The bream curse continues, but no complaints :)

[Little_Flatty]

My wife's family received a very kind invitation today to spend a day on a lovely boat on Pittwater/Hawkesbury. This was not meant to be a fishing trip, but I was told I could bring gear, so I brought a couple of rods, plus another one for my eldest who is starting to gain more interest and experience in fishing.

We set off mid-morning. I noticed a few schools of fish busting up on top, but as this wasn't a fishing trip, I simply pointed this out as a point of interest (no one else would have known that I could have presented a lure to them and had a bit of fun). As we rounded Flint and Steel, I was asked if I knew how to troll a lure. I didn't need to be asked again, and straight away I sent a Killalure Flatz Ratz out the back. Been a while since I had last trolled. About 10 mins in, I got a hit, and reeled in a small tailor to a very impressed family. Sent that on its way and then we made our way to a nice little cove with a waterfall for lunch.

While my eldest was exploring on a row boat with her uncle and auntie, I flicked my trusty 3 inch watermelon bass minnow out towards the rocks. First cast, I got a big hit, and half my bass minnow was missing. Must have been a tailor. Then I tied on a small sinking stickbait and next cast nailed a little whiting. Persisted with the stickbait for a bit longer, but it wasn't effectively working the whole water column, so I changed over to a 1/8th oz jighead with a 2 inch z-man grub.

Caught a few fish, then it was time for lunch. I had a good feeling about this spot, so I quickly ate and got back to it. My eldest joined me briefly and the first bait I threw out for her, she catches a nice little whiting, which was released. That hit the spot for her, so she decided she would head back into the cabin to play with her sister instead.

Over the few hours we were there, I caught a lot of small pinkies and whiting. But the highlight was getting four legal flathead for a meal. This doesn't happen very often for me, not because I don't catch fish, but because most of my fishing is done on the upper Parra (and I choose follow the DPI recommendations, seeing as a lot of my fishing is done opposite Homebush Bay). The fish themselves were nothing to write home about, just the fact I had a feed!

The other interesting happening was that I hooked something big that was peeling off line, but then it seemed to come off. When I reeled in the line, there was a foul hooked silver biddy on the jighead, a little worse for wear but was well enough to swim off. I wonder if I had hooked it and then a flatty pounced on it. This is the first time that this has happened to me.

Unfortunately it was a bit choppy on the way back and there was no sign of the schools of fish we saw when we first set off. But we were grateful for a good day. I ended up donating all of my lures that worked to the boat's communal tacklebox, so that the skipper and his family could fish with confidence the next time they were out.

The fish were enjoyed with a compound butter, as @kingie chaser has suggested in a previous post. My family seem to really enjoy eating fish prepared this way.

So a month of solid lure fishing and still no bream! I'm not sure what's going on. Normally at least 1 in every 5 fish I catch are bream, but they just seem to be eluding me right now...

Edited December 11, 2021 by Little_Flatty

[dirvin21]

You sound like me only except bream it's jacks

[Yowie]

A feed of flatties is a feed of flatties. Sounds like an interesting day out.

[61 crusher]

Sounds like a fun day out, considering it wasn’t a fishing trip plenty of fish were caught & a nice feed for the family, win win

[Pickles]

Greateport - who can knock back an offer to “bring the fishing gear along”No better eating fish than flatties - 

[Rebel]

Well done. Great report.

Maybe it will happen again.

Cheers.

[jenno64]

You got a feed! I’m hopeless when I go out on my mates boat for lunch in Pittwater. Always have to wet a line😜

[kingie chaser]

@Little_Flatty The weather has been less than ideal lately but good to here your out there giving it a crack.

I think we all tend to look at what a day out on the water means to us now post lockdowns, anytime you can have a day of freedom & catch some fish & then bring a few home for a feed will always be a bonus 🙂

 

Good to hear you enjoyed one of my ideas with the compound butter & you have reminded me to do an update on that thread.

I want to add some different components to it that are native Aussie ingredients that blend well with fish.

 

Thanks for the report 

 

 

  

[GordoRetired]

Always a good day when you come back with a feed of Flaties. 🙂

[Larkin]

Can’t beat fresh fish you catch yourself. 👍 

Regarding your silver biddy catch, I had a similar thing happen about a month ago, hooked what felt like a small fish and gave the rod to my youngest son to reel in - when he started to reel in, the line started screaming off. I took over again as it was pulling very hard - when it came up there was a large Trev on the other end - while on the surface the small fish came out of its mouth. It came back around and swallowed the small fish again. It let go again and off it went. There was a tiny 10cm snapper on the line. 
 

For sure a bigger fish grabbed onto the silver biddy you foul hooked. This happens a lot. Could of been a flatty or even a Jew.

[Little_Flatty]

Interesting story @Larkin. I do wonder if the bigger fish feels the force of the fight and assumes it's the smaller fish trying to 'get away'. I've often thought about this when I find fish that want to take multiple swipes at a lure; rather than getting suspicious, I wonder if they are just annoyed that their prey is 'escaping'.

[Isaac Ct]

Sounds like an awesome day out, nice feed of flatties there. I like how you checked the DPI recommendations as well. Well done.