My name is Ben and I have a problem- I am addicted to topwater

[Bennyg78]

Hi all,

Welcome to top-water anonymous. I have an addiction to top-water estuary fishing. I had gone for a few top water sessions this month as the water was warming up but nothing had given me the hit I was craving until today.

Before leaving I had a tough decision to make do I take the Miller rods flats freak rod I recently won or the Daiwa infeet 752 flats rod I recently bought. 

I went with the infeet rod because I went matchy matchy with a brand new infeet 2500 reel. I really wanted to give them a working over and hell yea they got it.

I decided to get up early and use the high-tide to my advantage and work some top-water at a little sand-flat on Pittwater.

this sand bar has a rocky oyster outcrop, and then to the left there's mangroves and a long sandbar and some oyster crusted rocks. There also yabbie holes all over the second area.

I got to my location right on 5.30 am , and tied on a Daiwa infeet 65 mm slippery dog ( seriously I'm not sponsored by Daiwa).

I wade in calf deep.

First cast out and I work the lure out over a rock bar and twitch, twitch, twitch, pause then  I see the familiar swirl of a bream follow but it misses the lure. 2nd cast and I am onto a bream ( the one pictured) and bring it in, photo and release. I then cast wide again and get hit by a bigger model which I retrieve in but lose right at my feet. I have one more cast before moving to the second area and pick up a micro bream.

At the second sand bar, should be called whiting bar as they were on the chew hard. Working the slippery dog and on the pause it gets hit by a smaller whiting no photo taken and a quick release. Another cast another whiting small one again. 

Then a few casts later and I get a 23 cm model throw him back.

The great thing about the flats rod is I can get much more casting distance out and this definitely helped get more whiting.

Anyway back to the casting and catching, I fire a cast out towards some boats and work it in and on the pause bang this is a bigger fish. ends up being 28 cm whiting which i bring in and keep for a feed.

Fanning to the right of the boats twitching and pausing i get hit by another bigger fish being a 34 cm whiting which put on a good fight, which I kept for dinner.

And then it was time, as I had family stuff back in the car by 8.00 am

A few learnings for me

• is all the fish I caught were on the assist hooks on the slippery dog,
• all the fish were caught on the pause contrary to popular belief that to catch whiting the lures gotta be worked in perpetual motion.

Looking forward to next month when the water really heats up and so does the top-water action.

Ben- your local anonymous top-water addict

p.s.Dang it can an admin move this to reports please

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Bennyg78

[big Neil]

54 minutes ago, Bennyg78 said:

Hi all,

Welcome to top-water anonymous. I have an addiction to top-water estuary fishing. I had gone for a few top water sessions this month as the water was warming up but nothing had given me the hit I was craving until today.

Before leaving I had a tough decision to make do I take the Miller rods flats freak rod I recently won or the Daiwa infeet 752 flats rod I recently bought. 

I went with the infeet rod because I went matchy matchy with a brand new infeet 2500 reel. I really wanted to give them a working over and hell yea they got it.

I decided to get up early and use the high-tide to my advantage and work some top-water at a little sand-flat on Pittwater.

this sand bar has a rocky oyster outcrop, and then to the left there's mangroves and a long sandbar and some oyster crusted rocks. There also yabbie holes all over the second area.

I got to my location right on 5.30 am , and tied on a Daiwa infeet 65 mm slippery dog ( seriously I'm not sponsored by Daiwa).

I wade in calf deep.

First cast out and I work the lure out over a rock bar and twitch, twitch, twitch, pause then  I see the familiar swirl of a bream follow but it misses the lure. 2nd cast and I am onto a bream ( the one pictured) and bring it in, photo and release. I then cast wide again and get hit by a bigger model which I retrieve in but lose right at my feet. I have one more cast before moving to the second area and pick up a micro bream.

At the second sand bar, should be called whiting bar as they were on the chew hard. Working the slippery dog and on the pause it gets hit by a smaller whiting no photo taken and a quick release. Another cast another whiting small one again. 

Then a few casts later and I get a 23 cm model throw him back.

The great thing about the flats rod is I can get much more casting distance out and this definitely helped get more whiting.

Anyway back to the casting and catching, I fire a cast out towards some boats and work it in and on the pause bang this is a bigger fish. ends up being 28 cm whiting which i bring in and keep for a feed.

Fanning to the right of the boats twitching and pausing i get hit by another bigger fish being a 34 cm whiting which put on a good fight, which I kept for dinner.

And then it was time, as I had family stuff back in the car by 8.00 am

A few learnings for me

• is all the fish I caught were on the assist hooks on the slippery dog,
• all the fish were caught on the pause contrary to popular belief that to catch whiting the lures gotta be worked in perpetual motion.

Looking forward to next month when the water really heats up and so does the top-water action.

Ben- your local anonymous top-water addict

p.s.Dang it can an admin move this to reports please

 

A quality report Ben. Question: How many brag mats do you have when you go fishing? You certainly have a good understanding of the principles of top water fishing for Bream and Whiting, mastered. I hope to have a lash at it next month if I can get to Sydney, all depends on the flooding. Cheers, bn

[Bennyg78]

8 minutes ago, big Neil said:

A quality report Ben. Question: How many brag mats do you have when you go fishing? You certainly have a good understanding of the principles of top water fishing for Bream and Whiting, mastered. I hope to have a lash at it next month if I can get to Sydney, all depends on the flooding. Cheers, bn

Just the one mate, but I do have a few different ones laying about the house so depends what I bring. 
@DerekD definitely got me hooked on it when I went through the learning process with him 

[Little_Flatty]

I heard about this trip as you recounted it to Derek. A hot session indeed! Well done!

Derek is good at sharing his addictions 🤣

[bessell1955]

What great fish, well done.

[Isaac Ct]

Good time of year for a topwater bite, explosive action and can be very fun. 

Well done.

[Larkin]

Great fun when they’re smashing the lures like that!

A couple of nice whiting to take home 👍

[R E G I C Y C L E]

An addiction to top water is a healthy addiction!

Some quality table fish there

[Rebel]

Top report.

Great photos.

Well done.

[DerekD]

Everyone.... "Hi Ben"!!

This addiction could be a concern so I did some further reading.

One of the first things I came across was this:

• People who struggle with addiction are often in denial about their situation and unwilling to seek treatment. They may not recognize the negative effects their behavior has on themselves and others.
• An intervention presents your loved one with a structured opportunity to make changes before things get even worse, and it can motivate him or her to seek or accept help.

Fortunately you have recognised that you have an addiction so we can skip the denial stage and go straight into the intervention stage.

I'm getting worried that this addiction is taking you away from your loved ones and since I introduced you to topwater I feel some measure of responsibility.

As such I'm prepared to take all this new fishing gear that you have been winning in these recent comps off your hands for a while so they don't tempt you. I'll also make sure they get used once a week so they don't get rusty/dusty due to being left in a quiet corner somewhere.

Regards,

Derek

PS. Loved the fishing report.

PPS. While my response was a bit tongue in cheek it did give me the chance to read up on something I've probably been fortunate enough to have limited exposure to. Came across this rather detailed post: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/in-depth/intervention/art-20047451

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by DerekD