Duskies at dusk

[Aussie_fisher]

Hey guys this is going to be a long report so I apologise in advance but if you do read ahead I hope you enjoy it.

On the weekend my mate, our dads and I went to dunleith tourist park to camp. The main goal for the trip was fishing. I had promised them some good fish and after many sessions of chasing flatties over the past holidays and a lesson with Derek it was time to use the knowledge I had gained. We arrived late night Saturday and immediately set up tents and slept. We wanted to wake up early at dawn and fish but we were just so tired we woke up quite late at like 9. We tried for flatties right outside the park but they weren’t biting because the sun was already up. At around 10 am many fishos on boats and kayaks started to come back to shore with bags of flathead saying they caught them at dawn around 7-8 which after the bite stopped. There was a rising tide between 9-10am which we tried but it didn’t produce much as the sun was already up. I decided we would go to a spot which has always produced very well for me (it’s the area  near the bridge at the north entrance park if you want to try it out) at around 3pm to fish between 3-5 which was the run out. Until then we fished at our campsite and just did other stuff like kayaking and swimming. I taught my mate some general stuff like casting, knots, retrieval techniques as he was new to fishing to hopefully prepare for the golden hours. There were a lot of small tarwhine and bream around I lost count of how many we caught. Then once the tide started lowering we went to my spot and started fishing. We used prawns to catch some herring on a hand line. We had 4 rods (2 lures 2 bait) between 4 people. Me and my friend were using soft plastics (squidgie prawn wrigglers 65mm) and our dads were using the fresh herring we caught. Nothing. Despite the run out tide absolutely nothing. We were all  disappointed and we needed dinner. I said that we have another chance at dusk and promised to catch something and though everyone was sceptical as I had said the same thing about the run out we continued. The same thing happened for 2 more hours. The tide became slack as well so even I didn’t think there was any hope. At this point we weren’t even looking at the rods and beginning to plan about packing. Then suddenly… I heard a thumping from the rod. It was 7pm now and the sun was going down. I looked at one of the bait rods with the herring in the rod holder. It was bending hard and I knew we were on to a flattie and a damn good one. I quickly started to reel it in and it was fighting. With how unsuccessful the day was the adrenaline that fight brought was really something. We fought a solid 3 minutes and just as The flathead came up and my friend was about to net him…he spat the hook. He was around 50cm. I swore so hard everyone around me looked. But I couldn’t sulk for long. Just as I was putting another bait on that hook the other bait rod went off. It had a 35cm flattie. The golden hour had begun at dusk. Me and my mate quickly got out the rods with the squidgies as well and started to fish. After a few casts here and there boom I was on. And this was another very good model maybe around 43cm. And as  fate would have it I lost it.. again. Even though his technique was a bit sketchy at first my mate eventually got the hang of it and hooked on too. A small flattie around 34cm - his first ever dusky. After this In total we got around 10-15 flatties within 30-40 mins but they were all small and only 5 were just barely legal between 36-38cm. We also caught a very nice bream around 30cm (fought very dirty my leader was so shredded I don’t know how it made it) and a small 21cm tarwhine who got gill hooked so we kept him. We could’ve caught many more but unfortunately we hadn’t planned to night fish and had no night gear so we decided to head back. What I’ve observed so far from my fishing trips is tides/time of day heavily depend on the spot. Some spots fire up at dawn or dusk despite the tide while others can even do well at noon provided the tide conditions are correct. So you’ve just got to fish a spot a few times to figure out it’s secrets. The flathead weren’t massive but it was enough to make a decent meal for 4. Safe to say it was quite a nice dinner. Unfortunately photos weren’t taken on my phone so I don’t have many to put in this report . The smile on my mates face at the end was great to see and the first thing he asked his dad was if they could buy some rods so along with the flathead he also got hooked  - so mission was successful despite a bit of a rough start. Special thanks to everyone who makes posts on this site as everything I have learnt wouldn’t be possible without fishraider and everyone here. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it to the end

cheers

[Yowie]

You caught a feed. Trial and error, and practice, gets you going and gives you the experience you need.

[jenno64]

Your plan eventually paid off! Congrats on your perseverance and you ended up with some nice fish! Imagine if you had given up before the dusk session🤷🏻‍♂️ Enjoy the fillets👌

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work @Aussie_fisher. The Entrance fishes really quite well for all the pressure it cops. Good you got a mate hooked on fishing...let's see if you can keep it going  

[Aussie_fisher]

@Yowie yep sure does

@jenno64ye if we had given up it would’ve been very disappointing as we all know fish feed twice a day - before you arrive and also after you leave

@Little_Flatty thanks yes it fishes very nice despite all the pressure put on it but I think they need to open up the channel mouth soon to let some fresh water and new life in. Let’s hope he keeps going

[Larkin]

Nice catch! 
sounds like you had a great time

[ireallylovefishies22]

Nice feed of fish there! I've found the same thing fishing at the entrance, most of the quality fish I catch are at dusk.

[kantong]

A nice fishing session, full of learning. Sounds like you have caught the itch big time! can't wait for your next report

[XD351]

Great report and you got a feed - gotta be happy with that !

[big Neil]

Hi Aussie fisher. Your report wasn't all that long...you should read some of Waza's (LOL).

How rewarding to see you filled with enough confidence to encourage your friend and both of your Dads to head off for a trip. Your enthusiasm, whilst daunted at first, remained resolute and you persisted. That is the first essential toward becoming a good angler. Your friend catching fish too, should provide you with the companionship to keep you both going with the ventures into the world of fishing.

So now you see what Fishraider is all about. People helping each other to succeed in the world of fishing. You then carried on paying it forward and even more people become involved in this great time that we all share.

Good luck with your future assaults in the search for fishing experience.

Don't forget to take pictures of your next outing and good luck.

 

bn

[Aussie_fisher]

12 hours ago, ireallylovefishies22 said:

Nice feed of fish there! I've found the same thing fishing at the entrance, most of the quality fish I catch are at dusk.

Thanks mate. Yep and dawn offers some very good fishing there as well.

21 hours ago, Larkin said:

Nice catch! 
sounds like you had a great time

Sure did!

11 hours ago, kantong said:

A nice fishing session, full of learning. Sounds like you have caught the itch big time! can't wait for your next report

Yep sure was. Thanks hopefully many more reports to come

3 hours ago, XD351 said:

Great report and you got a feed - gotta be happy with that !

Thank you - yes was a pretty good feed

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

Hi Aussie fisher. Your report wasn't all that long...you should read some of Waza's (LOL).

How rewarding to see you filled with enough confidence to encourage your friend and both of your Dads to head off for a trip. Your enthusiasm, whilst daunted at first, remained resolute and you persisted. That is the first essential toward becoming a good angler. Your friend catching fish too, should provide you with the companionship to keep you both going with the ventures into the world of fishing.

So now you see what Fishraider is all about. People helping each other to succeed in the world of fishing. You then carried on paying it forward and even more people become involved in this great time that we all share.

Good luck with your future assaults in the search for fishing experience.

Don't forget to take pictures of your next outing and good luck.

 

bn

Thanks so much. Yep it was great to introduce fishing to others and see them enjoy it. It’s always good when you get to show others what you love to do and see them get involved with you as well. this is an amazing site for anglers to come together and share knowledge and hopefully I can help contribute stuff as well as I go along. Will make sure to take pics