Early morning session at Iron Cove

[Little_Flatty]

This morning I took the chance to fish with @Mike Sydney at Iron Cove. We were hoping to see a few bigger tailor that he gets into during the colder months.

Mike was on the water by 5:45, catching me off guard as I was still mucking around at home. Quickly got my stuff together and dashed out the door. By the time I got there at about 6.15 he had already caught so many choppers that he was bored of it and watched me get one on a bent minnow.

Mike had recently got himself a bumper haul of lures and hearing of my recent lure losses, kindly gifted me a little Halco Roosta Popper. I've been wanting to try one of these for a while, thanks mate!

Anyhow, we cast on, trying a variety of bibbed lures, crankas and plastics. Mike hooks onto a flatty on a Jewie plastic, but unfortunately dropped it. By that time I had given up on top water and had tied on a Austackle Shimmer Stik (a sinking stickbait). I think sinking stickbaits are a very underutilised style of lure. Working this over the bottom, I felt a tap, but missed it. Next cast, felt a similar tap and hit it hard. Up came a flatty:

As I was dealing with the photographing and release of this fish, we see some other anglers fishing for kings. One of them yells out that they are on and we hear a singing drag. Mike runs over to first have a cast, and then help with the landing of the fish. I didn't see it, but Mike said it could have been 1m and the guy was understandably ecstatic. First king ever too, what a lucky catch!

After that Mike needed to get home to his family. I had a little bit of time left on my leave pass, so I fished further around the bay with a bent minnow. Had a few visual follows from big bream, but no hookups. Towards the end of my session, a school of big kings swims by and one of them splashes at my lure, scaring the daylights out of me. I didn't hook up and I was somewhat thankful for that; I'd had enough of losing lures over the past month and on ultralight BFS gear, I wouldn't have stood a chance!🤣

Packed up and went home. Might need to sit out a couple of mornings before I head out again, can't wait for the next session.

Thanks for reading.

[Yowie]

A nice session for sure.

You would have been telling a different story if a kingie hooked up. 🤣

[Little_Flatty]

Just now, Yowie said:

A nice session for sure.

You would have been telling a different story if a kingie hooked up. 🤣

Probably would've ended in tears 🤣 But a small price to pay for such a thrill!😎

[linewetter]

That is a big flatty!  Maybe it's photo perspective skewing things but it looks like it has a massive head for its size hahaha.  

Interesting comment RE the sinking stickbaits.  I had watched a video recently about stickbaits and one of them mentioned that they didn't recommend sinking stickbaits for land based angling due to the high potential to get snagged.  I put them off entirely after that video but seeing you use them now has me interested.  I may have to give them a second thought and maybe try them out after watching more videos on how to work them and the techniques on retrieving them.

[big Neil]

A pleasing "mixed bag" of stories there Mike. Always great to catch up with other Raiders for a fish together. The story of the guy hooking the Kingie is a fairly common occurrence in the harbour region. They are a bit like the street hoodlums just cruising round looking for an opportunity. I guess most anglers that encounter them are not prepared for the fight as they are targeting other species.

A good report. Cheers, bn

[Little_Flatty]

7 hours ago, linewetter said:

That is a big flatty!  Maybe it's photo perspective skewing things but it looks like it has a massive head for its size hahaha.  

Interesting comment RE the sinking stickbaits.  I had watched a video recently about stickbaits and one of them mentioned that they didn't recommend sinking stickbaits for land based angling due to the high potential to get snagged.  I put them off entirely after that video but seeing you use them now has me interested.  I may have to give them a second thought and maybe try them out after watching more videos on how to work them and the techniques on retrieving them.

Thanks @linewetter, that was a pretty fat fish for its size.

I'd agree with the high potential to get snagged. You need to pick your places to use them, but that doesn't seem to stop people using blades and vibes (which suffer from the same predicament).

There are some very reasonably priced sinking stickbaits out there, the Shimmer Stik is one of them. I suspect they may be quite easy to make. Search and you shall find 😎

3 minutes ago, big Neil said:

A pleasing "mixed bag" of stories there Mike. Always great to catch up with other Raiders for a fish together. The story of the guy hooking the Kingie is a fairly common occurrence in the harbour region. They are a bit like the street hoodlums just cruising round looking for an opportunity. I guess most anglers that encounter them are not prepared for the fight as they are targeting other species.

A good report. Cheers, bn

Cheers Neil. Hooking one is common, but landing one is not! 🤣

[bessell1955]

That was a great mornings fish.

[zmk1962]

What a great report and read. Perhaps the title should be - The story of two Mikes.  Do you guys carry half of the big store lure rack each?  But it just shows it pays to mix it up. I did hope to read the last king hooked up Zzzzzzzz 😜

cheers Zoran 

[jenno64]

Nicely marked flatty and a great story about the hoods you almost encountered!

 

[Pickles]

Great report Mike, a nice flattie - pity you didn’t hook a Kingie, but on flathead gear - not a chance.

[Larkin]

Nice session Mike!

can’t wait for you to hook a stray king! 

[Little_Flatty]

On 3/30/2024 at 6:06 AM, bessell1955 said:

That was a great mornings fish.

Thanks Bessell

On 3/30/2024 at 8:23 AM, zmk1962 said:

What a great report and read. Perhaps the title should be - The story of two Mikes.  Do you guys carry half of the big store lure rack each?  But it just shows it pays to mix it up. I did hope to read the last king hooked up Zzzzzzzz 😜

cheers Zoran 

Cheers Zoran, it has happened, only that it ended with my jaw dropping to the ground and a shredded leader...

On 3/31/2024 at 8:53 AM, jenno64 said:

Nicely marked flatty and a great story about the hoods you almost encountered!

 

Thanks Rob, yes that was a close shave!

On 3/31/2024 at 5:37 PM, Pickles said:

Great report Mike, a nice flattie - pity you didn’t hook a Kingie, but on flathead gear - not a chance.

Cheers Bob, yep I'd probably be nursing a sore thumb given I was using a baitcaster!

8 minutes ago, Larkin said:

Nice session Mike!

can’t wait for you to hook a stray king! 

Cheers Chris, It will happen again some day. Hopefully I will be lucky when it happens!

[Toadmaster]

A shredded leader is something you can kind of come to terms with when the adrenalin comes back down. What's really heartbreaking is when there's a little pigtail on the end of the line.

[Little_Flatty]

6 minutes ago, Toadmaster said:

A shredded leader is something you can kind of come to terms with when the adrenalin comes back down. What's really heartbreaking is when there's a little pigtail on the end of the line.

The one time I've hooked a king on light gear, I was grinning like an idiot the rest of the day. I didn't need to land the damn fish, I only needed to hear the singing drag before the leader popped.