Unexpected Surface Strikers

[linewetter]

It has been a long and busy couple of weeks for me and I haven't had a chance to fish really at all.  I had today off work to take care of some stuff and didn't plan to fish today, but managed to find some time in the morning so headed out for some fishing therapy.  I was trying a new plastic I bought, Rapala The Creeper in Banana Prawn:

 

Had a few flicks into some dropoffs with not much interest aside from toadies.  The plastic itself has nice action even at very slow speeds which I liked.  I also like the feet part since I felt like it held onto scent a little longer.  I casted once again into the dropoffs and after a few twitches with no interest, I decided to burn the lure in quickly to cast somewhere else.  I was using a really light jighead today so the lure was skipping across the surface from how fast I was retrieving it when suddenly I saw and felt a big SPLASH and my line go tight and drag starts pulling.  I was onto a fish unexpectedly!  It was pulling away from me quickly and steadily and I had muscle it back in.  As I got it to surface, I could see it was a nice silver trevally.  It had a ton of fight in it still and even with me trying to disorient it, it was still fiesty.  I grabbed my line and pulled the fish up - no more taking risks for me, I learned my lesson with my last snapped rod.  

It was great fun catching this fish and it went back in as gentle as I could let it.  A lot slipperier than I'm used to.

I circled the area continuing to flick where I could see dropoffs but it was a little while before I found the next fish.  At some point, I was starting to lose confidence in the plastic choice for this session.  I decided to switch to my current favorite plastic, Zman Slim Swimz in Greasy Prawn.  On the first cast with the new plastic on, as soon as my lure hit the water, I saw a big splash, my rod jerked from the fish, but no hookup.  Half a second later, more splashing and the fish hooked itself.  No idea what it was at this point, but it was causing a big commotion as I brought it in closer.  As it got near, I could see it looked like a tailor.  Same as earlier, this fish had a ton of energy in it still and I grabbed my line to pull it up.  As I tried to hold the fish to get the hook out, it just kept flopping and flopping.  Understandable behavior Mr. Tailor, being suddenly pulled out of the safety of water.  After a few seconds of trying to grab the fish and it sliding out my hands, I got a good grip on it and unhooked it:

 

I checked my leader after this fish and it was noticeably chafed near the lure.  For a split second I thought to myself..."Ehh....it'll be fine..."  but then thought of all the times I got busted off or lost fish due to what was likely roughed up leader and immediately decided to just cut it and retie.  

 

I was feeling pretty stoked at this point.  I have fished topwater lures before but have only had a few hook ups over many sessions, so having two surface strikes like this and actually seeing the splashes was really exciting.  I spun the block again just flicking the same Zman plastic over and over again.  I went back to where I caught the first trevally and had a flick in the general area.  Slow rolled the plastic with occasionally hops when I felt a hit.  I twitched it to imitate a fish injured from the hit and felt the line get tight and set the hook.  I was onto another fish now.  This one pulled drag harder than the previous two fish now.  I had just lost a fish minutes before due to getting snagged on a bush and the fish set itself free, so I was being extra cautious of where the fish was running.  I maneuvered around some bushes and the rockwall to try and keep the fish from running into snags - not an easy job when the fish had seemingly endless amounts of energy.  After a small fight, I managed to clear the bushes and snags and muscled the fish in close.  It was another trevally 😀 I grabbed my line and pulled it up.  

 

Next cast out, I let the lure flutter to the bottom and was met with another fish.  Back to back casts, how good is that?  This felt like a good fish as well and took some power to steer and guide in.  I ended up having to tighten the drag midway because it was taking line easier than the others so far now, and I didn't want to lose it.  As I got it to surface, it was a nice tailor.  When I pulled it up using my line, this was the one that got me most nervous of losing as it was thrashing in the air as I pulled it up.  It might be the biggest tailor I've caught so far.

 

 

After this, I had some more casts with no additional fish, and it was soon time to go.  Great session had, and I was glad to get out and wet my line while I could.  Until next time!

 

P.S. if anyone has any tips on targeting the trevally specifically, would love to hear.  I've caught them a few times now and really like the fight and like catching them.  Two times I've caught them while burning in a lure and other times while the lure is moving through the water (not sitting still) so I'm assuming they're more likely to hit on moving targets as a result.  

Edited May 15 by linewetter

[dirvin21]

Nice session mate

Trevally like a moving lure, I haven't caught silver Trevally for a long time but from memory they like a reasonably quick flicking tyoe retrieve with plenty of pauses

[Yowie]

A nice session there, tailor and trevs, good sport fish.

[lhan]

Nice session mate, good to see you back to the water. Trev is my very first fish caught in Australia and I did catch quite some when I just began so I always have a soft spot for them. Great eating fish too if you could accept it rare.

They're seasonal so I find it they just came up with rather aggressive hunting mood - usual tricks targeting bream and flathead will work for them. I also caught a few when shore jigging last year during the spring time so I guess they're not as fussy as bream. One thing to be careful with is that they have tender mouth, so better to get a net or lift it gentle but quick.

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, lhan said:

Nice session mate, good to see you back to the water. Trev is my very first fish caught in Australia and I did catch quite some when I just began so I always have a soft spot for them. Great eating fish too if you could accept it rare.

They're seasonal so I find it they just came up with rather aggressive hunting mood - usual tricks targeting bream and flathead will work for them. I also caught a few when shore jigging last year during the spring time so I guess they're not as fussy as bream. One thing to be careful with is that they have tender mouth, so better to get a net or lift it gentle but quick.

Good mention regarding their tender mouths, I will have to tire them out a little more next time before taking them out the water so that they don't flop around as much with a hook in their mouth.  

The only fish I have taken home so far is a butter bream and only because I hooked it in its eye and felt terrible to let it suffer.  I really want to try more of the fish I catch but hardly make it up to areas where I feel more comfortable with the water quality.  And then when I do, I never catch anything!  But if I stick to my tried and true spots in the Harbour area, it's strictly catch and release for me 😅  I'm hopeful to try the trevally soon one day, just a rare catch for me so far compared to something like bream.

[Bennyg78]

The creeper is a great grub lure, if you can get it to sink next to a pole they are very good at getting a good bream bite.

[Little_Flatty]

Nice report @linewetter. I’ve been having an ordinary week fishing wise as well, topped off by burning my casting hand reasonably badly (more than a tickle!) whilst cooking last night! You’ll need to write more reports for me!

Fingers crossed I’ll be good for the weekend!

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Nice report @linewetter. I’ve been having an ordinary week fishing wise as well, topped off by burning my casting hand reasonably badly (more than a tickle!) whilst cooking last night! You’ll need to write more reports for me!

Fingers crossed I’ll be good for the weekend!

Hope it heals soon!  Fishing with a burned hand sounds like no fun otherwise - can only imagine the blisters it would cause

[Robbo from Sydney]

10 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Nice report @linewetter. I’ve been having an ordinary week fishing wise as well, topped off by burning my casting hand reasonably badly (more than a tickle!) whilst cooking last night! You’ll need to write more reports for me!

Fingers crossed I’ll be good for the weekend!

Hi Mike
So sorry to hear your news. Hope the hand heals quickly and you are back on the water again really soon

Cheers
Robbo

[bessell1955]

A great result.