1st Fish On Soft Plastic

[monch]

Hi fishraiders, this is a first time report but i have been cruising around this forum for a few months, absorbing as much information as i can about fishing. i'd like to firstly thank all the regulars for contributing many insightful and informative reports/guides for newbies like me to learn from, it was helped me a lot

Well today i headed out to kurnell with a few friends fishing landbased from the groynes near the oil wharf on the high tide. Wasn't particular targetting any species but was hoping for some trevally or flathead as i was flicking some soft plastics around. Casted out some gulp minnows along the flats and after a while noticed 1 prominent hit but failed to properly hook up and i think the fish spat the hook. After a few more casts in the area i had hooked onto a decent fish and it took a few small runs b4 surfacing and i saw that it was a fairly large flatty, i reckon it was easily 50cm+ (my friends called it for 60cm but i'm conservative). i've seen flatties but haven't hooked up to one myself and was shocked when i saw this "monster" (for my standards) especially for my 1st flatty . As it surfaced it gave some headshakes on top of the water and advice from fellow fishraiders flashed across my mind, "keep its head down", this was also echoed from my friends and they rushed over to try and help me land it. However this was proving difficult as we had no net and the fish kept taking small runs whenever i tried to steer it towards my friend who was leaning out over the rocks to try and get a hold of the leader. Another friend promptly picked up the bucket and started hopping over the rocks as the flatty was being lifted out of the water and swung towards his direction. However the fish decided to give a few good headshakes which promptly sheared my 8lb mono leader and we watched in slow motion as it dropped down and slid into the water . there was disappointment all round but i was content in the fact that i had finally hooked onto a decent fish on a soft plastic and also off kurnell. The day started to quiet down after that with 1 more just legal flatty caught by my mate and also a foul hooked garfish on the soft plastic. i promptly rigged up another rod and cast the garfish out, but when i reeled it in after a few mins to check on it, it had already died. i casted it out again and watched in surprise as the garfish went a nice distance, "yay i thought... nice cast" but to my dismay i had realised that it had flown off the hook .

All in all, not a bad day, one of our better results at kurnell and now i know that i can actually get a fish with soft plastics =D

Edited March 30, 2009 by monch

[Hodgey]

mate and congratulations on your first success with SP's.

What a shame you lost your flattie You'll have to take a net or lip grips with you next time I hope to see another report from you very soon, including some photos of your latest SP conquest

Cheers

Hodgey

[slinkymalinky]

Congrats on hooking into your first good fish on plastic monch. It's a bit like riding a bike... now you've got a feel for it you'll start to find it a lot easier.

Leader choice can be a bugger with flatties... go light and hook a lot more but risk losing them, or go heavier so you're less likely to lose them but get far fewer hits. I recon you're on the right track with 6-10lb. It may seem light but I'd rather hook them first and then worry about landing them.

As Hodgey said, get yourself a set of lop grips or a landing net and next time out you should have some great photos for report #2.

Cheers, Slinky

[Ray R]

Good onya Monch, that was a well written report and I am glad you snared your first SP fish, if all goes well your next report will include a couple of pics of a nice flattie.

Keep at your plastic flicking, bet you will find the plastics section of your local tackle shop a very interesting and luring place to spend some time at as well as a few dollars.

Cheers..

[Blood Knot]

Good onya monch, first flattie on plastic Bad luck loosing it at the end (thats flatties though)

Reckon 8lb leader for flatties is a pretty good compromise - (may be try some 8lb flourocarbon leader rather than mono).

Just keep "the gentle lift of the rod and reel in the slack retrieve" going and cover plenty of fresh ground and more flatties will follow.

John

[wonniefisho]

Yep, your first fish on SP's is fantastic. Mine was a big flattie too, in the Woronora, which I ultimately lost before landing. I rarely take a net as I rarely catch anything big enough to need a net in the wonnie, but this thing was a monster. Keep it up, the thrill never goes!

[Richard1]

what sort of SP was it that you used? i am going to start using SP instead of bait and i have no clue what they go for.