Fish on tonight despite some frustrations

[linewetter]

Hit up one of the bays in the lower north shore tonight for some after work fun.  It was quiet for a bit at the start but tide was also higher than it normally is when I come here so I had to adjust and work my lures a bit slower to allow more time to get toward the bottom.  

First fish up was a small bream caught at the edge of a sandflat using a slow rolling plastic:

 

Next up was a small tailor:

 

 

Then ensued the frustrations...I got snagged then noticed my braid had tangled on itself at some point and bit into itself probably when I was reeling.  I broke off the snag and pulled my line in by hand and had to cut off a good 6-7m of line and trash it since I couldn't undo the tangle. 

I went to tie on my leader and it snapped off while cinching down...  I went to tie it on again, making sure I lubricated it extra and it snapped off again..  I went to tie it on a third time with my fingers feeling like frozen fishsticks and it snapped off again during the cinching down.  Each and every time it broke off from the braid, not the fluoro.  This whole time my headlamp kept autodimming due to excessive heat or low battery.  I could hear and see fish busting up literally at my feet.  Meanwhile I'm here cursing the braid for costing me so much time.

The fourth time was the charm, then went to tie on my jighead and dropped it.  I scoured the ground and my clothes for a good 15 mins trying to find it - mostly because I did not want a dog or kid to accidentally sniff it up or pick it up.  For some reason I could just not find it.  Turned over every leaf and stone in the area, looked around crevices, with my dim headlamp. I didn't find it and was so sure it must be on my person somewhere if I hadn't found it on the ground by now.  I tied on a new jighead and got back to fishing.

 

Landed this small flatty and made me feel a little better about missing those bust ups 😥 After casting for a while longer and having no interest, I put down the rod and did a final look around the area before moving on.  I ended up finding the jighead on the ground out in the open where I had looked 100x over.  It just blended into the floor I guess but I was glad to have found it finally.

 

Last fish of the night pulled some string to my surprise.  It was a small bream but it had some oomph to it with how much drag it pulled.  Totally thought it was a bigger fish at first but happy to have brought up this beautiful specimen:

Edited July 19 by linewetter

[lhan]

Still some catches and fishing fun mate!

Sorry about the line issues but sometimes it happens. I have a mate having a similar issues before - the first 10m of braid got extra fragile for no reason. Maybe from the saltwater/sun/heat I guess. Not sure a wash after sessions would help but I always give it a bit flush when I can.

[linewetter]

51 minutes ago, lhan said:

Still some catches and fishing fun mate!

Sorry about the line issues but sometimes it happens. I have a mate having a similar issues before - the first 10m of braid got extra fragile for no reason. Maybe from the saltwater/sun/heat I guess. Not sure a wash after sessions would help but I always give it a bit flush when I can.

The braid has been quite good for me in terms of breakage so far so I was surprised it snapped so many times in a row.  Figuring maybe just a manufacturing defect or maybe it is just the saltwater weakening the line a bit.  Seeing people say braid lasts them years though...I don't think mine will last years at this rate 😆

[Little_Flatty]

Good you persisted. I have had my issues with braid as well and what’s peculiar is that there is no correlation between price and performance in my experience. I’ve had some quite expensive braids be terrible in the field and some moderately (though not cheap) priced braids perform quite well. I’ve been fishing with platypus x4 lately on my 2-5kg outfit which wasn’t what I’d intended to get - I was after bionic braid but it was out of stock. I’ve been using it for about two years now and I have zero complaints.

[bessell1955]

Well, what a great variety of fish.

[linewetter]

8 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Good you persisted. I have had my issues with braid as well and what’s peculiar is that there is no correlation between price and performance in my experience. I’ve had some quite expensive braids be terrible in the field and some moderately (though not cheap) priced braids perform quite well. I’ve been fishing with platypus x4 lately on my 2-5kg outfit which wasn’t what I’d intended to get - I was after bionic braid but it was out of stock. I’ve been using it for about two years now and I have zero complaints.

I’ve been thinking of replacing my braid anyway as it is running a bit low. Especially after tonight losing a good amount of line and then snapping off back to back to back. I have on some mid range braid and at one point considered the more expensive stuff that’s like $80…but reading your experience…maybe not…
 

I have been thinking of what if I just switch from x8 to x4 just to help a little with durability. Thanks for the recommendation on the platypus braid, I’ve seen that one around in shops before, I’ll have a second look the next time I go in. I do like that it’s Aussie made in particular 

[big Neil]

Thanks for your report and glad you back to business after the technical glitches occurred. I must say that I have never had any issues with x4 or x8 braid before although I do use 30 or 40 lb, so probably more room for error. What lures are you using? Hardbody or soft plastics? I don't do much of that stuff and am always interested in the weight of jighead people use to catch various species. Quality pics, I'm glad you found the lure before it created a problem for somebody.

Cheers, bn

[james Cutler]

Well done. Great photos.

[BaitDropper]

Well done, great report.

Braver than me I must admit, this wind is fair starting to annoy me at the minute, maybe some land base fishing is on the cards..

[linewetter]

On 7/20/2024 at 10:00 AM, big Neil said:

Thanks for your report and glad you back to business after the technical glitches occurred. I must say that I have never had any issues with x4 or x8 braid before although I do use 30 or 40 lb, so probably more room for error. What lures are you using? Hardbody or soft plastics? I don't do much of that stuff and am always interested in the weight of jighead people use to catch various species. Quality pics, I'm glad you found the lure before it created a problem for somebody.

Cheers, bn

I'm using soft plastics a lot lately... my go to is a 1/12th jighead, size 2 hook with a 2.5" Zman Slim Swmz paddletail.  That's the combo I'll always reach for to start out with in waters up to probably the 2-2.5m mark since it manages to stay enough above the bottom while slow rolling, without being too light to get too far off the bottom.  Though if the current is a little strong then I swap over to 1/8th, though 1/12th is my preference for how the tail paddles...too much weight I think doesn't do it justice. 

[kantong]

well done on fishing at night at this time of year, definitely feeling the cooler weather! Persistence paid off!