Tweed Flatties On Plastics

[gregg.michael]

Hey there Raiders,

First report. Sorry this is a little late. My internet has been playing up at home. re-configed network now.

Me and some mates had a houseboat on the lovely Tweed river in mid January and we had a ball.

Fish were caught by all on board. Some sizeable schools of bream would come in to feed off the back every afternoon on my berley trail and the bread my lady would constantly toss to them.

Even still there was this nagging feeling that we hadn't caught the fish to write home about.

Thankfully we were given a small trusty yellow dingy with a 5hp - just enough to access some likely spots.

So on the third afternoon a mate named Brendan and myself slipped off for some action as the other 10 people drank and sang the afternoon away on the sundeck.

We were targetting Jacks with hardbodies in one of the wider creeks . It was approcaching dusk and the tide was on the final phase of the run in. The jacks were not co-operating that afternoon, but we knew we were onto a good thing as the creek was exploding with activity as it drew nearer to sunset. Small baitfish breaching and some very exciting follows but no strikes. I really wanted a jack - always have ever since I saw their ferocity on rex years ago. I changed to a small metal sug and Brendan changed to a Kokada Mad Shad in hot pink. My bad.

His first cast he thinks he has a snag- I turn to observe and suddenly the rod starts to buckle. After a short fight ( it was only 1.5 metres deep) the fish surfaces and it stuns us both. The weeks before I had taken Brendan out on my tinny in Sydney to teach him the technique for using Sp's - and we had both landed some nice flatties up to 50 cm's. But this was a NICE flattie.First netting attempt saw the length of the flattie jam up in the entrance of the net as it bent its body. another pass and the flattie slips in nicely headfirst. The soft plastic was only lightly hooked in the upper lip. It went 74cm's. his p.b- caught on 4 pound line - we never weighed it but it was fat. - WELL- time to change to a soft plastic then!

Which I did hurridley and on my first cast - I landed a respectable 45 cm model. which was a good thing because a moment later the fisheries officer came tearing into our quiet little creek to inspect our catch and licenses. He had a sounder so kindly told us the depth we were fishing in.

My flattie had been gut hooked so i kept him for tea. The biggun went into a makeshift livewell - the seats on the dinghy had removable covers and plastic storage cavities inside. so we filled one up and motored back to the houseboat triumphant. After a few pics the fish was returned alive and well - although some people on the boat were hungry for fish dinner! Brendan made the right decision, based on my advice that it was breeding stock.

What a week. Gotta get back and do Tweed out wide aswell as landing that Jack.

OK heres the pics,

Mike

[gregg.michael]

p.s that yellow ruler is 40 cms

[slinkymalinky]

Nice time had by all!! That's a great Flattie... don't think you'd get much of a meal out of the crab though

Cheers, Slinky

[Jewhunter]

It sure is a beautiful part of the world.

Congrats on the lizards. There are plenty of bream around however the jacks can be hard to find.

Glad you had what sounds like a great trip.

Cheers,

Grant.