Port Hacking - Flatties

[corro]

Gave the hacking a go yesterday with Dad, the intention was to target whiting on nippers. This turned into targeting whiting on prawns (as we were too disorganised / didn't have any time to get nippers and the tide was too high for me to fancy jumping in once we were on the water).

We tried the channel between Bundeena / Cronulla for no luck on the prawns apart from small reddies so I switched to lures. I am a predominantly a lure fisherman but have only really had success on soft plastics so tend to stick to what I know especially when the vibes are $20+. That being said I saw some knock offs on one of the online Chinese retailers so thought I'd give them a go - it was ~$25 for 3 slow blatt jigs and 2 prawn vibes delivered that would have probably been $25 each here. Whilst I try to do most of my shopping at local tackle stores, I can't justify $125 on lures.

Anyway, shopping stories aside, I tied on one of the prawn vibes and hooked up to a flatty first cast. Second cast I hooked another smaller flatty that threw the hooks as I wasn't being careful. So clearly they work even if I didn't actually know what I was supposed to be doing retrieve wise. I just used a fast high lift and let it drop back to the bottom. Every time they were taken on the bottom once the lure had been completely stationary for a second or so.

The second legal flatty came on board in the same spot, same manner. A very light take off the bottom, almost as if it was curious as to what it was as opposed to trying to inhale it. 

We tried the flats in Lilli Pilli but didn't have any luck despite there being big schools of largish baitfish (didn't get a look at them but they were like a black cloud swimming about). Nothing was harassing them as far as I could tell but they were skittish.

We thought we'd try the slow jigs in the deeper water off Lilli Pilli having had some success in Hinchinbrook on our recent fishing holiday. No luck on the kings but the third flatty did hit the 20g jig when it touched down to the bottom.

A good couple of hours out on the water!

[kantong]

nice flatties there, they look like they are singing christmas carols!

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work @corro. What’s not to like about flatties? Big numbers, great to eat and almost always willing to play!

[Yowie]

Nice bag of flatties, good fillets for the table.

[corro]

On 12/8/2023 at 1:48 PM, Yowie said:

Nice bag of flatties, good fillets for the table.

They were delicious as always!

 

On 12/8/2023 at 12:01 PM, Little_Flatty said:

Nice work @corro. What’s not to like about flatties? Big numbers, great to eat and almost always willing to play!

I have the most success on them!

 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:34 AM, kantong said:

nice flatties there, they look like they are singing christmas carols!

Cheers mate, tis the season!

[big Neil]

Good onya for taking a punt on the cheaper lures. It may be true that some more expensive lures work better than their cheaper cousins, but the hungry fish knows little of our world of economy. Nice little feed of Flatties for your efforts.

Cheers, bn

[jenno64]

Well done, they look like good eating size:)

[corro]

On 12/11/2023 at 3:26 AM, big Neil said:

Good onya for taking a punt on the cheaper lures. It may be true that some more expensive lures work better than their cheaper cousins, but the hungry fish knows little of our world of economy. Nice little feed of Flatties for your efforts.

Cheers, bn

They certainly worked this time, let's see how well they hold up!

On 12/19/2023 at 8:50 AM, jenno64 said:

Well done, they look like good eating size:)

Perfect for the table!