PB Flathead (4/5/2016)

[joking fish]

It's been a while since I have but today was worthy of a report. The past few outings have produced little to crow about with a just legal Tailor, 2 Blue Swimmer Crabs and a Pike caught in my last three outings at Bayview

I arrived at the wharf at about 10 am this morning and fished till 12.15pm. There was no wind, the tide was low and the water was like glass with little current. There was plenty of micro bait in the water and every so often they would break the surface. They were being spooked by something.

Shortly after I arrived I landed a decent Watsons Leaping Bonito. I was using whole pilchards on a snell rig with size 3/0 hooks spaced 1 cm apart my leader was 13.6 kg mono. I reached for the biggest pillie in the pack and tied two half hitches around the tail. I cast it out and then Bam! Hooked up the fish was so heavy I thought I was snagged. I thought it might be the first Salmon of the cooler months. I saw colour and it was a monster Flathed. I saw a bloke launching his boat and asked him if he could net the fish for me. He rushed over and grabbed the net. After several failed attempts to net the fish he finally netted it for me. I can't blame him for missing the fish was so big it barely fitted in the net!

It Went 83 cm! After some photos I let the big girl go. The bloke who netted it was trying to scare the Pelican that had its eye on my fish. 83 cm beats my old pb of 78 cm. I was stolked. I am sitting at home writing this report wondering to myself what will happen next. I am eagarly awaiting the cooler months when the Salmon Tailor and Trevally will be the target species. I have no fish in the fridge at the moment but there has been more than enough action to keep me continuously returning to Bayview.

Edited May 4, 2016 by barcod86

[big Neil]

Great catch there Barcod and good onya for releasing the big girl. Neil.

[bluefin]

Seems like the day for it. I thought i had another Jew, when I saw it was a flatty I thought "wooo thats big!! " They do make the nets we normally use for Bream look small ! Well done , you beat me by 2 c/m . Mine went back too. Regards Howard.

[Greyfox]

Wow that is a great lizard, well done, good on the other bloke to give you a hand with the net too.

This size fish are great to catch but awesome to release.

[Adsy91]

Well done mate and thanks for letting her live another day! Those salmon are much closer than you think, I caught three yesterday but could see schools of around 100 cruising past the shelf all day.

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[Yowie]

Another big flattie. Good work on the catch and release. Still shows big flatties are alive and well in the rivers along the coast.

[Guest 4myson]

Well done mate on your new PB ! There's something special about holding a nice big flatty in the water & watching her swim off ......