Little_Flatty Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Hi Raiders, Original plan was to visit Hunters Hill wharf in the morning with the spin rod, but packing the car, I thought: maybe topwater might be a goer at Tarban Creek. It had all of the prerequisites; shallow, clear water, a bit of structure in form of mangroves and moored boats and lots of bream marauding the shoreline. Tarban creek and I have a complicated relationship; I fish there a lot because it’s close-ish to home and looks fishy, and yet I’ve struggled to get fish there on my usual techniques. So my expectations were low, and I was ok with that. On the water at ten past six and get casting with my slippery dog. Dead low tide, but I had a feeling this might’ve been to my advantage, given that there was less water to search. Second cast goes right into a mangrove tree. Oh shoot…slippery dog gone? But miraculously it slides out of the leaves and onto the water. Next cast, I hit paydirt (or should I say paydust?🤣: A 5cm whopper not quite as long as the lure! Move further along, casting over the flats. Get hung up on a sunken tree, courtesy of the current. Oh great? Slippery dog gone…or was it? It somehow shakes free of the tree and lands at my feet. This lure is hereby named ‘Houdini’. Move on from the tree and cast along the drop off. See a follow, stop, twitch it a little and then hear the splash of a fish committing, then the line goes tight. A bit bigger this time, still undersized but worth putting onto the measure at least: Keep casting. Caught/released a couple of vermin chopper tailor, drop a whiting at my feet and then I was out of time! Headed home, got everyone ready for school and work, and that’s all folks! 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linewetter Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 You’re motivating me to go top water fishing every time I read your reports lately 😅 Nice sized bream! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 6 hours ago, linewetter said: You’re motivating me to go top water fishing every time I read your reports lately 😅 Nice sized bream! That's hilarious for me, because if you talk to @DerekD, he couldn't get me keen on topwater for several years Not sure what's come over me, but I finally get what all the fuss is about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustJames Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 It never ceases to amaze and amuse me how willing fish are to hit a lure that's almost as big as they are...whether it's a tiny lure on a light spinning outfit or a diver trolled behind a boat, every now and then you will catch a very brave/hungry fish! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 well done on hooking up, thrilling action when they hit on top! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 1 hour ago, JustJames said: It never ceases to amaze and amuse me how willing fish are to hit a lure that's almost as big as they are...whether it's a tiny lure on a light spinning outfit or a diver trolled behind a boat, every now and then you will catch a very brave/hungry fish! Does indeed. I’ve heard that plenty of bigger bream get caught on 100-200mm surface lures when hunting big flathead. I think that fish like bream and whiting don’t always think about eating the whole critter. The small lure preference many of us have is probably an incorrect bias we might hold. 1 hour ago, kantong said: well done on hooking up, thrilling action when they hit on top! Thanks kantong, it certainly is a thrill. I recently listened to a podcast where the fly angler presenting said that they live for the ‘eat’, and it didn’t matter if they landed the fish or not! I think I finally get what they were talking about! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Some entertainment for the early morning. I have had tailor chew little bits out of pillies that were longer than themselves. Many years ago I read a report of a gamefisho trolling a 10 pound tuna for a marlin. The tuna was grabbed by a 40 pound kingfish. That is getting greedy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 School’s back Mike and looks like you found the kindy kids LOL. I don’t know about tidal areas, but in the non tidal lake like where I fish, I’ll only ever get small ones on surface lures in glassy conditions. The big fish don’t show until the white caps do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 It's not the size of the fish in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the fish:) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now