Pb Flathead

Nicnat · March 16, 2008

Just got back from down the south coast today where I scored my PB Flathead and 1st Flathead on a SP. Got down there on Tuesday and woke up early Wednesday to a beautiful morning. For those that don't know the place, the lake opens into the ocean on a high tide and Crampton Island splits the north and south beaches with a sand spit across to the island and a little reef on the southern end.

We were staying at the caravan park on the lake so I only had a 500metre walk out to the island and was walking out to the rocks at the northern end when I noticed some bait fish scatter across a shallow rock ledge on the beach. Having experimented with SPs on kings and bream, I had yet to catch a flattie on one, but with this little rock ledge surrounded by clean sand there just had to be some flatties around.

So I waded out into a very small surf, in crystal clear water with not a breath of wind and not one other person around. The water was that clear you could see whiting, garfish and small mullet everywhere and the sun was just starting to poke above the horizon. Definitelty a morning to remember.

After just taking in the scenery I finally started throwing a 75mm shad in anchovy colour into the shallow water. You could actually see it come back bouncing across the sand with the garfish jumping out of its way.

I ended up standing in a foot of water on the rock ledge working both sides when I saw a puff of sand about 10mtrs out right in close to the rock and a big tail which I though belonged to a ray. It then disappeared and I started chucking the SP in that general direction.

The first cast was a little wide and I missed the spot by about a metre on the way in but the second landed perfectly about 5 mtrs further out. A few twitches of the rod and a couple of turns of the reel and suddenly the biggest lizard I have seen launched itself and the SP dissappeared. This all happened in 2 feet of crystal clear aquarium water about 10 mtrs away from me so I could see it in every detail.

I was so stunned at first I barely moved until the flattie woke me up again by taking off against the light drag set on the 8lb line. I almost lost my footing jumping off the rock onto the beach side as I wanted to get away from the rocks and walked down the beach a little.

With shaking hands I remembered the 8lb leader and tried to go real easy and after around 5 minutes had him close in a couple of inches of water with every wave bringing him almost to my feet and then taking him back out again. Eventually the inevitable happened and the leader snapped with the biggest lizard I have ever seen flapping at my feet in an inch of water trying to turn himself around so I did the only thing I could think of, threw down the rod and grabbed his tail and under his belly and lifted him clear. Luckily for me she was as stuffed as I felt and didn't offer much resistance.

I then let out the biggest yahoo that must have scared every seagull for a mile and admired the big bastard. As luck would have it, I had not brought a camera, tape or anything else to measure him with and there was no one else around - just me holding this whopper flathead. I almost had the knife ready to finish him off and walk back into camp victoriously when I just couldn't do it. So I retrieved my soggy gear and tried to get a rough measurement off the rod and then swam her in the shallows and watched her slowly head back out after recovering for a few minutes.

Trying to work out measurements later she was a minimum of 90cm long and it was one of the most perfect mornings I've had - a 1st Flathead on SP and a PB as well.

For those interested we also scored lots of salmon, tailor, bream and trevally over the 3 days with a couple of monster rays, but nothing compared to that 1st flathead