Gathering of Fish Raiders on the Central Coast and the Croc

[Bateau Stu]

Three of us gathered for a Fishing Trip @Bennyg78 @DerekD and Myself got together to fish and impart knowledge.

We kicked off at 8am at Graham Park at the Gosford Waterfront Tide rising no wind, but passing shower,

It was a quiet kick off, a couple of bites, Ben caught a Taylor.  

After about 90 minutes we move and stopped for a breakfast at Green Point Shopping Centre, nice bakery.

Coffee and chatted about where to next then headed off to Green Point boat ramp, parked and worked the shore north into bay.

Lots of weed, a few nibbles working the area with top water lures. It was a bust.

A bit of shopping a Fishing & outdoors store in Erina to expand lures collection and picked up some Eco Vibes.

Then a bite to eat to fuel up for an afternoon at Terrigal Lagoon and a break from the passing showers.

Lunch at a café Erina. then off to the Lagoon  

Fished the West side of the lagoon near the bridge work the area around and as we looking to wind up Derek Jaggs a massive flaty 

It was great fight. We all work to get it up on shore to measure and deciding whether it was a feed tonight.

It measured at 75cm, so Flathead for dinner was off the table, and we release her back into the lagoon to breed and grow the population.  

With that success under our cap (well Derek’s) it was time to go.

Good day overall. Looking to have more success, weather a factor.

Outcome of the day for me is expanding the lures I use, changing style to suit the environment and the fish, a long way to go for me.

Good Opportunity to get to know the area better and get to know fellow raiders.

Each trips builds my experience on fishing, casting, equipment and the area.

Thanks to @Derekd and @BennyG78 for company and wonderful time. 

Thanks for reading and good fortune with your fishing!

Edited January 25, 2023 by Bateau Stu
to Add a couple more Photos

[jenno64]

Great post and Derek does it again by finding the fish, topping the outing off with a subservient croc. Sounds like you learned plenty for the next outing!

[Little_Flatty]

Nice session Stu.

What a great croc for @DerekD.

[Isaac Ct]

Great job guys, nice to see everyone getting out and about. Nice flattie @DerekD

[Scratchie]

Awesome 👏 I love when a few fishraiders get together! 
 

cheers scratchie!!!

[DerekD]

4 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Great post and Derek does it again by finding the fish, topping the outing off with a subservient croc. Sounds like you learned plenty for the next outing!

Hi @jenno64,

Yes you are right we learned a lot but also had plenty to puzzle over too. The fishing was less productive than expected for the locations we hit but I'm wondering if the temperature drop from the high twenties the day before to about sixteen the next morning combined with scattered showers had something to do with it.

The lagoon was where the biggest learning curve happened. Talking with one of the locals he mentioned that a few kids had picked up three legal flathead in the days before - so there should be plenty of flatties around. @Bennyg78 and myself had had some topwater success previously in the area but I was hesitant in using soft plastics because I assumed the area was snaggy with weed and other rubbish accumulated over the years. We also noticed someone standing in the middle of the area and realised the lagoon was far shallower than I expected. I started throwing around plastics and couldn't find a snag or weed. Good start so I decided to risk an Ecogear ZX43 which is what I hooked the big flathead on. It took a lot of casts and for the ground I covered I should have had a lot more hits. This is why I think the temperature drop had impacted the fishing. When I hooked the flathead it was really sluggish till I got it in close and then the runs started.

It is not often that you pray for a fish to be SMALLER than you think it is. This was one of those times. @Bateau Stu has three lovely but outspoken women in his life and he has been getting some hassling about the lack of fish to date (to be fair he has just started fishing). I was really keen to get some fish for him to take home with him and when I saw the fish I thought that will keep the ladies quiet. Looking again I realised how solid it was and with a wide head. At this point I was expecting it to fall outside the 70cm upper slot size but was hoping it wasn't. It was, so was released very gently by Stu. It looks like Stu will have to deal with a bit more ribbing from his wife and daughters.

What I'm really happy about was that with the three of us we are building a comprehensive database of the areas available to Stu to fish long term and the likely species he will pick up. I think we've cracked enough information about the lagoon to fish it successfully in the future.

@Bennyg78 has access to a place up there where he goes to with his family so the knowledge also helps him for future trips up there.

Still have to work out where to pump ghost nippers but I'm starting to get some leads.

Regards,

Derek

Edited January 25, 2023 by DerekD

[big Neil]

Lovely to see you guys get together for a spot of fishing and retail therapy. Often fishing is about gathering knowledge which can be used later, especially when shared with others.  bn

[Rebel]

Top report.

Nice flattie.

Well done.

[DerekD]

2 hours ago, Snapped Hook said:

Terrigal lagoon is well known for being polluted. I personally wouldn’t eat anything out of there. I don’t even let the kids swim in there. Try Patonga next time it’s a good spot.

Hi @Snapped Hook, thank you for that. It sounds like you know the area pretty well. Stu lives in Bateau Bay so we are trying to concentrate on areas within say 20 minutes drive of his place. Patonga is probably a bit too far south but open for other suggestions. I also want to look at the beach fishing options with lures but at the moment Stu only has a bream rod to work with.

[Pickles]

Way to go @Bateau Stu, @Bennyg78and @DerekDgreat when raiders get together and a stonker of a flattie - we’ll done.