Hard earned fish on the Parra

[Little_Flatty]

Not sure if anyone else is having the same experience, but I'm having a hard time of fishing on the Parra this past week. A couple of donuts at Meadowbank have caused me to give the upper river a break for a couple more weeks.

Yesterday morning I went to explore some spots on the Parra side of Hunters Hill area again, chasing flathead and bream as usual. On my first cast over the flats, I hooked up to something that stripped a bit of line into the pre-dawn darkness. Turned out to be a reasonable bream, which was photographed than released:

Lure that did the damage was a Berkeley Powerbait Twitch Tail Minnow on a 1/24th jighead. I bought these because I couldn't find power minnows in the shop. I had the feeling that they were too 'fat' for bream, but I guess my hypothesis was wrong. 

I was quite happy with that, but I really miss my flathead when I can't find them. For some reason I've struggled to find them this all week. Hitting up all my usually-reliable haunts turned up not a single one!

Anyhow, for the rest of the early morning session, I cast a cranka around structure. Apart from a missed hookup which stripped a bit of line, I didn't find any other takers.

Came home, took my wife out for breakfast (thank goodness for grandparents and babysitting!) and then it was time to meet some friends for a flick on Iron Cove around the top of the tide. I had high hopes for getting my friends onto a fish on lures, but alas, it wasn't to be. I did get my flatty however:

No croc, but I was happy to see it all the same. Quick happy snap and back it went. Not sure why I'm finding flatties so hard to find right now. But it was worth getting out for these two fish.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[Fab1]

Thanks for sharing.Don't lose heart.I have donuts 99% of the time.Just enjoy being out there regardless the outcome.

[Chhayzor]

I feel your pain mate.

Had a very late (8PM start) bait session yesterday with a mate around the Hunters Hill area Not even a nibble! 

Wouldn't have minded a Bream that size, that's for sure.

 

[Isaac Ct]

Well done mate, bit of a grind but you would've got them eventually which is what you did.

[XD351]

I wouldn’t be too disheartened, I watched Aaron on his YouTube channel today and he was really struggling down near kissing point - 3 or 4 hours of casting and only a couple of fish . If he can’t catch them then what hope have I got !

[Little_Flatty]

57 minutes ago, XD351 said:

I wouldn’t be too disheartened, I watched Aaron on his YouTube channel today and he was really struggling down near kissing point - 3 or 4 hours of casting and only a couple of fish . If he can’t catch them then what hope have I got !

Ok, if Aaron is struggling, then it has got to be hard going all round. I wasn't that far up the river as him though. I'll have a watch.

I would have suspected Kissing Pt might still be affected by the kill, but the fact I was doing it tough lower down the river suggests there may have been other factors at play as well, such as the weather, moon phase and tides.

2 hours ago, Fab1 said:

Thanks for sharing.Don't lose heart.I have donuts 99% of the time.Just enjoy being out there regardless the outcome.

I don't mind the odd donut, but if I eat any more donuts, I'm going to start getting fat! 🤣

[Fab1]

Just now, Little_Flatty said:

Ok, if Aaron is struggling, then it has got to be hard going all round. I wasn't that far up the river as him though. I'll have a watch.

I would have suspected Kissing Pt might still be affected by the kill, but the fact I was doing it tough lower down the river suggests there may have been other factors at play as well, such as the weather, moon phase and tides.

I don't mind the odd donut, but if I eat any more donuts, I'm going to start getting fat! 🤣

It's 20yrs to late for me.Getting fat that is.😉Once the mrs has ou hooked there's no need to look pretty for anyone mate.That's my excuse and the fact I love a good feed.

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

I was quite happy with that, but I really miss my flathead when I can't find them. For some reason I've struggled to find them this all week. Hitting up all my usually-reliable haunts turned up not a single one!

 

Flathead sit in a general area to feed, however, if food is a bit scarce, I am sure they will be moving about to locate the food.

A bit like us sitting outside a clothing store and expecting to find hamburgers, chips, milkshakes on offer. 

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, Fab1 said:

It's 20yrs to late for me.Getting fat that is.😉Once the mrs has ou hooked there's no need to look pretty for anyone mate.That's my excuse and the fact I love a good feed.

And I didn't get fat catching and cooking Yowies fish either.If i relied on that I'd make an Ethiopian look obese beside me.🤣

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

Flathead sit in a general area to feed, however, if food is a bit scarce, I am sure they will be moving about to locate the food.

A bit like us sitting outside a clothing store and expecting to find hamburgers, chips, milkshakes on offer. 

Reminds me of when I'm following the family around op shops (one of their favourite pastimes), hoping for a split cane rod, a vintage Alvey or a Seascape to keep me interested . Or a nice tackle shop nearby.

On the topic of couples/family shopping, there is a certain big outdoors chain (the one with the reptilian name) that is associated with an equally large sewing, craft and homewares shop. A genius business model if there ever was one. All four of us will generally visit both shops whenever we need anything fishing or sewing related 🤣 If only I was a fly fisho, I'd be getting my hooks from one shop and fly materials from the other!

On flatties in the Parra, there is a lot of bait around, so they shouldn't be that scarce. If this continues for much longer, I might come around to accepting the fish kill has had an effect  

[XD351]

With all the fresh in the river maybe try some deeper water , one strange thing was Aaron fishing at Richmond and his mate caught a nice flattie next to the Nth Richmond bridge ! 
Could also be water temps , we haven’t had many hot sunny days this summer and with all the rain maybe the water temps are down a bit which would shut down the metabolism a bit so they just don’t need to feed as often .

I suppose all you can really do is keep trying different spots .

[masterfisho7]

Well done some top fish there 

[Little_Flatty]

2 hours ago, XD351 said:

With all the fresh in the river maybe try some deeper water , one strange thing was Aaron fishing at Richmond and his mate caught a nice flattie next to the Nth Richmond bridge ! 
Could also be water temps , we haven’t had many hot sunny days this summer and with all the rain maybe the water temps are down a bit which would shut down the metabolism a bit so they just don’t need to feed as often .

I suppose all you can really do is keep trying different spots .

I did have the same thoughts. Not being boat based and having access to a fish finder, I don't collect information on water temp. I'm starting to think I should...

Might also start downsizing offerings and slowing down the presentation. All the textbook things to try.

[Larkin]

Just got to say, Love reading your reports mate.

heaps of great info in there for land based fishos. 
It can be hard going for some - the information and details included in your reports (lure type, jig head weights, location descriptions ect) will definitely be helping a lot out there.

well done on another top report!