Aussieweekender Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 After reading all the reports on Fishraider about Jew fish being caught at the moment I got the pass for the night from the Mrs. I put the kids to bed and headed out for a fish on the Hawkesbury with a mate. Got on the water at 7:30pm at Mooney Mooney raced down to Patonga to try to get live bait but was a bit late and only managed to get one yellowtail before it got too late. So we set up under the Mooney Mooney bridge with the livie on one rod and a squid (purchased before hand, still trying to work out how to catch them alive)on the other. On arriving I had 5 beeps on the sounder and I was sure it was a school of Jew fish. We had tryed to time it to be there an hour before and after the 9:30pm low tide so I was very excited and figured there was a good chance I could catch my first decent size Jew fish. By 12am my mate got bored and started casting a blade. Within minutes his rod bent over and we were very excited as it looked to have some weight although his catch was not putting up much of a fight. Within minutes he had pulled in a rope. He pulled it in and to our surprise a long chain and sand anchor were attched. Sadly because of his catch and some previous trips where we have caught nothing we were actually calling the night a success. Although we were tempted to leave we persisted it was 1pm and the current had picked up so I decided to check my bait again as I had not seen my rod nod to me in some time. Clearly I had left it too long as rigamortise had set in and the livie was long gone. I buterflied the yellow tail and added a little squid and put it back in. At 1:50pm I saw my line twitch this was the first real bite I had had all night so I took my time before i set the hook. Bang the rod bent over and there was some weight to it too. The fish got closer to the surface and I saw a flash of colour my initial thoughts were I have caught a small shark. Then as it got closer it looked to wide so I assumed I had some sort of ray. As it broke the surface my heart skipped a beat it was a flathead and it is huge. I immediately gave it some more line as i did not want it thrashing its head. Too late there was a big thrash and splash as she dived back down. It was at this point that I realised she was too big for my net. I grabbed for a towel as i did not want to hurt her which I wet and used to grab her tail as my mate tried to get her head in the net. We heaved her in and sighed a breath of relief. We got a couple of quick photos on the brag mat she was 87cm. I put my hand in her mouth and slide her off the mat into the water I turned her into the current and swam her a little and she bite down so I let go and she swam back down to the depths. She is such a cool fish and it was such a cool way to start the years fishing. It is now 5am in the morning and my kids will be up in an hour but I had to tell the world don't think i can sleep anyway still shaking. The rod and reel I caught her on is next to me in the photo so hopeing you may consider it for catch of the month because for me it was the catch of a lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOE^MOE Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 beautiful looking flaty mate im going to start targeting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieweekender Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Another photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunc333 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 congratulations and a nice way to start a new year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hucho hucho Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What a fantastic catch. Congratulations and Happy New Year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bashful Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Congrats on the catch mate!! She's massive Hope you win COTM with that baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Well done Weekender...persistance paid off and the fishing gods will look after you in 2012! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusky_Chaser Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Great read mate and well done. They are a special fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieweekender Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Thanks for the replies still cant believe my luck. I was cleaning up a little tonight and found the 60lb leader I used to catch her she had a real go at it. Can't wait to get out there again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdelux Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks for the replies still cant believe my luck. I was cleaning up a little tonight and found the 60lb leader I used to catch her she had a real go at it. Can't wait to get out there again. Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieweekender Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Another picture of her. She is fish 1 in the January catch of the month so I would appreciate your vote. Best fish I have ever caught. Edited January 31, 2012 by Aussieweekender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieweekender Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Thanks for the votes I am happy now the blue marlin looks awesome and will probably win but stoked some of you like my flatie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddygeester Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Well done mate she's a cracker, great post too,good to see her go back to the depths to hopefully produce more so we can all have the same luck. Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heath R Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Awesome fish mate. I hope the fishing Gods shine on you for the rest of your life for letting her go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now