Port Stephens- Bay of Options

[Scratchie]

G’day raiders, 

Hatched a plan with my eldest son this morning to get out in the bay and see if we could find a Jew. 
Launched the boat a bit later than expected but quickly scooted around the corner and landed 4 whiting to use as livies. Then fast tracked it back to middle island looking for a Jew. Conditions were perfect but someone forgot to invite the jewfish to the party. After the tide change had started running without a bite or a marked fish we decided on another option. ( @Rummers sometimes they just aren’t there) 

Next plan was to go and see if we can find a flatty or two. Struggled a bit in the area we went to but once the run out was in full swing then the fish started coming in thick and fast. 
Every drift landed a couple of fish and sometimes we were both doubled up! Spent about two hours doing that before having enough for a feed and releasing a heap as well. All up we landed 15 fish and kept 6 which made for the freshest lunch ever! 
 

Thanks for reading, 

Cheers scratchie!!! 
 

 

[Yowie]

Very nice there Scratchie. 

Jewies are one fish that cannot read the invitation to the bait.  🤣

[leonardgid]

nice catch 

[masterfisho7]

Well done love your photos some top flathead should have some good eating 

[jenno64]

Flatty fillets:)

Nice size there Scratchie....makes a change from those mangey old snapper fillets:))

[Pickles]

Nice feed Jeff - Well done. Pity about the Jewies, but I guess that’s why they are called “grey ghosts”

[Scratchie]

3 hours ago, Yowie said:

Very nice there Scratchie. 

Jewies are one fish that cannot read the invitation to the bait.  🤣

Thanks yowie! Hahahahahha yeah they definitely don’t play to the script. Grrrr

58 minutes ago, leonardgid said:

nice catch 

Cheers 

20 minutes ago, masterfisho7 said:

Well done love your photos some top flathead should have some good eating 

Thanks. Made for a fantastic lunch 

9 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Flatty fillets:)

Nice size there Scratchie....makes a change from those mangey old snapper fillets:))

Hahahahha funny Rob! I actually rate them equal. But prefer chasing snapper 😉

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Nice feed Jeff - Well done. Pity about the Jewies, but I guess that’s why they are called “grey ghosts”

Thanks Bob! Great feed. I haven’t put the time in over the past few years to chase jewies, so I don’t really deserve one at the moment! One will be silly and take the bait soon enough! 

[Isaac Ct]

Nice flatties scratchie, well done. That's going to be tasty. tasty tasty.

[Berleyguts]

Great effort again, Jeff. 😎We’re you using ZMan jerk shads on the flatties too, same as the snapper? I was thinking a paddle tail might be the go.

[Scratchie]

10 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Nice flatties scratchie, well done. That's going to be tasty. tasty tasty.

They sure were! 

5 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

Great effort again, Jeff. 😎We’re you using ZMan jerk shads on the flatties too, same as the snapper? I was thinking a paddle tail might be the go.

All fish were caught in less than 0.8m of water on the start of a runout tide. I tried a few different lures but a 5 inch white Berkley gulp Jerkshad was the only plastic we caught them on. Slow rolling them just off the bottom was the most effective way! 

[Rummers]

I had a very similar experience fishing the low in the same spot yesterday again. Now I don’t feel as bad 😂

It will happen for us! Haha. 
 

great flatties around at the moment, they seem to save the bacon more often than not. 
 

great report mate -  I am looking forward to writing one with my own jewfish soon! 

[Rebel]

Great report and Super sunrise. Well done.

[Restyle]

Love a good backup plan, top photos and a great feed of flatties 

[GordoRetired]

Nice Flatties, I prefer them to pretty much any other fish.... even Snapper. 🙂
My personal favorite would have to be the Threadfin Salmon which we caught chasing Barra up in the NT. Way better than Barra with a lovely white flesh especially when cooked next to an open fire on the campsite..

[Scratchie]

7 hours ago, Rummers said:

I had a very similar experience fishing the low in the same spot yesterday again. Now I don’t feel as bad 😂

It will happen for us! Haha. 
 

great flatties around at the moment, they seem to save the bacon more often than not. 
 

great report mate -  I am looking forward to writing one with my own jewfish soon! 

You’ll have that Jew report soon! Just put the time in 🤙

6 hours ago, Rebel said:

Great report and Super sunrise. Well done.

Cheers Rebel

6 hours ago, Restyle said:

Love a good backup plan, top photos and a great feed of flatties 

There’s always a backup plan 😂

4 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

Nice Flatties, I prefer them to pretty much any other fish.... even Snapper. 🙂
My personal favorite would have to be the Threadfin Salmon which we caught chasing Barra up in the NT. Way better than Barra with a lovely white flesh especially when cooked next to an open fire on the campsite..

They are on par with me! Depends on the way you cook them. Been to Darwin twice but never caught a thread fin or Barra. I’ll get back up there one day!