Nickodemus Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Hey guys, Long time reader, first time poster. Just thought I'd let some people who actually care know about the monster lizard I caught last Wednesday out at South West Arms (my girlfriend is sick of hearing about it!) I was out on the sand flats out at Gray's Point with a mate, using some live bait we caught at Oatley Park, 8lb line and 12lb trace. We hadn't had much luck all afternoon but at about 4pm I got a slight tug on my line. I picked it up, it felt like a huge snag but then all of a sudden the flatty on the end went for a huge run. After about 40 minutes of running around the sand flats I managed the pull it all the way to the edge of the shoreline... we both almost ran in the other direction when we saw the thing as it was the biggest flathead we had seen in any photos or websites... it looked like a crocodile!! Unfortunately we had forgotten the net and we couldn't find our flathead gloves and before we could pull it out of the water it got into a huge headshake and snapped off the line :-( In all the confusion, however, we managed to get a couple of very average photos and a quick measure against a rod while it was sitting in the sandflats (which actually turned out to be around the 1.35m mark, but let's be modest and call it 1.2 as it was a rough measure!) . The photos unfortunately don't show the full size of the fish... its head was the size of dinner plate! haha. Anyway, fish of a lifetime and great signs the Port Hacking is in an excellent condition.. it was probably better we didn't land it as these fish are too valuable to risk taking out of the water! Cheers, Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahajo Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Great report great fish tops Hazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Hi Nickodemus to Fishraider. That's a good example of a pretty big flathead.. It's a shame you didn't have yourself in the photo holding the fish, still when you think about it, getting a photo of a flathead of that size is almost as good as netting it. I think I know the area you fished and if it's where there are lots of nipper holes in the sand and dense trees behind you and the channel narrows noticably in front of you, it would pay you to do an overnighter there using the live bait you'll catch off the jetty slightly up river from there. Well done mate Jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennmreid Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 sorry that you didn't land the fish, but a great job in getting in so close. that is when flatties are the most dangerous, in the shallows before landing them. they give that final headshake, and bang. there goes the leader.it has happened to most of us at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer666 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Holy Shit what a monster nice fish mate and to FR Cheers Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gozza Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Nice hook up! Funny you should mention this. A mate and I were out fishing at Como last night, and the exact same thing happened to him. Was just about to land it, then the shake of the head and it was gone. Oh well, these things happen. Better luck next time buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 awesome fish - at least you had the presence of mind to take a photo! thats nearly as good as landing it! Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Welcome nick Thats a huge flatty there are alot off big ones at this time off the year... i also collect my flathead livies at oatley park heaps off herring and poddy mullet. catch atleat 50 livies in 15min between me and my brother dont even need to use bait just put some color on it like hook a pieve of paper and jig it around like a sabiki rig and the herring go crazy... the mullet there are really shy thought wisper and the piss off... Cheers A.dawg~~~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickodemus Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Hi Nickodemus to Fishraider. That's a good example of a pretty big flathead.. It's a shame you didn't have yourself in the photo holding the fish, still when you think about it, getting a photo of a flathead of that size is almost as good as netting it. I think I know the area you fished and if it's where there are lots of nipper holes in the sand and dense trees behind you and the channel narrows noticably in front of you, it would pay you to do an overnighter there using the live bait you'll catch off the jetty slightly up river from there. Well done mate Jewgaffer haha thanks for the condolences guys ;-) I'm only new to fishing so to even get something like that in so close on such light gear made me pretty happy! Jewgaffer - That's exactly where it is... there's a deep channel which runs around the edge of the sandflats. We managed to catch a decent 40cm bream and 35cm snapper off mullet in the channel around the same time. The place is also great for sand whiting... they swim around your feet! A.Dawg - The herring there are the dumbest fish I've ever seen.. they'll attack anything! We caught a ton of mullet there the other day though... a huge one even came and clean snapped off my bait jig under the pier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 A.Dawg - The herring there are the dumbest fish I've ever seen.. they'll attack anything! We caught a ton of mullet there the other day though... a huge one even came and clean snapped off my bait jig under the pier! Hey A. Dawg If there happens to be quite a few other piers alongside the pier you're talking about, and if there's a boat ramp named after a rock with feathers all over it, guess what, you've given my spot away to jetty mutes Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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