Some soft plastics success .... at last (now with pics)

[Robinsoi]

Hey Raiders,

Took my 7 year old boy out to our local fishing spot for a short session on Saturday morning in Iron Cove behind Rozelle Hospital to maximise on the sunny weather before the big wet came in. His sister normally comes with us but she accepted the less attractive option of going clothes and shoes shopping with mum.

We got there under perfect blue skies around 10:30am with a high tide due in at 12:30pm and started to throw in some berley made up of soaked bread and chopped prawns to try and attract anything hungry that was around. I also told the little boy beforehand about the Fishraider competition where you have to put a preselected item in the photo of your catch. He asked "what goes in a photo this time dad?", I replied "a beanie or a hat if we catch anything".

Using pieces of peeled prawn and bread for bait I set the little boy up with a light rig which consisted of a small hook and tiny split shot about 1.5m under a floatie. I had my soft plastic outfit ready for a little later.

We were enjoying the morning winter sunshine but we were on a mission to catch something. Despite a consistent inclusion of berley into the system things were very quiet and the only species that we could attract were toad fish, a small leatherjacket, seagulls and a few dogs. One dog came right up to us and frantically sniffed around our gear and almost got a hook in its foot as it ran off tangled in the line ..... meanwhile the owner of the dog was in deep conversation on the mobile totally oblivious to what the dog was doing.

After several casts without any bites let alone having the baits touched the little boy was starting to get bored and asked when we are going home, which is usually the case when there is no action. So to keep him occupied I told him "Oh why don't you look for some crabs under the rocks". While he was distracted catching crabs I decided to put my rod into commission and flick around a soft plastic in the vicinity of the berley hoping to at least get a strike.

After only a couple of casts the lure deceived something that had enough pulling power to place a nice bow in my rod and make my 2500FD reel sing a few times. That buzzing noise was music to my ears as it doesn't happen often. Not knowing what species was hooked I slowly played the fish and I quickly called the little boy over to get a piece of the action. I handed him the rod and helped him to slowly play the fish lifting the rod and winding on the way down, lifting then winding. We got the fish into shallower water and quickly indentified him as he was violently shaking his head ..... a nice flathead around 48cm and a family record Luckily it was safely hooked on the top lip and it was biting down on the jig hook shank not the line, we landed him and we were very happy

Without me asking the little boy threw his hat on top of the fish and said "don't forget the competition dad" and with this post in mind I then positioned it nicely for the photo and quickly too a few snaps:

We gave each other a couple of high fives and admired the fish one last time before sending him on his way and he quickly swam off back to where he came from.

This is what I caught the weekend before:

And a few weeks ago:

As usual all the fish were released to fight another day and on all occasions the 80mm squidgy wriggler in bloodworm colour did the damage. Until the last few weeks my strike rate on soft plastics was very poor, I was lucky to even get a bite so I am a little more confident with the recent success.

Also, I would like to share with you a note my two young ones wrote for me the morning of a recent fishing adventure:

This was the result - small fish but big smile:

Thanks in advance for reading and my post, and special thanks to the members for all the highly informative tips and advice posted on this great site. It's great to see so many experienced fishos with years of hard earned experience sharing their knowledge so freely.

All the best

Ian

[lostproperty]

Great photos and good write up mate. Sure the little man had fun reeling in the flatty, just a tip if your planning on releasing the fish try support their body and handling them, handing them from the lip and putting them back in the water like that is kind of similar to you being held by your head and being thrown back on the couch IE not very comfortable for the fish. Keep them horizontal with 1 hand under the belly and the lip grip on the mouth is good enough

[fat_souvlaki]

good stuff mate!! i love seeing dads taking the young ones out for a fish!

ive recently taken on soft plastics pretty seriously and would recommend the berkley gulp shrimp in either 2 inch or 3 inch for flatties and even bream. and try and use the lightest jig head u can to get it out to the fish, makes it alot more attractive on the drop.

tight lines mate!

[brickman]

top read ian and love the smiles on the kids faces thats what it's all about mate spending time with the kids doing somthing you love keep the reports coming cheers gary

[Spooooled]

good work mate nice flattie too

[Robofish]

Great report, it really made me smile. I remember when my two daughters used to love coming fishing on summers evenings even if it was catching micro bream at Bobbin Head their smiles were priceless. They much prefer clothes shopping with their mum now!

Dave

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rjc123]

Always good to get a few on SP. Lovely looking flatty there. Can't beat the smile of a kid with a big fish! Priceless!

[gonfishing]

The smile on their faces says it all. Well done!

[rigga]

this report actually made me

good work man when i was younger i used to love fishing with my old man and still do.

[J Hooked]

That's what it's all about. Having fun with the kids. Can't wait for summer to take my youngest out.

[Robinsoi]

Thanks for all your comments guys, much appreciated. Yes, I will remember to support the fish's body in the future, with all the excitement of catching the fish and taking a few photos I overlooked this important aspect ... will remember next time for sure.

[josamill]

You sound like a good bloke and a great dad! Loved reading this. Chased some bonito around Lion Island in March with my 6 year old son.......he went green and threw up. When I said "let's get you home mate" he said "aren't we going to catch some more dad?" Kids!