Harbour Jew And Another Pb Flathead

[tide'n'knots]

hi raiders, I have fished the harbour the last two nights for very different results. On saturday night I had a rare opportunity to fish for jew with my son and was really looking forward to helping him get a decent jew as although he has caught jew in the past it has been several years since he has even caught an undersized soapie. For some reason when ever we fish together our trip seems to be cursed and the jew never turn up and unfortunately saturday night was exactly the same..............damn! We arrived full of confidence after thursdays effort of 2 jew and a big one dropped, but it just didnt happen.

Last night was a whole new ball game though! I made a decision to put in an all nighter because I am currently on holidays until wednesday. I fished the same spot that I got the jew on thursday night and my son and I fished on saturday night and by 1.15am there was still nothing in the bag! At this stage I started to think that thursday night may have been a bit of a fluke and not wanting to sit all night in a spot that wasnt producing I decided to move and try somewhere else, I was in a mood for exploring so I stopped at a spot that looked ok that I have previously not fished before and 15mins later a nice jew of 58cm was in the boat, about 2 hours later another jew of 60cm as well as a nice bream and a legal snapper of 35cm, then at around 4.30am one of the rods went - whack, whack, then nothing, I knew the fish was big by the decent pulls but I doubted it was a jew. After a minute or so waiting for the fish to come back I slowly lifted the rod and felt extra weight so I struck hard and came up solid on a nice fish. I was still unsure of what it was at this stage and at first I was thinking big eel, but the fight was not typical of an eel, it swam a bit slower than a decent jew but suddenly I felt some headshakes and started thinking I had hooked a sick jew, then it surfaced and a massive flathead of 82cm was on the line. After twice falling out of the landing net back into the water I thought it was going to get off but the third attempt got it in the boat and as it turned out the hook was down deep and firmly lodged and the heavy leader was still strong enough to lift it by the trace straight into the boat so it was never going to get off.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I got my PB flathead and this one smashed my previous record.

I pulled the pin at around 5.30 and went home very happy, but dissapointed that my son never got to share the experience.

pete.

Edited May 17, 2010 by tide'n'knots

[Brooker435]

Well Done Pete,

Wont be long before your son get's a decent Jew again with a mentor like yourself it's a sure thing!!!

nice catches by the way well deserved for the effort put in!!!!

Regards,

Nathan

[prawn*]

well done nice bag there gona be a few tasty meals there!!

[Ryinoz]

Does anyone practice catch and release?

[marcel haber]

Does anyone practice catch and release?

Firstly well done Pete on the great session, good to see that the time and effort you have put in over the holidays has payed dividends.

Secondly - Pete has broken no laws here so to the who has had a go at him - drop it, you dont know the bloke at all.

Pete practices catch and release and is entitled to take a feed when it suits him, he has helped many a person on this site.

Twin 1

[prawn*]

Does anyone practice catch and release?

seriously its not like pete bagged out on 3 species... that quantity is not goin to decimate the fish stocks and is well in legal limits,

[Jewhunter]

Easy boys.

It was a silly question made by a new member & posted in the wrong way.

Lets give him the benefit of the doubt atm. Lets see what the next post is.

Well done Pete. A new p.b & a couple of jew to boot. Very nice!!

Now you've just gotta put the young bloke onto a few instead of hogging them all yourself!

Cheers,

Grant.

[lookin4big1]

nice catch there good to show persistance pays off keep it up

[tide'n'knots]

Does anyone practice catch and release?

Gday mate - happy to have you on the site and welcome

I usually have plenty of people in my family willing to take a fresh feed of fish of my hands so nothing gets wasted. however its getting to the point where I will have to start letting em go soon!

pete.

[rizzo]

Well done on your catch Pete regardless of the silly comments and its always good

taking a feed home for the family

Cheers Rizzo

[czy0058]

well done. Nice fish.

[zen801]

Hi Pete,

Well done on yor mission. Thats a nice flattie.

We went out on a mates 27footer sat night at about 8:30pm and got back in at 2-3pm sunday.

Man it was cold that night and Mh was dead as can be with no big hits at all. I think all we managed was a few yakkas/tailor and a decent bream.

In the morning the boys wanted to head out past in the heads. I was a bit nervous as the sea was up but the boat was big and well equiped. Mate had a ball out there. Went to the colours and long reef wide. Managed between us a heap of flatties and keeper snapper. The awesome part of the day was i caught a dollie as did the captain. Man they are beautiful fish.

I have been fishing estuary's to long so the boys outfished me but this old goat learnt a few new tricks.

Now that we have rain might go for the jews in MH but no marathon night trips for me from now on until summer.

Cheers.

Mike

[Basil D]

That is Great Haul Pete, I got back late Monday night and read your story, great stuff.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Groper

[johnny doi]

congrats on the new pb lizard,great fish.nice schoolies too.you certainly put in the hours & was rewarded with some nice fish & top feed.well done.

cheers johnny.

[Mercer007]

What an effort, You put in the time and it pays off for you.

Well done on the PB.

[tide'n'knots]

What an effort, You put in the time and it pays off for you.

Well done on the PB.

gday pete, mate I think we will have to make our next trip brisbane waters to be fair to you. I will have to bite the bullet and travel up your way for a fish, I am thinking next week or maybe the week after -what are your thoughts?

pete.

[kosta_b]

Top catch.. shows you a little persistence will pay off....

[iggy]

G`day ,nice lot of fish there mate well done,cracker flatty too!

[OSHISWET]

PETE YOUR UNBELIEVABLE

CHEERS

LUMPOOKEY

[Bawley]

well done mate like the lizard

[thehairynurse]

i think pete should be commended for keeping the flatty, yes its a big breeder but as he said- it was gut hooked so would of died anyway- at least he got a good feed out of it, is it more unethical to release a fish that has a low chance of survival than to quickly put it out and enjoy the rewards of the earth?

[FISHARK]

Well done Pete ............nice bag of fish mate ......love the croc !!!

[tide'n'knots]

i think pete should be commended for keeping the flatty, yes its a big breeder but as he said- it was gut hooked so would of died anyway- at least he got a good feed out of it, is it more unethical to release a fish that has a low chance of survival than to quickly put it out and enjoy the rewards of the earth?

while we are on this particular subject, another thing to remember is that flathead lay 1 million eggs at a time and almost all of them hatch, so taking 1 breeder is nothing. Bream take approximately 5yrs to reach 25cm yet if someone held up a photo of a 4lb bream most people wouldnt think twice about it. For some reason that I cant fathom people seem to have a soft spot for large flathead and feel that they should all be released and I feel that that is very commendable and a wonderful thing for our sport however it isnt against the law to take one if you decide you want to either.

Last night I caught 2 more jew but i ALSO RELEASED 2 BREAM AND A FLATHEAD THAT WERE LEGAL SIZE.

Another point is that I was fishing by myself and really wanted a photo holding the fish that has taken me 49yrs to catch - I think I am entitled to that.

I dont think the original Question - does anyone practice catch and release? was asked with any malace. I think it may have been a simple question and maybe we are all getting defensive over nothing!

I think its great that we all practice catch and release from time to time - maybe that way my grandkids will get to enjoy the sport

also.

tight lines guys.

pete.

Edited May 19, 2010 by tide'n'knots

[Brooker435]

Well Said Pete!!!!!!!!

Regards,

Nathan

[jewgaffer]

Another good effort on the jewfish Pete I reckon that flathead is a good size to make lots of nice fillets out of and save a good supply of pieces to add to your next seafood banquet.

Cheers

jewgaffer