Nice Flathead out from Harbour

[saltrix]

Headed out nearly today to try for a feed of flathead.

Hoped for a few bonito after getting 3 last time out around North Head. 

It was a good swell running so I was not too keen to get in close. I also welcomed  the Navy home on the way out.

No takers on the troll so headed out to close grounds off Manly but with almost no drift the spikey flathead cleaned up all baits including spikey flathead fillets so we heaed out to our reliable DY wide grounds. 

Got a few nice fish there and then to the morwong spot which is shown on the charts as foul ground but managed some more nice Flathead.

In between spent some time cranking up Banjo sharks, u/s snapper(got 1 32cm), several large cuttlefish, and numerous spikeys and seargent bakers which were released except for the legal red.

Finished about 11.30 with a feed.

A nice calm day although a bit of breeze would have helped the drift. The esky is 38cm wide so the fish were a nice size.

[ARC H]

 Good catch and feed well done!

[Yowie]

A few marbled ones are about at a nice size.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Yowie

[saltrix]

Yes,we got 4 marbled and a couple of blue spot. Their spawning must have finished as there was no roe or milt  in any of the fish.

Had some for tea tonight, nice eating. Also had some of the spikey flathead although they are small they are good eating. As they only grow to 34 cm they are mature at about 25 cm so should not be regarded as undersized although they still count to the species limit of 10.

[Yowie]

I have eaten the larger spikies fillets when the blue spots were not biting, and they were rather tasty. Like you, I use the smaller spikie fillets as bait as they are a fairly tough bait for the bigger flatties, and whatever else might be swimming about.

No size limit on the spiky flatties (Longspine Flathead)

Edited May 19, 2017 by Yowie