Bate Bay

[Yowie]

Headed out to Bate Bay before sunrise. Drifted around the 120 feet mark, plenty of spikies, kept few for bait, then as I drifted deeper, some blue spots came on the bite, still plenty of spikies with them. I had 5 on board, so packed up and moved out to around 200 feet.

No spikies, but a few blue spots and quite a few tigers as well were on the bite. Most tigers under sized, but kept 3 legals and 2 more blue spots, and released quite a few tigers, some just legal. I was trying for red spot whiting in the deeper water, very small baits but the tigers kept hammering the bait. No slimies about, so used thin strips of spikey flattie fillet. The red spots were hard to hook, and the wind eventually slowed right down and stopped. No drift, so headed home.

10 flatties, the biggest at 52cm, and 9 red spots, so a good day out.

[Isaac Ct]

Very nice feed there Yowie, well done

Better going that inside for this time of year.

[miniken]

Hi Yowie what are spikies

[Larkin]

Nice feed Dave!

good mix of tigers and blues. Nice whiting too - were you at the same spot as last time?

I went out with a mate on Sat up maroubra - no bites all morning - zero. Then hit the flatty drift at maroubra for 5 good sized blues - also got a random 65cm dusky out at 50m.

Edited August 5 by Larkin

[saltrix]

Spikey Flathead

Long spined flathead. Platycephalus longispinis.  Easily recognised by the exceptional long lower spine on the head. Only grows to a maximum of 34cm and is sexually mature at a much smaller length.  No minimum size but bag limits apply.

Heaps around and good eating but small size off putting.  Good bait for bluespots

[linewetter]

I always look forward to seeing the different types of fish brought in like this.  Like the red spot whiting or blue spot flathead....very cool to see.  Nice size on the catches as well!

[Yowie]

4 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Very nice feed there Yowie, well done

Better going that inside for this time of year.

Thank you. Some fish out there, better than  up river at present.

3 hours ago, miniken said:

Hi Yowie what are spikies

saltrix has explained what they are. Spiking by the dorsal spines causes pain and irritation for about an hour, so they need to be treated with care to avoid being spiked.

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

Nice feed Dave!

good mix of tigers and blues. Nice whiting too - were you at the same spot as last time?

I went out with a mate on Sat up maroubra - no bites all morning - zero. Then hit the flatty drift at maroubra for 5 good sized blues - also got a random 65cm dusky out at 50m.

Thanks Chris. Same spot as last week. Red spots just a bit harder to hook today. The occasional dusky surprises people when they are caught at depth.

Little picks on the whiting gear, and I pulled up a couple of small reddies, a yakka and a baker in 200 feet, so must have drifted over a reef patch.

13 minutes ago, saltrix said:

Spikey Flathead

Long spined flathead. Platycephalus longispinis.  Easily recognised by the exceptional long lower spine on the head. Only grows to a maximum of 34cm and is sexually mature at a much smaller length.  No minimum size but bag limits apply.

Heaps around and good eating but small size off putting.  Good bait for bluespots

Thank you, well explained.

11 minutes ago, linewetter said:

I always look forward to seeing the different types of fish brought in like this.  Like the red spot whiting or blue spot flathead....very cool to see.  Nice size on the catches as well!

Thank you. Many different species of fish in the water, which not everybody catches.

[Aussie_fisher]

Awesome. So many species of flathead that’s insane. Oh so do you not eat the spikies because of size?

[Yowie]

49 minutes ago, Aussie_fisher said:

Awesome. So many species of flathead that’s insane. Oh so do you not eat the spikies because of size?

I have eaten the spikies at times, but not often, flavour similar to other flatties. Only small fillets from the larger ones. They do make great bait  for the blue spots and tigers, tough skin.

[james Cutler]

Great haul again. Well done.

[jenno64]

Nice catch Dave! You are getting a regular feed from the deep lately, I’m sure the Hacking is in hibernation with the current temps. I’m in Japan for a 2 week holiday, no fishing but we are visiting the Tokyo fish market today🐟

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, james Cutler said:

Great haul again. Well done.

Thank you.

[Yowie]

41 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Nice catch Dave! You are getting a regular feed from the deep lately, I’m sure the Hacking is in hibernation with the current temps. I’m in Japan for a 2 week holiday, no fishing but we are visiting the Tokyo fish market today🐟

Thanks Rob.

Enjoy the holiday. will be interesting to see what species of fish are swimming about over there.