Two firsts on a fifteen minute express session

[big Neil]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:36 AM, Little_Flatty said:

Morning Raiders,

Was up till all hours last night doing house stuff and meal prep for the week ahead, so I thought I’d have a sleep in and give fishing a miss in the morning.

Woke up at the crack of 6.15 am and thought ‘what the heck’ and was out the door and on the Meadowbank shoreline in a flash.

I had a great catch-up with @wazatherfisherman last week and he let me loose on his home made plastics selections, so I was well stocked. Thanks Waza! I rigged up one of his prawns on an EWG hook with a 1/8th oz bullet weight (ie a Texas rig) and got casting.

About five mins in, I felt a tap and struck.  The hook found its mark and I was on! After a moment playing the fish, I realised my reel wasn’t regaining line, then I realised the fish was still running! Damn baitcasters and their silent drags! After losing a few on Waza’s lures in the days prior, I really wanted to land this one, so I started to feel a bit nervous.

It was a spirited fight, with a few dangerous moments where the fish swum towards me, causing the need to rapidly recover line, but soon enough the fish was at my feet. As I brought it up in the net, it gave one last headshake and the leader parted. Thank goodness for the net!

It was better than I thought: a 54cm flathead! Not bad for a first fish on Waza’s lures😎

Put it back in the drink, then re-rigged. That was when I realised my rod was so badly tip wrapped that I needed to cut the line and pack up. All over in fifteen mins!

As a side note, the outfit pictured is a new setup. It is a KastKing Zephyr BFS combo, for ultralight luring. Great to be back to baitcasters, I’ve missed them! Thus far it has really exceeded my expectations; its action is nice and fast and it very ably handled a reasonable fish. This was my first fish on this new combo. First of many hopefully!

Thanks for reading!

Another collaboration between Fishraider members. Great to see Wazas' lures impacting yet again. Well done Mike, good to see that you're one of the left-hand wind brigade too, and enjoying your new setup. I'm a bit like Zoran with all the detailed tackle talk, much preferring to acknowledge whether an outfit is suitable or not. Cheers, bn

[Gengar]

Great report and good sized flatty!