Switch hitting (again)

[Little_Flatty]

Evening Raiders!

I haven’t really fished since I got home from the Gold Coast, now more than a week ago. Shocking, I know!

My excuse? Apart from life and stuff getting in the way, I have a niggling tennis (fishing?) elbow issue in my casting/rod arm. Working SPs in particular really seemed to trigger it, so after some advice from various health professionals, I decided to leave alone for a while. This was a bit of a disappointment, as I had some new lures I wanted to try, in particular @wazatherfisherman’s ‘Kingy Bringie’ - an XOS soft plastic flick bait which @Larkin used to great effect on kings offshore. The thought process was that big flathead like big lures, and it would be worth a go. Only issue was that the only outfit I could use to throw it was far too heavy for my poor elbow in its current state.

This morning I couldn’t handle the fishing drought anymore, so I headed out for a quick pre-work session. To alleviate my elbow issues, I figured that if I swapped one of my spin outfits from left to right hand, I might be able to still fish. So after changing the reel around, I hit the water at Meadowbank just before 6am.

It was a nice high-ish tide and in spite of the deluge of rain in the past few days, I felt good about my prospects. However, I fished a good 30 minutes without a single hit. I started to wonder if this related to the swap of hands; my right hand was well trained and coordinated in working lures, whilst my left hand made me feel like a rank novice. For those who have never tried switching hands it’s worth as go sometimes; it lets you walk a mile in the shoes of a novice and understand just how much we rely on muscle memory for most movements.

Thankfully flatties aren’t all that picky. After working along the shoreline for a while, I finally got a hit and struck. I felt the weight of a half-decent fish, but it threw me as it swam towards me and didn’t take any runs. On sighting colour, I called it for a 40-50cm fish and was almost tempted to land it without the net. Thankfully I didn’t, because I was woefully inaccurate with my size estimate:

At 60cm, it was my second biggest ever flathead! Nothing to write home about, but quite large for my neck of the woods. Released it after this photo op. The fish was caught on a 5inch Gulp Jerkshad (Crazy Legs), rigged on a 1/6oz TT Snakelockz (weedless) jighead in size 6/0. The crazy legs might well be my favourite jerk shad pattern now (until I finally get to try Waza’s invention, which looks very promising). 8lb braid, 12lb mono leader rounded out my setup.

After that, it was time to call it for the morning. Home before 7am.

Thanks for reading!

[Yowie]

Fishing elbow? That's a new one. 

Regardless, a nice fish for the effort.

Sometimes a flattie will not fight too much at all.  Just like humans, some work hard, others could not work up a sweat in a pressure cooker. 🤣

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff, lovely flathead. Nice to get back out.

Well done

[Little_Flatty]

11 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Fishing elbow? That's a new one. 

Well I haven’t played tennis for 30 years, and it probably came from fishing, so that’s what I’ll call it!🤣

10 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great stuff, lovely flathead. Nice to get back out.

Well done

Thanks Isaac, certainly is good to get out!

[Bennyg78]

Nice one @Little_Flatty great size fish!!

[wazatherfisherman]

Good size Mike! Bigger=bigger -

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, Bennyg78 said:

Nice one @Little_Flatty great size fish!!

Thanks Benny, I was pleasantly surprised when it went on the brag mat! I've been reading and listening up on topwater flathead, which I know you have got a couple of. I have a feeling I might crack one this year. They're very plentiful in my neck of the woods and plenty of shallows to fish for them in.

11 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Good size Mike! Bigger=bigger -

Thanks Waza, it certainly is! You wouldn't have seen me use 5inch lures until you suggested it. Now it's kind of normal for me! Good to try new things!

We'll see if the kingie bringie comes up with the goods when my arm is better, hopefully soon!

[big Neil]

Hope that your injury recovers and you return to normal movement Mike. Nice Flathead anyway, well done. bn

[Larkin]

Soon your going to have to change your name..

nice flatty!! 👍

[Green Hornet]

Nice fish Mike. Usually flatties around that size go hard, I guess yours was just lethargic, perhaps from the drop in water temperature due to the recent rain.

Hope the arm gets better soon, but good to see your making the most of it and learning to fish reverse handed.

[XD351]

Ripper flattie Mike!  I have been wondering lately how big the flathead in the parra / Sydney Harbour system have got since they stopped the trawlers , surely the now abundant supply of prawns would see them grow exponentially? I haven’t seen or heard of anything close to 1m but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there , used to get some decent ones down in the channel west of the wedding cake marker but that was a lifetime ago and when the sewer started to flow out of the deep water outfall the flathead seemed to disappear. Hope the elbow comes good soon but as you have discovered you have two of them to wear out casting 😂

[Rebel]

Top report.

Nice Flattie.

For the elbow.

There is a spray I use called Pain Away. Works really well.

Spray it on &  massage  it on a couple of times.

The Orginal one is the best.

Cheers.

[Burger]

I second the Pain away, but I use the cream.

My mate got Golfers elbow when we played tennis, so Tennis elbow when fishing could EASILY be a thing! 🙂

[Little_Flatty]

18 hours ago, big Neil said:

Hope that your injury recovers and you return to normal movement Mike. Nice Flathead anyway, well done. bn

Thanks Neil, yeah I have got it early so hopefully it won’t become a chronic problem. Not getting any younger, that’s for sure!

16 hours ago, Larkin said:

Soon your going to have to change your name..

nice flatty!! 👍

Thanks Chris. Little flatties have a special place in my heart, so my name’s not changing 😎

10 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

Nice fish Mike. Usually flatties around that size go hard, I guess yours was just lethargic, perhaps from the drop in water temperature due to the recent rain.

Hope the arm gets better soon, but good to see your making the most of it and learning to fish reverse handed.

Thanks Pete, Yeah the lethargy has been a bit of a surprise. Though lately I’ve noticed the fish are swimming towards me a lot and shaking off the hook. Been working pretty well for them, I must say, going off the number of fish I’ve dropped. Maybe the bigger lures are attracting more ‘experienced’ fish, hence the different behaviour. My strategy these days is to wind like mad, resorting to rod work only after I can’t wind anymore!

6 hours ago, XD351 said:

Ripper flattie Mike!  I have been wondering lately how big the flathead in the parra / Sydney Harbour system have got since they stopped the trawlers , surely the now abundant supply of prawns would see them grow exponentially? I haven’t seen or heard of anything close to 1m but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there , used to get some decent ones down in the channel west of the wedding cake marker but that was a lifetime ago and when the sewer started to flow out of the deep water outfall the flathead seemed to disappear. Hope the elbow comes good soon but as you have discovered you have two of them to wear out casting 😂

Thanks Ian, the biggest I’ve caught in the Parra is right on 70cm. I don’t doubt there’s much bigger in there.

6 hours ago, Rebel said:

Top report.

Nice Flattie.

For the elbow.

There is a spray I use called Pain Away. Works really well.

Spray it on &  massage  it on a couple of times.

The Orginal one is the best.

Cheers.

Thanks Rebel, Pain away was what the doctor told me to buy!

5 hours ago, Burger said:

I second the Pain away, but I use the cream.

My mate got Golfers elbow when we played tennis, so Tennis elbow when fishing could EASILY be a thing! 🙂

I got some of the cream too. Now to rest the elbow. I’m still calling it ‘fishing elbow’🤣

[Pickles]

Well done Mike and great report @wazatherfisherman is a legend at making those SP’s 

60cm is a great flattie and should be more around in the shallow water over the coming months.

[big Neil]

Thanks Neil, yeah I have got it early so hopefully it won’t become a chronic problem. Not getting any younger, that’s for sure!

 

A good thing Mike...NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER...the alternative isn't a good option.

bn

[Little_Flatty]

7 hours ago, Pickles said:

Well done Mike and great report @wazatherfisherman is a legend at making those SP’s 

60cm is a great flattie and should be more around in the shallow water over the coming months.

He sure is Bob! I have been reading about winter flatties in the shallows and am absolutely intrigued! I’ve got to get a piece of this action!

2 hours ago, big Neil said:

A good thing Mike...NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER...the alternative isn't a good option.

bn

That’s definitely true Neil! Good bit of perspective!

[kantong]

very good sized flattie! Learning to fish with the non dominant hand is definitely a challenge, so well done! I hope the elbow gets better soon