Finally getting my mojo back

[Little_Flatty]

Hi Raiders,

Popped down to a favourite spot at Meadowbank this morning. Got down to the water at 5:50am, the sun was coming up and the tide was at about 1.2-1.3m, on its way to 1.7m...enough water to fish in.

Rigged up with a 3 inch Bass Minnow in watermelon, a Gamakatsu EWG hook and a bullet weight running down to the hook/lure, or a 'Texas' rig as they call it.

Third cast, felt a tiny little 'tick' on the line, about 3m out from shore. Counted to 5 and then tightened up and felt a nice weight on the end of the line. With a 6lb leader and the fish having swallowed the lure and having not brought the net, I knew I was in a spot of trouble, but I managed to get it up. Just as it came over the edge, it sawed through the leader. Quick photo op and then a self release:

About 5 casts later, miss a suspected bream hit, never like missing those. Then a few casts later, miss another hit. This happened a few times over, which was frustrating. Each time I was able to feel the weight of the fish, so it wasn't a case of not waiting long enough. The hook was razor sharp too - I checked. But something wasn't working, so it was time to do something different.

Before I go into what I did differently, this is a picture of my rig:

With EWG hooks I normally expose the hook point, then pull the plastic up over the hook point to snag-proof it:

Rigged this way, I rarely have problems with snags and it saves me a lot of precious fishing time in some of the areas I fish. I'd say for every time I get snagged, it is worth about 10 casts of fishing time, 20 if I lose a leader. Adds up to a lot of missed fishing time when you think about it.

I also rarely have problems hooking up rigged this way, but this morning was just not my day. So I exposed the hook point instead. That particular area wasn't all that snaggy, so it was a calculated risk.

Next cast, came up tight on my namesake; a little flatty:

How cute. Get this little one back in the water and then headed home to find a house of sleepyheads, none the wiser that I had headed out for a fish. All done and dusted in 40 mins or so.

Fishing itch sated, I was able to get on with my day. Going to try to get a few more of these sessions in for the coming months.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Little_Flatty

[jenno64]

Nice work!

6lb is always heart in mouth with flatties!

[big Neil]

Great report of an opportunity taken LF...nice pics to accompany your report too. Cheers, bn

[Isaac Ct]

Nice job mate, must feel nice to catch some fish.

[Rebel]

Great reoprt. Well done.

[Restyle]

Good effort! Enjoyed the read as well!

[Mike Sydney]

Terrific effort to catch in such a short window, great and informative report. 

[61 crusher]

Good report & photos, the bay between the two bridges can be quite productive on a good tide at times with the possibility of picking up a Jew when there’s a lot of bait in there, under the old railway bridge if you walk around the concrete pylon into the centre & cast across close to the next pylon on the top out going  tide there’s usually bream lurking there 

[Little_Flatty]

40 minutes ago, 61 crusher said:

the bay between the two bridges can be quite productive on a good tide at times with the possibility of picking up a Jew when there’s a lot of bait in there

That's the one! I've been finding that spot fairly consistent over the years for bream and flathead on lures, on a high tide in the warmer months.

Haven't seen a Jew there, maybe I should pay a bit more attention.

[Yowie]

Well worth the effort, a nice short session.