Middle harbour - 26/10

[Razzell]

Had a spare few hours this morning, so popped out on the yak. Have had some fairly fruitless outings of late in distant places, so figured I might as well not catch much a bit closer to home rather than drive an hour and a half for disappointment.

With high tide just after sunrise, I figured it was a good time. Calm morning, wind was an easy 5k NW. I was planning to venture a bit further in to middle harbour and check out the areas around sugarloaf bay, so I headed in that direction trolling my heavier outfit with an SP and a poor mans downrigger. On the way, that got chewed to bits by (I'm assuming) tailor.

Once in the bay, I was mostly just checking things out. Had some follows from the banks/structure on the surface lures from bream, but they seemed finicky and small. At one point something large broke the surface near by me, so I threw the mid-weight rod with sammy 65 at it. A few casts and two reasonable follows, but no take. There was some other surface activity later in the morning but it was isolated and short lived - I suspect that was tailor as they seemed smaller. Also worth noting that, like seemingly everywhere at the moment, there were loads of shoals of bait/fry. I have been boggled the last few weeks as to why the salmon aren't in smashing them as they were last year - it's like the tinder is set but the fire hasn't started yet.

I managed a nice flathead, going 68cm - pic attached. The boss has been hinting that I should bring some home for her, but every time I get fish out I'm so grateful for the tussle and think they're so lovely looking that I feel guilty and wish them well on their way. There was another flattie going about 45, who also got sent back to her lie. Flatties were caught at the bottom of steep drops where I was casting and secretly hoping for a jew, as always. If anybody fancies divulging a place where the jews can be caught on SPs, I would be a very grateful man. Of course, I certainly wouldn't expect it from anyone (completely understandably), but I've been putting in the hard yards over the last couple of months and have come up empty - hours (days, even!) spent reading articles, old posts, and scoping navionics. Such a frustrating but addicting fish!

Saw some good bream knocking about the shallows but they weren't really interested in what I was offering. Perhaps they will start to fire up soon. I've been struggling with them on the flats recently, they all seem a bit sluggish.

Found a new squid spot on the way back also, as the buggers kept following my SPs from the depths to the side of yak.

All in all, a good outing. I learned a lot, got good conditions, and a couple of fish decided to come say hi. Now I've scoped the area, I'll definitely be back.

Cheers,

Razz

[BigRod]

Hey Razz im keen to head out on sat if you are was thinking about brooklyn for a seen change let me know if your keen

[Rock&Beach]

Good report mate.

Nice size flattie there.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[Razzell]

Hey Rod, all over it. Been keen to check that area out for a while. Will send you a PM toward the end of the week and we can sort out details.

Cheers,

Razz

[Mike89]

Beautiful fish mate, nice bright colour and very healthy looking. I always like a nice flatty for the fry-pan but I'd be hard pressed not to release such a nice looking beaut like that.

Gotta get back into flatties!

Nice to know they are in there as I was chasing them in Sugarloaf Bay just before winter set.

[Jay88]

Well done on the SP mate. And great flathead! I have always wanted to try middle harbour! Good work!