third the length of the flatty. The next was last weekend and i noticed a hard lump in the belly of a fish. Cutting the fillets off later i found the hard lump which turned out to be a sea horse! I know they fancy just about any lure you throw at them but after seeing some of these things inside them i'm wondering about what they won't eat!... Maybe the real question is when are we going to see the sqidgey seahorse in the tackle shop. Was interested to see what other creatures have been found inside flatties by fellow raiders??? Doug.

Nice work with the Son. It must be mantis shrimp on the menu for flatties this month. I've attached a pic of a freshly swallowed shrimp that was inside a decent flattie i took from the harbour a couple of weeks ago.

Good stuff hodgey, Those flatties would have been great to see flying around in the shallows, I'll be interested to see the effect of those dolphins and the closed inlet in the coming months.

This weekend I thought I might experiment with some lures and techniques I’ve not used before the first being some sand flat luring with worm plastics and after seeing all the raiders reports on shallow water poppering and reading various magazine articles on the subject I decided I’d give that a go as well These are styles of fishing I’ve never tried before but I could definitely see the appeal so after heading down the tackle shop for some gulp sand worms and a couple of lucky craft poppers I was on the water and off to the nearest sand flat. First off I tried the worms out in some water about a metre deep. I spend alot of time jigging plastics so I thought I'd start the day with a method I knew a little better. The first takers of the worms were a couple of lively flatties which were very agro in such shallow water and after a few more casts a nice little trev got in on the action. I was really pleased with getting a few straight away and was really surprised at the hookup ability of the worm considering they are 5 inches long and the jig head less than an inch from the front. Having caught some fish on plastics I then tied on one of the little poppers and moved up into some really shallow areas. I began casting about and retrieving in the way I’ve read about. It took awhile to get the walk the dog retrieve to work but once I had it I began to get some interest from the fish straight away. I now see why people are so keen on poppering the flats because seeing the fish following and harassing that little popper was fantastic! It took about five missed strikes before I hooked my first fish and after a short tussle I landed a nice little bream followed by a little whiting and some smaller bream. It was great to try new methods and have some success. Alot of what I have read has come from Hodgey's and other raiders reports so thanks for the top info and keep up the great work everyone.

Mate it might have been the only one but it's a bloody Beauty!!!! Top king!

Fantastic!!!!!! Many congrats on an excellent catch.

Great session spic. Jewies on the live bait rig hey, I can see why your old man might not have been too confident with the rod! Superb effort!

Good effort Josh. Looking forward to some summer reports.

Big squid there. Sounds like a fun weekend.

Fantastic fish there Mitch. Sounds like it was the cherry on the top of an already great day. Well done.

Fantastic boat there! And good work on the fish.

Excellent hoodlum Mate. Hope spearhead was just as good i'm seeing them on sat night. Top stuff!

Nice report Hodgey, Thinking of those popper stalking fish gets the hair standing up on the back of the neck. Hopefully you get a warm flush down there soon. For photos guys i use a google download called 'picasa' it has a lot of features and is easy to use.

What a MONSTER! Keep the big fellas coming.