frankie machine

Hey Raiders, Put the yak in nice and early before the rain at Kogarah Bay ramp today - first time for me there so didn't really now how, where to drop a line but it looked like a nice place to have a paddle. Drifted through the moored boats flicking a soft plastic and 15 mins in got a just legal flattie, which went back in, so very happy there were some fish around. Went for about another 45mins and dropped something, then a snag took my jighead so decided to change to a blade and put on an Ecogear ZX30 - good decision. In next hour caught 4 more flatties ranging from 25 to 35cm, a couple of bream 20 and 25cm and a chopper tailor. All went back in, but it was great fun catching them. Hopefully those flatheads will fatten up and still be around in a month or so. Sorry no pics - don't trust myself with the camera in the yak yet! Cheers

That's a cracker. I got a 43cm whiting in the bay last year, which was easily the best I've ever caught.

Awesome haul fellas. that's a great morning's work.

That's a great fish. Shows that persistence pays off.

Great fish. Glad to see the flatties are coming on the chew. And good work on releasing the big girl. Cheers

Hiles, I bought a fishing kayak recently - a moken 12 from feelfree - so had been doing a bit of research on brands/prices. For $500 i reckon you'll be looking at the second hand market. You can get a new one for $500 but at that price the quality ain't great. If you go second hand do a search of some specialised kayak fishing websites, they often have dedicated posts for sales.

Victorski, If you've got a car head down to Botany Bay - I cut my teeth learning soft plastics at Frenchman's Bay, Yarra Bay, Conwong Beach on the north side, anywhere along Brighton Le Sands in the middle and then Dolls Point (my favourite spot in the bay) at the end of Brighton Le Sands. Sand bottoms so no snag problems and great places to walk and cast. Cheers

I like Nitlon, but Yamatoyo Harris Fighter is my favourite.

Hey Raiders, Thanks for all the positive replies and more great advice. Roberta, the fish sticker on the paddle is a simple but effective idea and Paul that place you mentioned around Conwong sounds great. Unfortunagtley due to work I won't be able to get out again for a couple of weeks, but already hanging out to give it another crack. Cheers

Hey Raiders, Four years into my fishing career and I took the plunge and bought a fishing kayak – a Moken 12 Angler. Picked it up yesterday and wrestled it on the roof racks (lesson No.1: lay a towel on the back of the Mazda – hope the wife doesn’t see the scratch). With the piggy bank suffering (and having been inspired by a posting on a yak fishing site), I stopped off at a hardware store on the way home a spent a couple of dollars on some pvc pipe to knock up a cheap rod holder – for someone whose handyman skills are tested by changing a lightbulb I was pretty chuffed with the end result. Up this morning and armed with some brilliant kayak tips from Fishraider guru Roberta (thanks again), with the wind having dropped, I headed out to La Perouse with hopes the maiden voyage would have a better ending than the Titanic. Successfully unloaded kayak, loaded it up and headed for the sand (lesson No.2: keep rod out of rolder when you’re moving kayak past trees – spent about 5 minutes untangling line). Out on the water and the sun’s coming up, I’m happy just cruising close to the shore getting the feel of how the kayak goes. Took a small supply of lures to really just do some practise casting, not really expecting any result. Then after about 20 minutes get the shock of my life when I hear that lovely ‘whizz’ of the reel. Concentrate not to panic so I don’t lose my balance and then start reeling in a top little tubby tailor. Go to grab the net (then realise I have to unhook it from cord - d’oh) but successfully land the tailor. Muck around trying to get the fish ruler out of hatch (lesson No.3: get a fish sizing sticker for the hull) and it comes to 38cm. Absolutely rapt, even though it had totally destroyed the MF40 soft vibe I’d been throwing around. Spent another hour just cruising, drifting, casting – the shoulders are feeling a bit tight now - but an absolute great way to spend the morning, bring on the warmer weather.

Great fish and the photo of the seagull is hilarious!

I've had the most success with Mango - caught flatties, trevs and bream on that colour. Cheers

Hey lads, Thanks for all the replies. I've tried bread a few times but find that it gets hammered by all the little stuff near the surface before it can get down to wear the drummers lurk. Cheers

Hey Raiders, I've had a bit of joy this winter catching drummer with cunjevoi, but where I fish around Bronte it's illegal to collect and I can't always get down to the southern beaches to collect it. What other baits do you use for the pigs? I also read somewhere that gulp alive baits can sometime attract drummer - has anyone had success with that? Cheers Frankie

Great effort. I got a couple off Bronte a couple of weeks ago

Poddy, On a couple of vibrating blades I've replaced the rear treble with single gamakatsu single hooks - still keep the treble in the middle. Have had success with this set-up, but can't say for sure if it's been more successful that keeping trebles. Cheers

Top fish and good work on the release. Hopefully you'll get some of her offspring.

Great work lads.

Well done on your first SP flattie. I can only agree with the other Raiders, you'll be hooked forever now. Cheers

Hey Cungee George, I find it's better if you salt it and keep it in fridge for a couple of days, but if I put it in the freezer I really hit it with a heap of salt and that seems to keep it in okay shape. Cheers

Hey Raiders, Such a cracking winter day in Sydney so had to get out somewhere. Had some frozen cunjevoi in the freezer so got the Alvey out and headed down to the rocks just south of Bronte Beach. Conditions were very calm but 15 minutes in I had caught one small drummer(about 25cm, who went back in), then got a nice hit. Good looking drummer hooked right on the edge of the lip, managed to get it in but then dropped it - right into my berley bucket. Its thrashing about spraying my face and t-shirt with stinky berley but I managed to subdue it. Caught three more under-sized drummer which went back in - even those small ones put up a tough fight - before one more legal one for the plate. Finished up when I caught two of those horrible red rock cod in a row, but all-in-all a great couple of hours in the winter sun. Cheers

Great haul Jenno, I got one last weekend and was busted off by another (on 15lb) just as I got it to the rocks. Skinned and pan fried in Japanese panko breadcrumbs, they're one of the best on the plate IMHO.

Hodgey, You are definitely the king. Great haul of winter flatties.

Thanks Slinky and Jenno. Jenno you're right about Hodgey - following his tips and advice has made me a much better fisherman.

Basscatcher, Thanks. Yes, it wasn't an aggressive hit - I use Hodgey's 'Targetting Winter Flathead' post as a guide and reckon his advice is spot on. I was using the new Ecogearaqua Bug Ants - i only got them yesterday so that was another reason I was keen to get out today and try them! They're expensive, but an 80cm flattie was worth the price.