Little_Flatty Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 (edited) Just got back from a morning session at Meadowbank. Started out at 'Flatty Corner' - one of my favourite spots amongst the mangroves - where I have caught several good flathead over this summer, but conspicuously I found it almost completely dead, but for a few tentative hits, which I missed. After 40 minutes of casting at all the likely spots, I decided to move further into the bay over the flats. This was a good move as on the first cast, I got a couple of good hits straight away. Re-apply S-factor and lighten up the jighead to a 1/24oz (not much current/wind around) and then a couple of casts later, I get an undersized flounder. Other than the fact that it's only the second flounder I've seen in 15 years of fishing this area, I wouldn't have thought this catch notable, but take a closer look at this photo: Now, tell me what is wrong with this fish? Amazing that it was still capable of hunting the way it was! Get this guy back in the drink and continue casting. Miss a couple of hits and then next thing I know, a steam train hits my lure and goes for a blistering run, leaving me wondering what it was. Some headshakes made me think it might have been the flatty of a lifetime. The fish swims to and fro along the shoreline for a while, and then up surfaces a fairly decent trev. I thought the fight was over, but I hadn't realised the fish was still quite green and not ready to be led into the net. Several minutes passed before I got this fish up for a photo: I'm not sure I've ever caught a decent trev in the upper Parra, least of all on a lure. It came in at just under 45cm. If the fish fought like this at this size, I really wonder what it would be like fighting a high-50s or 60-something model like some other raiders have caught in the past year. Cast around for another 10 minutes, but the bite once again had gone conspicuously dead. Thought it better to go home and do something with the family instead. Quite happy with that. Lure that did the damage: a 3 inch Berkeley Power Minnow in Smelt, rigged on a #1 1/24oz jighead. Edited January 29, 2022 by Little_Flatty 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Nice trev mate. Not quite sure what is wrong with the flounder but it appears to be missing part of its tail. Maybe a deformity of some sort? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Great way to spend the day well done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 10 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said: Nice trev mate. Not quite sure what is wrong with the flounder but it appears to be missing part of its tail. Maybe a deformity of some sort? Yep the tail is completely missing! I guess being a flounder, not having a tail might affect it less. They don’t seem to use their tails in the usual way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 What.....no barra? Good to see a nice trev helped fill the gap. Down in St Georges Basin, I've caught quite a few flathead missing their tails and put it down to a voracious tailor. Even if I'm struggling to catch a feed I can't bring myself to keep these fish. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 9 minutes ago, Green Hornet said: What.....no barra? Good to see a nice trev helped fill the gap. Down in St Georges Basin, I've caught quite a few flathead missing their tails and put it down to a voracious tailor. Even if I'm struggling to catch a feed I can't bring myself to keep these fish. 🤣 It did cross my mind for a moment after the hookup but quickly concluded that it was wishful thinking. Going off what tailor do to lures, I'm not surprised that they would take fins off fish. I guess in their smaller sizes, they are the mosquito fish of the estuary. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Another great mix, a Short Tail Flounder and a Trevally, though I would have thought the Trevally would have been a GT the way your going 😄 Good size Trevally and it sure would have played up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 19 minutes ago, Blackfish said: Another great mix, a Short Tail Flounder and a Trevally, though I would have thought the Trevally would have been a GT the way your going 😄 Good size Trevally and it sure would have played up. A GT out of manly lagoon has long been on my bucket list. Trouble is, if I’m going to drive that far, I want a chance of fish to eat! So whenever I plan a trip there, I end up doing something else like fishing the beach to chase whiting instead! I can catch glow in the dark fish much closer to home 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Good work LF, Trevor’s certainly do hit hard - great eating too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Great morning. Good haul. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Another good morning. The flounder do not appear to need the tail that much for swimming as the fins around the body are quite long, more so nearer the tail, and these fins are used for propulsion due to their up-and-down swimming technique. Have a look at a hooked one next time to see that happening. As for tailor, I have pulled up small reddies with half their body missing, where a larger tailor has swum up behind the reddie and chewed out a big bite, the cresent shape of the bite giving it away. I once pulled up a tailor about 50cm, and in it's stomach was a rear half of a sand whiting. At a guess, the whole whiting would have been about 30cm long, so it was a large fish for the tailor to have attacked and eaten. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) 21 minutes ago, maccapacca said: Are tailor that bad? Never caught large ones just small ones and thought they were a bream or something as I just started fishing, are they alike leatherjackets how they just chew through gear. Yes they are a nuisance. It's the small ones that are the worst. Like little piranhas that descend on your lure. I've had a couple of sessions this summer where I feel a 'rat-a-tat-tat' or a drum roll while the lure sinks and next thing I know, at the end of my retrieve I had a bare jig hook. Once at The Entrance I had go through many increasingly heavy jigheads to get under the tailor in 2-3m of water. There were numerous and decent bream and flathead underneath, the challenge was getting enough of a lure through the tailor to attract them! They were all chasing the prawns that were running at the time. Most of the tailor in that case were just shy of legal, which was frustrating as they would have otherwise ended up in the esky as well. That said, it's pretty incredible to be on a lake when the prawns are running. Worth seeing. Edited January 30, 2022 by Little_Flatty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenHourFishing Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 I got one (trev) at 45cm just around the corner from there, yeah they definitely test the light gear. I lost one about 50cm at my feet which was pretty devastating. It was this time last year so spot on as far as timing goes. They love the warmer water for sure. Tricky to target them specifically, you will sift through a lot of bream and flatties before you get another one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, GoldenHourFishing said: I got one (trev) at 45cm just around the corner from there, yeah they definitely test the light gear. I lost one about 50cm at my feet which was pretty devastating. It was this time last year so spot on as far as timing goes. They love the warmer water for sure. Tricky to target them specifically, you will sift through a lot of bream and flatties before you get another one. Yep for sure. I find in this general area, I catch about 9 flatties to 1 bream, and about 20 bream/flathead to one of anything else! So Trevs would definitely be an isolated occurrence. Interesting that they might be around at this time of the year. The 50cm one would have given you a run for your money for sure. I think I only had a couple more lunges from this trev before I lost it; as I got it out of the net, the hook fell out! Lucky! Edited January 30, 2022 by Little_Flatty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 6 hours ago, Little_Flatty said: A GT out of manly lagoon has long been on my bucket list. You have as much chance of catching a GT in Manly lagoon as you do of sighting the Loch Ness monster 😅 But hey you caught a Barra in the Parra river so perhaps you are the golden child 🤓 One of my sayings is "never say never" because if you never apply yourself or set goals then you will never get a result 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 7 hours ago, Blackfish said: Another great mix, a Short Tail Flounder and a Trevally, though I would have thought the Trevally would have been a GT the way your going 😄 Good size Trevally and it sure would have played up. A short tail Flounder, Blackfish? I trust your knowledge of fish ID's implicitly. This one appears to have no tail!. Given the way they hunt...camouflaged, ambush predator, it probably wouldn't suffer too much disadvantage when feeding. Only thing I know about them is that they are excellent to eat. Cheers, bn 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 2 hours ago, maccapacca said: Are tailor that bad? Never caught large ones just small ones and thought they were a bream or something as I just started fishing, are they alike leatherjackets how they just chew through gear. When hungry, tailor will attack many fish for food. At times they will swim into shallow water when using nippers for whiting and usually the end result is no hook and no fish. Only bitten once by one about 35cm, it would not let go so I had to squeeze the shite out of it until it relented a bit then pulled my finger out - a bit of pain and blood - the problem of fishing one out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 Nice job, I bet that flounder works extra hard for a feed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 2 hours ago, kingie chaser said: You have as much chance of catching a GT in Manly lagoon as you do of sighting the Loch Ness monster 😅 But hey you caught a Barra in the Parra river so perhaps you are the golden child 🤓 One of my sayings is "never say never" because if you never apply yourself or set goals then you will never get a result I know it's a long shot but I've seen and heard enough evidence of their existence to want to give it a shot! Well, tropical species like Jacks anyway. It sounds like an interesting fishery anyway, but the signs warning against contact with the water is a bit off-putting (that said, I think it's a bit rich coming from myself, seeing that I do 90% of their fishing in the Parra🤣). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 10 hours ago, big Neil said: A short tail Flounder, Blackfish? I trust your knowledge of fish ID's implicitly. This one appears to have no tail!. Given the way they hunt...camouflaged, ambush predator, it probably wouldn't suffer too much disadvantage when feeding. Only thing I know about them is that they are excellent to eat. Cheers, bn Was a Pun Neil 😄 a bit like Yowies Sabre Tooth Whiting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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